Interior design's struggle to develop a sufficient social compact is considered in the context of... more Interior design's struggle to develop a sufficient social compact is considered in the context of the discipline's nascent professionalisation. After interior design developed out of interior decoration it acquired some characteristics of a true profession (mainly a technical knowledge base, associations with higher education, and a public focus). However, its ontological origin as an arts-based practice remains. This practice is reliant on 'good taste', in which an essentially amateur activity is used as an instrument of class distinction. This renders the discipline unable to state its greater social contribution which is required to sustain a compact in which the privileges of professionalisation are counterbalanced by an endeavour to act in the public good. Subsequently, an attempt is made by academia to assert the discipline's social contribution as a precursor to professionalisation. In a diversion from taste-making and decoration, a tacit compact is expressed by the introduction of topics such as human-centred design, well-being, and environmental sustainability. However, the pedagogic underpinnings which support the realities of commercial practice are diminished and the needs of the client and the end-user may be placed in opposition. We suggest that currently the social compact in interior design's academic focus, although well-intentioned, is incompatible with the commercial realities of practice. The failure to resolve these contradictions results in graduates who are not able to apply the compact in conventional practice. This is counterproductive to professionalisation efforts since the discipline is unable to deliver its claimed expertise. Our aim is to consider the origins of this conflict and its implications on interior design as an academic and professional discipline. This is in order to provide a mediated position in which the discipline may assert a credible social compact which is constructed on the basis of its ontology. In our self-identification as interior designers (who approach the discipline as students, practitioners, and academics) we undertake a heuristic enquiry. We generate novel insights by relating the self to our context. Our insights and opinions are supported and illustrated with empirical data, literature, and pertinent examples.
The systemic nature of cultural production implies that designed objects are made desirable (or a... more The systemic nature of cultural production implies that designed objects are made desirable (or acceptable) by tastemakers who endow objects with forms of social distinction. Social distinction highlights or diffuses status and reveals self-perceptions of consumers’ identities. In this way, design becomes a form of tastemaking, invested in the construction of identity and is therefore a form of cultural production rooted in consumption. The role of the designer in facilitating conspicuous consumption is therefore critical in the context of social distinction, cohesion and identity. This practice is potentially unethical when cultural production is undermined as a cyclical fashionable commodity in which conspicuous consumption is utilised to indicate who is ‘in the know’. This may lead to a wasteful practice. While conspicuous consumption may be perceived as unethical and superficial, or at least contributing to environmental and social degradation, the ethical contributions of desig...
Interior design’s struggle to develop a sufficient social compact is considered in the context of... more Interior design’s struggle to develop a sufficient social compact is considered in the context of the discipline’s nascent professionalisation. After interior design developed out of interior decoration it acquired some characteristics of a true profession (mainly a technical knowledge base, associations with higher education, and a public focus). However, its ontological origin as an arts-based practice remains. This practice is reliant on ‘good taste’, in which an essentially amateur activity is used as an instrument of class distinction. This renders the discipline unable to state its greater social contribution which is required to sustain a compact in which the privileges of professionalisation are counterbalanced by an endeavour to act in the public good. Subsequently, an attempt is made by academia to assert the discipline’s social contribution as a precursor to professionalisation. In a diversion from taste-making and decoration, a tacit compact is expressed by the introduct...
