These thoughts came during the exhibition course in HDK. We are preparing for the Stockholm furniture fair 2012. I looked into the design history together with my experience of my life in Sweden, about how Sweden formed its modern design. Carl Larsson, Ellen Key.. They set the root for the Swedish people's forever relationship with their homes.
Yes, I'd like to assume, Swedish modern design begins from every ordinary people's home. All these time I have been curious, why every single Swedish People care so much about their home decorations. From the very first day I came in this country, I have noticed this is like a national hobby. Hobby shops, material shops all over the city, crowded design store, all reflect a common enthusiasm about handcraft and home decorations. No wonder this country have the big international brand IKEA just for home products. Like Ellen Key says, every worker is a potential artist, Swedish design is meant to make everyday life beautiful for ordinary people. Ellen Key says in her book" beauty in the home" already at the beginning of the last century: “New aethetic sensibility must begin in the domestic setting". "The beautiful, is that which is practical, useful, informed by its purpose, and expressive of the soul of the user or creator." "All people need to create beautiful surroundings for themselves, and this creation begins in the home." "If beauty exists in the home, lives will be transformed, and so, ultimately will every aspect of society." The spirit lies in the core value of their culture identity. That is "Hem". Those values are embedded in this culture, they are still true for nowadays Swedish society. But the new modern life has changed the surroundings of the culture. Mobility, fast modern living pace and lack of emotional links. Everybody lives in some kind of individuality. It is especially true for the young generations. Globalization means, you are more connected to the world, at the same time you are more easily drifting away from your home, from where you belong. We are all kind of "ROOTLESS". You are individual and seperate from your surroundings. The lack of belonging and a feeling of floating take control of your life. You don't know where you are gonna stay for a reasonably long time or it is just a stop of your life journey. You wonder, the laughing people surrounding you now, will they disappear tomorrow like they have never been here. Life is full of packing and unpacking. You have a list of"must have", "whatever" and "throw away." You don't know when and where you are gonna "TAKE ROOT", like a flying balloon catched by a tree. You dare not buy heavy and expensive antiques or have too much emotional links to something big because you are afraid in case next time of moving you have to throw them away. So cheap and flexible IKEA seems the best solution. However, put the everyday necessity aside, there must be some emotional objects you ought to carry with you all the time. " a security blanket", " a portrait of lover", "a childhood toy", "a ticket to mars"...They are there because of the emotional links, because they create a feeling of belonging, a feeling of home. Where I put "you", I mean "me". If you share the same "rootless" feeling, I would very much to hear your voices. We are talking about collective arent we? I am now ready to collect you rootless people's emotional murmurs. (I remember Miss Salla have some speech about it..and Astrid too?..) 1. What is "home" to you? (In this subject, there have been lots of famous people's quotes: “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” Robert Frost quotes (American poet, 1874-1963) “I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.” Maya Angelou quotes (American Poet, b.1928) “He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe quotes (German Playwright, Poet, Novelist and Dramatist. 1749-1832) “Home is not where you live, but where they understand you” Christian Morganstern quotes) 2. What will you take if tomorrow's doomed and we are leaving for Mars? Name one or some.(If you tell me whyyy...I will save you a ticket :) We're all born alone but...let's PARTY! http://exhibitingthecollective.tumblr.com/post/13796275886/hem-a-sharing-of-thoughts
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I am thinking: is there a place designed for people to be quietly thinking, a place to watch time running, a meditation space?
I found sth on the Internet and quoted them. "meditation has been laid stress upon by all religions. The meditative state of mind is declared by the Yogis to be the highest state in which the mind exists. When the mind is studying the external object, it gets identified with it, loses itself. To use the simile of the old Indian philosopher: the soul of man is like a piece of crystal, but it takes the colour of whatever is near it. Whatever the soul touches ... it has to take its colour. That is the difficulty. That constitutes the bondage." "..在印度教徒看来,任何神灵降附的东西都是可崇拜并会带来功德的,因而一幅画像、一尊雕像、草木石头都可以成为偶像。 " David Lynch is always my inspiration. He talked about meditation and creativity in his book "catching the big fish". _
This is a picture I took a month ago when I was in Berlin. It is from one of the many bricks of the memorial church(Gedächtniskirche). The original church on the site was built in the 1890s. It was badly damaged in a bombing raid during the world war two. The damaged part was not fixed like the original building. Instead people in Berlin insisted to keep the damaged look as a reminder of that history. They build memorial hall beside the church using pieces of glass which makes people relate to the pieces of the bomb or the pieces of faith left in humanism after the war. A french artist made these beautiful glass pieces and reorganize them in the shape of sqaure. It made me think about the designer's role today at the atomosphre of globalization and diversity. We are like individual atoms in this emptiness. Should we design to solve problems or is there really so many problems to solve? Is mass production or functionalism still the right way of making objects today? Does the world really need another chair for the purpose of sitting? Maybe functionalism is not the perfect answer today. Designer need to pick up the pieces we have lost and rebuild something for our soul. That means, to cure, to calm, to lead and to take responsibility. Little things always inspire me.
Some mumbling words, a rhyming poem, some silly little songs. I believe the one true thing that lives in your memory is the details you think you are going to forget. They seem so meaningless and forgettable. But when you look back, all things are soaked in blurry except the little thing you really noticed. They are the evidence that you ever truely lived, the witness of every risk you take, every mistake you have made. I am crazy about collecting them, not only mine but others too. Illusions. Voices. Dreams. Gestures. Little chats. Mid-night snacks. Meditations. A beatiful scene. A smooth curve. So I try to put every emotion in my design. The combination of form and function make the design alive. Design for every little thing you try and try not to remember. Design for every ordinary one. Design for everyday life. |