Walker S. Sustainable by Design: Explorations in Theory and Practice

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Sustainable by Design

authentic, substantive discipline capable of effectively tackling the

important issues of our time: the pressing contemporary concerns

that are not being appropriately dealt with in product design and

manufacturing are the ethical and environmental ramifications of our

actions. It is imperative that designers tackle these aspects of their

discipline, as well as important questions of meaning, identity and

culture associated with material goods.

Some years ago, I think it was at an engineering lecture, I heard it said

that the majority of the world’s diamond production was for industrial

applications – for cutting tools, drill bits and grinders. These low-grade

diamonds, which have no special aesthetic qualities, are crushed into

grits of various sizes. Apparently

, because of the high demand, and the

relative rarity of gem quality diamonds, many of the processing systems

have been geared towards the production of industrial diamonds. In

these systems, the ore is crushed to the size of coarse sand and the

dense diamond grit is separated out. With such a system there is no

possibility of finding another Hope Diamond or Great Star of Africa

– they are simply eliminated by the process.

Obviously, we need industrial diamonds, but we also need the Hope

and the Great Star of Africa. Industrial diamonds are valued for

instrumental reasons; they are a means to some other end. They

are valued for their utility

, they are used, they wear out and they are

replaced. By contrast, the Great Star of Africa is valued for how it

shines, how the light plays through its facets to inspire sheer awe – but

it is totally useless in terms of function. The Great Star of Africa is

not about function. It’s about poetry and beauty and wonder; it is an

end in and of itself. It has intrinsic value, it never wears out and it is

irreplaceable.

In both education and practice, product design can be likened to

industrial diamond processing

. It tends to emphasize the production of

competent, practical design solutions that conform to current norms and

work within established notions of aesthetics, manufacturing, economics

and utility. Accordingly, our mass-produced products are generally

useful, ergonomic, convenient, economical and have a pleasant

appearance.

However, there is also a need to generate solutions that defy current

norms; that challenge convention; that re-conceive what design,

production and products might be and, importantly, there is a need

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Rethinking Material Culture

to create solutions that inspire. To do this we must ensure that such

solutions are not automatically rejected or eliminated by the processes

we have put in place, in both design education and design practice. For

original thinking to flourish in design, we must value and nurture the

unfamiliar, the atypical and even the perplexing, in addition to technical

competency and design proficiency. Inevitably, creative insights and

ideas that are of lasting value will be rare and hard-won, but they are

urgently needed in today’s world of design and production.

Over the past century, there have been many inspiring examples of

design that have challenged prevailing stereotypes and stimulated and

influenced subsequent designers. Historically

, the work of van Doesburg,

Gerrit Reitveld and the De Stijl group in The Netherlands from 1917,

and of the Bauhaus designers in Germany, such as Marcel Breuer and

Gunta Stölzl, in the period 1919–1933,

had an enormous effect on

20th century design, and their legacy is still influential. More recently,

the work of the Memphis group in Italy during the 1980s had profound

effects on design education and practice.

In their time, these groups

were highly innovative and groundbreaking; they were also of their time.

The issues and agendas to which they were responding are not our

issues and agendas. Today, we are facing new challenges associated

with the globalization of industrial capitalism, the environment,

national and transnational socio-economic disparities, and rapidly

evolving scientific and technological developments. While incremental

changes that address these issues are important and necessary, it is

also essential to encourage ideas that break with convention, that test

preconceptions and, potentially, reframe our notions of product design

and post-industrial material culture. The Droog designers, again from

The Netherlands, are dealing with some of these questions in innovative

ways that lie somewhere between art and product design, between

clarity and ambiguity, between seriousness and wry wit. It is quite

appropriate that many of the Droog designs defy existing classifications

because part of the process of rethinking the current place and role of

industrial design is to reconsider its boundaries and scope.

When the aesthetic definition of a product is regarded as a primary

objective, in and of itself, we must consider from whence our aesthetic

decisions are derived. Personal experience, memory, notions of taste

and conventions of beauty are all sources. However, it is these very

conventions that have influenced, configured and, to an extent,

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1010

determined personal experience, memory and taste. Here then is the

paradox of aesthetic definition. It is informed by convention – our

conventional notions of beauty and taste. But it is this very influence of

convention that results in the endless regurgitation of variations on a

theme and imprisons product design in its own cage of introversion. The

resulting derivations and repetitions disregard and deny the necessity

of innovation that lies at the heart of aesthetic expression. While many

contemporary products may have the attributes of being economical,

convenient and pleasing to the eye, they also tend to be monotonously

mundane, inherently destructive of the environment, representative

of grossly inequitable employment practices, culturally damaging in

their blanket distribution and ethically questionable in terms of their

marketing. These observations have an honourable precedent. Over

25 years ago the design critic Stephen Bayley spoke of the ‘plateau of

mutual pastiche’ that determined the appearance of so many

consumer products.