14th National Design Education Conference 2017. #Decolonise! Design educators reflecting on the call for the decolonisation of education, 2017
This paper considers the discrepancies in the visual literacy of students prior to entering spati... more This paper considers the discrepancies in the visual literacy of students prior to entering spatial design education at a public higher-educational institution. Because the school subjects Visual Arts and Engineering Graphics and Design provide feeder skills to visual literacy, students with exposure to these subjects tend to have higher visual literacy than students who are unlikely to have received exposure to these subjects. This is problematic because Visual Arts and Engineering Graphics and Design are not on offer in all public South African schools. As educators from a public higher-educational institution endeavouring to provide equitable learning opportunities, how do we, through spatial design education, relate to first-year students with an awareness of differences in student ’readiness’ impacted by schooling opportunities? What role can spatial design exercises play in alleviating these discrepancies while engaging all students in the first-year studio? This paper focuses on first-year spatial design students and the design exercises In your Hands and Self-Portrait. These introductory design briefs focus on the development of students’ three-dimensional spatial design skills with awareness of the impact of students’ school subjects on studio outputs. In your Hands requires the creation of a support with wire for stone using stone, wire and pliers. Thereafter follows a group discussion, reflection and iteration. Self-Portrait requires the creation of a three-dimensional self-portrait of the inner and outer being using wire and thereafter, a projected shadow drawing of the portrait using light while drawing with graphite on paper. A selection of projects conducted by first-year spatial design students of architecture, interior architecture and landscape architecture in 2017 at the Department of Architecture, University of Pretoria has been documented. With the focus of spatial design education in the first-year studio being on the development of three-dimensional design skills, differences in students’ schooling backgrounds played a reduced role in impacting project outcomes. The introduction of alternative media, stone and wire, to which most students had limited exposure, provides an even playing field. Communalism as a means of learning together was explored through group discussion and iteration of the exercise, providing students an opportunity for self-review and improvement in their approach. Self-Portrait allows a reflection of self-understanding in a threedimensional format. The shadow projection reinforce the role of two-dimensional drawings as representational of three-dimensional spatial products as a key skill to spatial design practice which redefines the two-dimensional drawing from being an artistic output to becoming a representational image. The two exercises provide a relevant discussion as introductory exercises focusing on skills development in the spatial design fields through the three-dimensional. This approach allows a fairer learning opportunity for students regardless of their school subjects, which could have enhanced their skills in visual literacy. This is a worthwhile case study for spatial design educators in the context of the call for decolonised education.
8th International DEFSA Conference 2019. Designed Futures., 2019
Interior design is a discipline concerned with human inhabitation. It provides the capacity for i... more Interior design is a discipline concerned with human inhabitation. It provides the capacity for inhabitant identities to inform and be informed by the interior. Interiors are cultural products, reflective of societal identity and taste (Königk & Khan 2015). Following Bourdieu (1979 [1984]), tastemaking is a repeated, cyclic process. As tastemakers, interior designers are responsible for deciding how selected goods are made desirable through responding to, interpreting and shaping the tastes of society. The cyclic nature of interiors is prevalent in the commercial realm. The conventional fit-out lifecycle is governed by lease periods of five years and the physical deterioration of shopfitted elements after ten years of use. This results in the recurring disposal and generation of interior fit-outs within each decade. From the perspective of environmental sustainability, this repeated cycle of production to consumption to disposal is problematic in its contribution to wasteful practice. In a conscious movement towards sustainability, we recognise the role of interior design as providing an opportunity to influence inhabitants’ tastes for environmental awareness. Since interior design is a reflection of societal taste and acts to re-inform taste, we suggest that this consciousness be integrated within designing itself with a re-defined concept for the production of interior fit-outs. The aim of this paper is to address the wasteful aspects of cyclic interiors through a process-oriented-view, a philosophy of the food cycle (Meisner-Jensen 2011), interpreted as an approach for interior design. It shifts tastemaking in and for interiors from a product-driven to a holistic, process-oriented approach, emphasising the lifecycle of space and its artefacts. Following this holistic view, the paper suggests a set of guidelines based on the application of process-oriented-thinking within conceptual design phases. It asserts for multi-dimensional approaches in which all aspects of the lifecycle are considered from the onset of the design process. The intention is to contribute towards developing sustainable practices for interior design while promoting ‘a taste’ for sustainable consumption to inhabitants.
