The object as a vessel for vitality : a design methodology

Abstract

"To Build, form blocks, like a ladder into the sky, into the Earth,to bind the elements, Water and Fire". Like Wittgenstein's this is an attempt to define a personal methodology, which when documented and left behind might help others along a similar path of exploration. I began in an art museum, examining the artifacts of old cultures,Their usable objects which are assumed of "Museum Quality", they were chosen by virtue of being either more desirable than others, having survived the years where others have not,the only pieces left, or for having some special appeal which the others didn't have. It is assumed that they are a reflection of the cultures that they represent, and from them we can deduce the nature of the society which made them. What is the nature of the society that we act in? and how do the objects around us reflect it? What is the nature of the society that we desire? can the making of objects reflecting that desire affect the reality of society and change it, even if only a little, towards what we believe to be desirable? What are the issues of design and production which may have this effect? This is then an attempt to explore some of those issues, and to test them through designing, making and using some special objects.