Instead of viewing aesthetics as a direct aim, it can also be considered

as an outcome of an approach to product design that has different

objectives. Industrial design can then focus on the meanings of material

culture and thus develop and evolve. Ironically

, in doing so, aesthetic

definition will also evolve, unconstrained by the customs and precedents

of product definition. In other words, aesthetics will begin to be more

profoundly related to the whole of what a product is. Consequently, the

aesthetic definition of a product, when derived from a different source,

will, without doubt, challenge current norms. It will find its own place

as an outcome rather than an all-consuming aim. In doing so, product

design can respond creatively to the critical issues of our times in ways

that are thoughtful and inspiring.

The rejection both of convention and of aesthetics as a direct aim

is not, however

, a rejection of history and experience; in fact quite

the opposite. Personal and cultural experience can be embraced as

providing important insights and nourishment for product definition.

Such nourishment is urgently required if we are to effectively address

current questions in ways that overcome fads and fashions and which

are rooted in meaningful and enduring human and cultural values. This

must start in our design schools and in how we educate our

young designers.

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Rethinking Material Culture

Avant-garde artists such as Marcel Duchamp and Richard Long, the

composer John Cage, and the contemporary architect and designer

Frank Gehry demonstrate that true creativity can be challenging and

difficult to absorb. It is often commercially unsuccessful and sometimes,

at least initially, even ridiculed and dismissed. For example, Duchamp

submitted the piece known as Fountain to an exhibition in New York

in 1917 that was jury-free and open to all works of art. This white-

porcelain urinal, which Duchamp had purchased from a supplier and

signed R. Mutt, was, nevertheless, rejected from the exhibition. Despite

this, it has become an icon of the 20th century and has caused people

to reassess their ideas about art.

6,7

Cage’s musical composition 4’33”

of 1952, ‘for any instrument or groups of instruments’

has been equally

controversial and confusing and still prompts comment and ridicule.

This piece has three movements, each of which is marked ‘tacet’,

indicating that the performer is to be silent throughout.

As Duchamp provoked questions about visual art, Cage caused us to

reassess our preconceptions about music. Both demonstrated that new

forms were possible that addressed important aspects of being human.

Similarly

, the works of sculptor Richard Long

and architect Frank

Gehry

are challenging and, perhaps, sometimes bewildering. But such

contributions allow us to see anew; they disrupt our comfort and test our

attitudes. There is a need for such work in product design, before the

excesses of our current preoccupations bury us alive in waste, pollution

and sheer banality.

Ever since the early years of the 20th century, when mass-produced

consumer goods started to become widely available, products have

been promoted as ‘new

’ and ‘leading edge’ based on two major

features – aesthetics and technology. The first encompasses the latest in

fashions, styling and colours and is the primary focus of the industrial

designer. The second includes such things as functional attributes and

gadgetry and is informed more by aspects of engineering. Neither has

given us a lasting and meaningful material culture. Rather, they have

contributed to the unsustainable, inherently damaging characteristics of

our current design and production approaches.

We need to encourage and value an avant-garde in the field of design

because time passes, the world changes and new issues come to the

fore and need to be addressed. This is especially true if

, over time, our

ways of doing things are revealed to have damaging consequences.

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Fashion and much technological innovation is often superficial, trivial

and invariably wasteful. It is time to establish new criteria for product

design, for progress in design and for our notions of good design. An

avant-garde based in meaningful and pressing contemporary issues

could provide the impetus for new, urgently needed thinking and

innovative directions in product design; an impetus that would rouse the

discipline from its current stasis.

For new ideas to be meaningful, innovative and well-grounded,

designers must be educated in issues that go beyond the traditional

boundaries of design. Philosophy

, historical and contemporary issues,

current affairs and discussions that stimulate critical thinking can all be

brought to bear on how we reconfigure our notions of products, product

design and the creation and meanings of material culture in

today’s world.

An example here might serve to expose our presumptions and

prejudices. Our traditional, socially embedded understandings of

business, growth and capitalism are, in fact, relatively recent. Industrial

capitalism grew from the British cotton industry during the Industrial

evolution and is, therefore, only a few hundred years old.

The

distinguishing feature of this system, which now seems so normal

and unchallengeable, is that the surpluses of production began to be

used to expand productive capacity itself. This gave us the notion of

continual industrial growth, and the corollary of continually expanding

consumption, disposable products, resource depletion, pollution and

waste. We are living with the consequences of this today and are

seemingly unable to free ourselves from its destructive grip. Before

the rise of capitalism, however, the surpluses of production were used

for other purposes. They were invested in economically unproductive

endeavours, which, viewed from our current frame of reference, seems

both incredible and ludicrous. The great European cathedrals are one

legacy of this which, incidentally, still fulfil a valuable purpose today.

I use this example not to suggest that we should somehow try to return

to a pre-capitalist, medieval time, but simply to illustrate that existing

norms do change, that alternatives are possible – and urgently needed,

given the current rates of ecological devastation and the gross social

imbalances associated with our present modus operandi. Critical

thinking and the challenging of precedents and standards must begin

to prefigure the design process and become more commonplace

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Rethinking Material Culture

and more substantive than is generally the case today. Designers will

still have the important task of translating these ideas into form, but

ultimately, it is the strength of the ideas that is crucial for the evolution of

a lasting, meaningful and, hopefully, more benign material culture.