The systemic nature of cultural production implies that designed objects are made desirable (or
a... more The systemic nature of cultural production implies that designed objects are made desirable (or acceptable) by tastemakers who endow objects with forms of social distinction. Social distinction highlights or diffuses status and reveals self-perceptions of consumers’ identities. In this way, design becomes a form of tastemaking, invested in the construction of identity and is therefore a form of cultural production rooted in consumption. The role of the designer in facilitating conspicuous consumption is therefore critical in the context of social distinction, cohesion and identity. This practice is potentially unethical when cultural production is undermined as a cyclical fashionable commodity in which conspicuous consumption is utilised to indicate who is ‘in the know’. This may lead to a wasteful practice. While conspicuous consumption may be perceived as unethical and superficial, or at least contributing to environmental and social degradation, the ethical contributions of design in this context cannot be disregarded. The aspirational nature of conspicuous consumption is evident when individuals in developing economies are pressured to indulge on aspects of consumption before their basic needs are met; the implication is that consumers in all classes and incomes have the desire to express or improve their social status (O’Cass & McEwen, 2004:29). It may be argued (following Mangold, 2014) that socially responsive design prioritises the user’s needs over the aesthetics; however the role of aesthetics in tastemaking reinforces social patterns. Tastemakers are individuals who attained enough cultural capital to empower them to determine which new novel ideas, artefacts, or creative acts are recognised as valid and made available for cultural production at large. Their decision making has the potential to influence cultural ethics on a larger scale. In this understanding, consumerism is explored as having the potential to be a meaningful and viable means of generating identity. It is here that the ethical responsibility of the tastemaker becomes relevant. The paper will, through a focus on the links between consumerism and design, attempt to disrupt the perception that conspicuous consumption is a superficial practice to indicate that consumption can be an ethical practice.
The systemic nature of cultural production implies that designed objects are made desirable (or a... more The systemic nature of cultural production implies that designed objects are made desirable (or acceptable) by tastemakers who endow objects with forms of social distinction. Social distinction highlights or diffuses status and reveals self-perceptions of consumers' identities. In this way, design becomes a form of tastemaking, invested in the construction of identity and is therefore a form of cultural production rooted in consumption. The role of the designer in facilitating conspicuous consumption is therefore critical in the context of social distinction, cohesion and identity. This practice is potentially unethical when cultural production is undermined as a cyclical fashionable commodity in which conspicuous consumption is utilised to indicate who is 'in the know'. This may lead to a wasteful practice. While conspicuous consumption may be perceived as unethical and superficial, or at least contributing to environmental and social degradation, the ethical contributions of design in this context cannot be disregarded. The aspirational nature of conspicuous consumption is evident when individuals in developing economies are pressured to indulge on aspects of consumption before their basic needs are met; the implication is that consumers in all classes and incomes have the desire to express or improve their social status (O'Cass & McEwen, 2004:29). It may be argued (following Mangold, 2014) that socially responsive design prioritises the user's needs over the aesthetics; however the role of aesthetics in tastemaking reinforces social patterns. Tastemakers are individuals who attained enough cultural capital to empower them to determine which new novel ideas, artefacts, or creative acts are recognised as valid and made available for cultural production at large. Their decision making has the potential to influence cultural ethics on a larger scale. In this understanding, consumerism is explored as having the potential to be a meaningful and viable means of generating identity. It is here that the ethical responsibility of the tastemaker becomes relevant. The paper will, through a focus on the links between consumerism and design, attempt to disrupt the perception that conspicuous consumption is a superficial practice to indicate that consumption can be an ethical practice.
Interior design's struggle to develop a sufficient social compact is considered in the context of... more Interior design's struggle to develop a sufficient social compact is considered in the context of the discipline's nascent professionalisation. After interior design developed out of interior decoration it acquired some characteristics of a true profession (mainly a technical knowledge base, associations with higher education, and a public focus). However, its ontological origin as an arts-based practice remains. This practice is reliant on 'good taste', in which an essentially amateur activity is used as an instrument of class distinction. This renders the discipline unable to state its greater social contribution which is required to sustain a compact in which the privileges of professionalisation are counterbalanced by an endeavour to act in the public good. Subsequently, an attempt is made by academia to assert the discipline's social contribution as a precursor to professionalisation. In a diversion from taste-making and decoration, a tacit compact is expressed by the introduction of topics such as human-centred design, well-being, and environmental sustainability. However, the pedagogic underpinnings which support the realities of commercial practice are diminished and the needs of the client and the end-user may be placed in opposition. We suggest that currently the social compact in interior design's academic focus, although well-intentioned, is incompatible with the commercial realities of practice. The failure to resolve these contradictions results in graduates who are not able to apply the compact in conventional practice. This is counterproductive to professionalisation efforts since the discipline is unable to deliver its claimed expertise. Our aim is to consider the origins of this conflict and its implications on interior design as an academic and professional discipline. This is in order to provide a mediated position in which the discipline may assert a credible social compact which is constructed on the basis of its ontology. In our self-identification as interior designers (who approach the discipline as students, practitioners, and academics) we undertake a heuristic enquiry. We generate novel insights by relating the self to our context. Our insights and opinions are supported and illustrated with empirical data, literature, and pertinent examples.
The systemic nature of cultural production implies that designed objects are made desirable (or a... more The systemic nature of cultural production implies that designed objects are made desirable (or acceptable) by tastemakers who endow objects with forms of social distinction. Social distinction highlights or diffuses status and reveals self-perceptions of consumers’ identities. In this way, design becomes a form of tastemaking, invested in the construction of identity and is therefore a form of cultural production rooted in consumption. The role of the designer in facilitating conspicuous consumption is therefore critical in the context of social distinction, cohesion and identity. This practice is potentially unethical when cultural production is undermined as a cyclical fashionable commodity in which conspicuous consumption is utilised to indicate who is ‘in the know’. This may lead to a wasteful practice. While conspicuous consumption may be perceived as unethical and superficial, or at least contributing to environmental and social degradation, the ethical contributions of desig...
Interior design’s struggle to develop a sufficient social compact is considered in the context of... more Interior design’s struggle to develop a sufficient social compact is considered in the context of the discipline’s nascent professionalisation. After interior design developed out of interior decoration it acquired some characteristics of a true profession (mainly a technical knowledge base, associations with higher education, and a public focus). However, its ontological origin as an arts-based practice remains. This practice is reliant on ‘good taste’, in which an essentially amateur activity is used as an instrument of class distinction. This renders the discipline unable to state its greater social contribution which is required to sustain a compact in which the privileges of professionalisation are counterbalanced by an endeavour to act in the public good. Subsequently, an attempt is made by academia to assert the discipline’s social contribution as a precursor to professionalisation. In a diversion from taste-making and decoration, a tacit compact is expressed by the introduct...
14th National Design Education Conference 2017. #Decolonise! Design educators reflecting on the call for the decolonisation of education, 2017
This paper considers the discrepancies in the visual literacy of students prior to entering spati... more This paper considers the discrepancies in the visual literacy of students prior to entering spatial design education at a public higher-educational institution. Because the school subjects Visual Arts and Engineering Graphics and Design provide feeder skills to visual literacy, students with exposure to these subjects tend to have higher visual literacy than students who are unlikely to have received exposure to these subjects. This is problematic because Visual Arts and Engineering Graphics and Design are not on offer in all public South African schools. As educators from a public higher-educational institution endeavouring to provide equitable learning opportunities, how do we, through spatial design education, relate to first-year students with an awareness of differences in student ’readiness’ impacted by schooling opportunities? What role can spatial design exercises play in alleviating these discrepancies while engaging all students in the first-year studio? This paper focuses on first-year spatial design students and the design exercises In your Hands and Self-Portrait. These introductory design briefs focus on the development of students’ three-dimensional spatial design skills with awareness of the impact of students’ school subjects on studio outputs. In your Hands requires the creation of a support with wire for stone using stone, wire and pliers. Thereafter follows a group discussion, reflection and iteration. Self-Portrait requires the creation of a three-dimensional self-portrait of the inner and outer being using wire and thereafter, a projected shadow drawing of the portrait using light while drawing with graphite on paper. A selection of projects conducted by first-year spatial design students of architecture, interior architecture and landscape architecture in 2017 at the Department of Architecture, University of Pretoria has been documented. With the focus of spatial design education in the first-year studio being on the development of three-dimensional design skills, differences in students’ schooling backgrounds played a reduced role in impacting project outcomes. The introduction of alternative media, stone and wire, to which most students had limited exposure, provides an even playing field. Communalism as a means of learning together was explored through group discussion and iteration of the exercise, providing students an opportunity for self-review and improvement in their approach. Self-Portrait allows a reflection of self-understanding in a threedimensional format. The shadow projection reinforce the role of two-dimensional drawings as representational of three-dimensional spatial products as a key skill to spatial design practice which redefines the two-dimensional drawing from being an artistic output to becoming a representational image. The two exercises provide a relevant discussion as introductory exercises focusing on skills development in the spatial design fields through the three-dimensional. This approach allows a fairer learning opportunity for students regardless of their school subjects, which could have enhanced their skills in visual literacy. This is a worthwhile case study for spatial design educators in the context of the call for decolonised education.