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SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT

IN CONTEXT

the evolution

of a

contemporary

myth

To understand why, in the early years of the 21st century, sustainable

development has become generally and positively recognized by

governments, business and society as a whole, we need to take a look

at its emergence as an idea. In this chapter, I provide a brief overview

of some of the key historical events that ultimately led to our current

notions of ‘sustainable development’ and ‘sustainability’,

and consider

what might be seen as a subset of these concepts, namely ‘sustainable

product design’. I also suggest that sustainable development can be

understood as an important, but nevertheless limited, mythic story

that attempts to give meaning to some of our principal modern-day

uncertainties.

The publication of Our Common Future in 1987 by the W

orld

Commission on Environment and Development, often referred to as

the Brundtland Report, popularized the term sustainable development,

which it described as a type of development that would enable us to

meet our present needs in ways that would not jeopardize the potential

of future generations to meet their needs.

Since then there have

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Sustainable by Design

1616

arisen hundreds of ‘principles of sustainable development’, designed

to suit all kinds of industries, interests and views.

However, in general

terms, sustainable development addresses three interrelated areas:

environmental stewardship, social equity and justice, and

economic issues.

In many respects, it can be argued that the statement of these three

concerns is simply our modern, secularized way of repeating age

-old

wisdom teachings that have been expressed down the centuries in the

form of mythology and sacred literature. Myths have always existed and

will always exist because it is through the metaphorical language of myth

that a culture articulates its deepest concerns. Sustainable development

can be seen as our own myth, emerging from a culture of science,

technology and reason.

We live in an age in which it is often regarded as inappropriate to

include religious considerations in the discussion of contemporary

issues. In North America there is a somewhat uncomfortable and

certainly contentious division between Church and state, and in Europe

politicians tend to avoid reference to religious beliefs, and when such

references are made they are often surrounded by controversy

Religious

concerns are almost never addressed in the business or commercial

world, academics rarely include discussion of the religious issues that

might be raised by a particular topic of debate and, increasingly,

religious symbols are being viewed as unacceptable in many public

school systems in western democracies.

However, while the demise of

religious considerations in public discourse is clearly evident, many of

the concerns remain that were traditionally addressed by religion.

In the 1970s, scholar George Steiner suggested that the demise of an

encompassing Christian teaching had deprived western society of critical

understandings of social justice, history

, the mind/body relationship, and

of knowledge and moral behaviour.

In this same period we began to

see the emergence of (what eventually became known as) ‘sustainable

development’ as a socially acceptable, contemporary means of

framing our enduring ethical dilemmas and moral choices, as well

as our ideas of social justice and environmental stewardship. Indeed,

historian Philip Jenkins wonders if environmentalism might not be the

ideological force of our time, and he refers to the political scientist

Hedley Bull’s suggestion that such a movement could be a kind of

worldwide, non-religious, political organization, equivalent to that seen

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Sustainable Development in Context

in western Christendom during the Middle Ages.

However, this seems

rather overstated because secularism and its ideologies are simply

not universally accepted, being restricted mainly to western, especially

European, societies. In addition, and notwithstanding its admirable

intentions, we must also acknowledge that the basis of sustainable

development is less rounded, less developed, and has a far more

instrumental bias and utilitarian agenda than the heritage of wisdom

teachings that are present in the world’s great philosophies, religions

and mythologies. In the latter, we find the emphasis on the inner or

spiritual development of the individual and of the community – from

which one’s behaviour and actions in the world can be guided. Without

this inner source it could be argued that our ‘worldly’ endeavours tend

to become superficial and, potentially, misguided.

Like many previous myths and religious traditions,

sustainable

development aspires to an indefinable, unattainable goal – a goal

which, nevertheless, many consider worth aiming for, but which forever

eludes actual arrival. Furthermore, the sustainable ‘myth’ tells us that if

the message goes unheeded and we fail to alter our behaviours we will

be the cause of our own destruction. The message is both ethical and

environmental. It promotes greater social equity and improvement in the

living conditions for those in need, especially in developing countries,

and it encourages conservation of the natural environment and

reductions in energy use, consumption and human greed. For example,

environmentalists Gordon and Suzuki offer advice for saving energy in

the home and suggest how larger-scale energy savings can be made.

They also state as a ‘simple truth’ that the present generation is the last

one that can save the Earth.

Obviously, this statement is an assumption

and a warning, but it is not a proven fact and it is anything but a ‘simple

truth’. Rather, it should be seen as a well-intentioned message to spur

us into changing course. There are many other examples of writers

who illustrate possibilities for moderating our impacts on the planet,

and others who warn of the imminent dangers to our future because of

our destructive lifestyles.

In this context, sustainable development is

seen as a way out of our predicament; a way forward that will enable

us to live in closer harmony with the natural environment and achieve

greater social equity and justice in our activities. This view of sustainable

development, as something that encompasses all the essential elements

required to achieve our goals is, as I will demonstrate, characteristic of

a mythic story.

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