8th International DEFSA Conference 2019. Designed Futures., 2019
Interior design is a discipline concerned with human inhabitation. It provides the capacity for i... more Interior design is a discipline concerned with human inhabitation. It provides the capacity for inhabitant identities to inform and be informed by the interior. Interiors are cultural products, reflective of societal identity and taste (Königk & Khan 2015). Following Bourdieu (1979 [1984]), tastemaking is a repeated, cyclic process. As tastemakers, interior designers are responsible for deciding how selected goods are made desirable through responding to, interpreting and shaping the tastes of society. The cyclic nature of interiors is prevalent in the commercial realm. The conventional fit-out lifecycle is governed by lease periods of five years and the physical deterioration of shopfitted elements after ten years of use. This results in the recurring disposal and generation of interior fit-outs within each decade. From the perspective of environmental sustainability, this repeated cycle of production to consumption to disposal is problematic in its contribution to wasteful practice. In a conscious movement towards sustainability, we recognise the role of interior design as providing an opportunity to influence inhabitants’ tastes for environmental awareness. Since interior design is a reflection of societal taste and acts to re-inform taste, we suggest that this consciousness be integrated within designing itself with a re-defined concept for the production of interior fit-outs. The aim of this paper is to address the wasteful aspects of cyclic interiors through a process-oriented-view, a philosophy of the food cycle (Meisner-Jensen 2011), interpreted as an approach for interior design. It shifts tastemaking in and for interiors from a product-driven to a holistic, process-oriented approach, emphasising the lifecycle of space and its artefacts. Following this holistic view, the paper suggests a set of guidelines based on the application of process-oriented-thinking within conceptual design phases. It asserts for multi-dimensional approaches in which all aspects of the lifecycle are considered from the onset of the design process. The intention is to contribute towards developing sustainable practices for interior design while promoting ‘a taste’ for sustainable consumption to inhabitants.
The systemic nature of cultural production implies that designed objects are made desirable (or
a... more The systemic nature of cultural production implies that designed objects are made desirable (or acceptable) by tastemakers who endow objects with forms of social distinction. Social distinction highlights or diffuses status and reveals self-perceptions of consumers’ identities. In this way, design becomes a form of tastemaking, invested in the construction of identity and is therefore a form of cultural production rooted in consumption. The role of the designer in facilitating conspicuous consumption is therefore critical in the context of social distinction, cohesion and identity. This practice is potentially unethical when cultural production is undermined as a cyclical fashionable commodity in which conspicuous consumption is utilised to indicate who is ‘in the know’. This may lead to a wasteful practice. While conspicuous consumption may be perceived as unethical and superficial, or at least contributing to environmental and social degradation, the ethical contributions of design in this context cannot be disregarded. The aspirational nature of conspicuous consumption is evident when individuals in developing economies are pressured to indulge on aspects of consumption before their basic needs are met; the implication is that consumers in all classes and incomes have the desire to express or improve their social status (O’Cass & McEwen, 2004:29). It may be argued (following Mangold, 2014) that socially responsive design prioritises the user’s needs over the aesthetics; however the role of aesthetics in tastemaking reinforces social patterns. Tastemakers are individuals who attained enough cultural capital to empower them to determine which new novel ideas, artefacts, or creative acts are recognised as valid and made available for cultural production at large. Their decision making has the potential to influence cultural ethics on a larger scale. In this understanding, consumerism is explored as having the potential to be a meaningful and viable means of generating identity. It is here that the ethical responsibility of the tastemaker becomes relevant. The paper will, through a focus on the links between consumerism and design, attempt to disrupt the perception that conspicuous consumption is a superficial practice to indicate that consumption can be an ethical practice.
The systemic nature of cultural production implies that designed objects are made desirable (or a... more The systemic nature of cultural production implies that designed objects are made desirable (or acceptable) by tastemakers who endow objects with forms of social distinction. Social distinction highlights or diffuses status and reveals self-perceptions of consumers' identities. In this way, design becomes a form of tastemaking, invested in the construction of identity and is therefore a form of cultural production rooted in consumption. The role of the designer in facilitating conspicuous consumption is therefore critical in the context of social distinction, cohesion and identity. This practice is potentially unethical when cultural production is undermined as a cyclical fashionable commodity in which conspicuous consumption is utilised to indicate who is 'in the know'. This may lead to a wasteful practice. While conspicuous consumption may be perceived as unethical and superficial, or at least contributing to environmental and social degradation, the ethical contributions of design in this context cannot be disregarded. The aspirational nature of conspicuous consumption is evident when individuals in developing economies are pressured to indulge on aspects of consumption before their basic needs are met; the implication is that consumers in all classes and incomes have the desire to express or improve their social status (O'Cass & McEwen, 2004:29). It may be argued (following Mangold, 2014) that socially responsive design prioritises the user's needs over the aesthetics; however the role of aesthetics in tastemaking reinforces social patterns. Tastemakers are individuals who attained enough cultural capital to empower them to determine which new novel ideas, artefacts, or creative acts are recognised as valid and made available for cultural production at large. Their decision making has the potential to influence cultural ethics on a larger scale. In this understanding, consumerism is explored as having the potential to be a meaningful and viable means of generating identity. It is here that the ethical responsibility of the tastemaker becomes relevant. The paper will, through a focus on the links between consumerism and design, attempt to disrupt the perception that conspicuous consumption is a superficial practice to indicate that consumption can be an ethical practice.
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Papers by Zakkiya Khan
students who are unlikely to have received exposure to these subjects. This is problematic because Visual Arts and Engineering Graphics and Design are not on offer in all public South African schools.
As educators from a public higher-educational institution endeavouring to provide equitable learning opportunities, how do we, through spatial design education, relate to first-year students with an awareness of differences in student ’readiness’ impacted by schooling opportunities? What role can spatial design exercises play in alleviating these discrepancies while engaging all students in the first-year studio?
This paper focuses on first-year spatial design students and the design exercises In your Hands and Self-Portrait. These introductory design briefs focus on the development of students’ three-dimensional spatial design skills with awareness of the impact of students’ school subjects on studio outputs. In your Hands requires the creation of a support with wire for stone using stone, wire and pliers. Thereafter follows a group discussion, reflection and iteration. Self-Portrait requires the creation of a three-dimensional self-portrait of the inner and outer being using wire and thereafter, a projected shadow drawing of the portrait using light while drawing with graphite on paper. A selection of projects conducted by first-year spatial design students of architecture, interior architecture and landscape architecture in 2017 at the Department of Architecture, University of Pretoria has been documented. With the focus of spatial design education in the first-year studio being on the development of three-dimensional design skills, differences in students’ schooling backgrounds played a reduced role in impacting project outcomes. The introduction of alternative media, stone and wire, to which most students had limited exposure, provides an even playing field. Communalism as a means of learning together was explored through group discussion and iteration of the exercise, providing students an opportunity for self-review and improvement in their approach. Self-Portrait allows a reflection of self-understanding in a threedimensional format. The shadow projection reinforce the role of two-dimensional drawings as representational of three-dimensional spatial products as a key skill to spatial design practice which redefines the two-dimensional drawing from being an artistic output to becoming a representational image. The two exercises provide a relevant discussion as introductory exercises focusing on skills development in the spatial design fields through the three-dimensional. This approach allows a fairer learning opportunity for students regardless of their school subjects, which could have enhanced their skills in visual literacy. This is a worthwhile case study for spatial design educators in the context of the call for decolonised education.
In a conscious movement towards sustainability, we recognise the role of interior design as providing an opportunity to influence inhabitants’ tastes for environmental awareness. Since interior design is a reflection of societal taste and acts to re-inform taste, we suggest that this consciousness be integrated within designing itself with a re-defined concept for the production of interior fit-outs. The aim of this paper is to address the wasteful aspects of cyclic interiors through a process-oriented-view, a philosophy of the food cycle (Meisner-Jensen 2011), interpreted as an approach for interior design. It shifts tastemaking in and for interiors from a product-driven to a holistic, process-oriented approach, emphasising the lifecycle of space and its artefacts. Following this holistic view, the paper suggests a set of guidelines based on the application of process-oriented-thinking within conceptual design phases. It asserts for multi-dimensional approaches in which all aspects of the lifecycle are considered from the onset of the design process. The intention is to contribute towards developing sustainable practices for interior design while promoting ‘a taste’ for sustainable consumption to inhabitants.
acceptable) by tastemakers who endow objects with forms of social distinction. Social distinction
highlights or diffuses status and reveals self-perceptions of consumers’ identities. In this way, design
becomes a form of tastemaking, invested in the construction of identity and is therefore a form of
cultural production rooted in consumption. The role of the designer in facilitating conspicuous
consumption is therefore critical in the context of social distinction, cohesion and identity.
This practice is potentially unethical when cultural production is undermined as a cyclical fashionable
commodity in which conspicuous consumption is utilised to indicate who is ‘in the know’. This may
lead to a wasteful practice.
While conspicuous consumption may be perceived as unethical and superficial, or at least
contributing to environmental and social degradation, the ethical contributions of design in this
context cannot be disregarded. The aspirational nature of conspicuous consumption is evident when
individuals in developing economies are pressured to indulge on aspects of consumption before their
basic needs are met; the implication is that consumers in all classes and incomes have the desire to
express or improve their social status (O’Cass & McEwen, 2004:29). It may be argued (following
Mangold, 2014) that socially responsive design prioritises the user’s needs over the aesthetics;
however the role of aesthetics in tastemaking reinforces social patterns.
Tastemakers are individuals who attained enough cultural capital to empower them to determine
which new novel ideas, artefacts, or creative acts are recognised as valid and made available for
cultural production at large. Their decision making has the potential to influence cultural ethics on a
larger scale.
In this understanding, consumerism is explored as having the potential to be a meaningful and viable
means of generating identity. It is here that the ethical responsibility of the tastemaker becomes
relevant.
The paper will, through a focus on the links between consumerism and design, attempt to disrupt the
perception that conspicuous consumption is a superficial practice to indicate that consumption can be
an ethical practice.
students who are unlikely to have received exposure to these subjects. This is problematic because Visual Arts and Engineering Graphics and Design are not on offer in all public South African schools.
As educators from a public higher-educational institution endeavouring to provide equitable learning opportunities, how do we, through spatial design education, relate to first-year students with an awareness of differences in student ’readiness’ impacted by schooling opportunities? What role can spatial design exercises play in alleviating these discrepancies while engaging all students in the first-year studio?
This paper focuses on first-year spatial design students and the design exercises In your Hands and Self-Portrait. These introductory design briefs focus on the development of students’ three-dimensional spatial design skills with awareness of the impact of students’ school subjects on studio outputs. In your Hands requires the creation of a support with wire for stone using stone, wire and pliers. Thereafter follows a group discussion, reflection and iteration. Self-Portrait requires the creation of a three-dimensional self-portrait of the inner and outer being using wire and thereafter, a projected shadow drawing of the portrait using light while drawing with graphite on paper. A selection of projects conducted by first-year spatial design students of architecture, interior architecture and landscape architecture in 2017 at the Department of Architecture, University of Pretoria has been documented. With the focus of spatial design education in the first-year studio being on the development of three-dimensional design skills, differences in students’ schooling backgrounds played a reduced role in impacting project outcomes. The introduction of alternative media, stone and wire, to which most students had limited exposure, provides an even playing field. Communalism as a means of learning together was explored through group discussion and iteration of the exercise, providing students an opportunity for self-review and improvement in their approach. Self-Portrait allows a reflection of self-understanding in a threedimensional format. The shadow projection reinforce the role of two-dimensional drawings as representational of three-dimensional spatial products as a key skill to spatial design practice which redefines the two-dimensional drawing from being an artistic output to becoming a representational image. The two exercises provide a relevant discussion as introductory exercises focusing on skills development in the spatial design fields through the three-dimensional. This approach allows a fairer learning opportunity for students regardless of their school subjects, which could have enhanced their skills in visual literacy. This is a worthwhile case study for spatial design educators in the context of the call for decolonised education.
In a conscious movement towards sustainability, we recognise the role of interior design as providing an opportunity to influence inhabitants’ tastes for environmental awareness. Since interior design is a reflection of societal taste and acts to re-inform taste, we suggest that this consciousness be integrated within designing itself with a re-defined concept for the production of interior fit-outs. The aim of this paper is to address the wasteful aspects of cyclic interiors through a process-oriented-view, a philosophy of the food cycle (Meisner-Jensen 2011), interpreted as an approach for interior design. It shifts tastemaking in and for interiors from a product-driven to a holistic, process-oriented approach, emphasising the lifecycle of space and its artefacts. Following this holistic view, the paper suggests a set of guidelines based on the application of process-oriented-thinking within conceptual design phases. It asserts for multi-dimensional approaches in which all aspects of the lifecycle are considered from the onset of the design process. The intention is to contribute towards developing sustainable practices for interior design while promoting ‘a taste’ for sustainable consumption to inhabitants.
acceptable) by tastemakers who endow objects with forms of social distinction. Social distinction
highlights or diffuses status and reveals self-perceptions of consumers’ identities. In this way, design
becomes a form of tastemaking, invested in the construction of identity and is therefore a form of
cultural production rooted in consumption. The role of the designer in facilitating conspicuous
consumption is therefore critical in the context of social distinction, cohesion and identity.
This practice is potentially unethical when cultural production is undermined as a cyclical fashionable
commodity in which conspicuous consumption is utilised to indicate who is ‘in the know’. This may
lead to a wasteful practice.
While conspicuous consumption may be perceived as unethical and superficial, or at least
contributing to environmental and social degradation, the ethical contributions of design in this
context cannot be disregarded. The aspirational nature of conspicuous consumption is evident when
individuals in developing economies are pressured to indulge on aspects of consumption before their
basic needs are met; the implication is that consumers in all classes and incomes have the desire to
express or improve their social status (O’Cass & McEwen, 2004:29). It may be argued (following
Mangold, 2014) that socially responsive design prioritises the user’s needs over the aesthetics;
however the role of aesthetics in tastemaking reinforces social patterns.
Tastemakers are individuals who attained enough cultural capital to empower them to determine
which new novel ideas, artefacts, or creative acts are recognised as valid and made available for
cultural production at large. Their decision making has the potential to influence cultural ethics on a
larger scale.
In this understanding, consumerism is explored as having the potential to be a meaningful and viable
means of generating identity. It is here that the ethical responsibility of the tastemaker becomes
relevant.
The paper will, through a focus on the links between consumerism and design, attempt to disrupt the
perception that conspicuous consumption is a superficial practice to indicate that consumption can be
an ethical practice.