Diploma program 01

Diploma program spring 2015 Title: Heritage of the salt culture in the Zigong city: From Lantern Festival to daily lighting Student: Lu Ding Field: Product Design Supervisor: Carsten Oeding Loly Secondary Supervisor: Sigurd Strom

Pre-diploma/ Lu Ding/ 14.11.2014

Supervisor: Carsten Oeding Loly

Zigong city

http://xianadi.blog.163.com/blog/static/124278516201281101438344/

1. Title: Heritage the salt culture in Zigong City: from Lantern Festival to daily lighting.

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By investigating in one of the craftsmanship that grown from the salt culture of Zigong City, which is lighting installation making for Lantern Festival, I want to design a daily lighting by using the skills, materials involved to maintain and reinforce the culture, and sugguste the next transition of the professional skills.

Picture: 1. Location of Zigong city in China 2 . L o n g h i sto r y o f m a te l w o r k i n g blacksmiths are making drill for digging the salt well 3. Lantern Festival: metal frame working and local dyed fabric http://upload.17u.com/uploadfile/2012/02/28/2/2012022811221386865.jpg

Pre-diploma/ Lu Ding/ 14.11.2014

Supervisor: Carsten Oeding Loly

http://xianadi.blog.163.com/blog/static/124278516201281101438344/

2. Background: Salt culture in Zigong city 1

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http://xianadi.blog.163.com/blog/static/124278516201281101438344/

http://xianadi.blog.163.com/blog/static/124278516201281101438344/

Zigong City is located in Sichuan Province, has long been renowned as "Salt City" for its brine extraction techniques and the attendant salt-related culture.

Salt was one of the most expensive materials, so the scale of the businese grown very big. Lots of locals were working in related field.

Pictures: 1. Zigong city in 1930s 2. People are making the construction 3. People are making the drill 4.Paiting on the wall, showing the producing process

Pre-diploma/ Lu Ding/ 14.11.2014

Supervisor: Carsten Oeding Loly

http://travel.tianya.cn/photo/jd/sc-jingd-237/sc-jingd-237a.jpg

3. Relavant Context & Problem Definition

Things started to change until the founding of People’s Republic of China in 1949 with the introduction of new salt producing methods and advancing of technologies. It's a right choice at that time because people were in lack of goods.

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But today we are facing new challenges because of the consequence of rapid development and urbanization. The values, lifestyle and code of conduct based on the rural context are experiencing a crisis of confidence (Lou, 2013): 1. local identity is losing in the way that traditional professions and skills are

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Pre-diploma/ Lu Ding/ 14.11.2014

Supervisor: Carsten Oeding Loly

vanishing, 2. at the same time the locals are losing the sense of belonging so that rural areas have gradually lost the members. it’s both a local and global phenomenon.

As one of the belongs of Zigong city, I decide to start with my hometown as an example within this context. In the city, the traditional way of salt production is only kept in the museum, and all the jobs that related to it was gone.

Picture: 1, Factories with new producing methods 2. the Zigong Salt Museum

http://www.yzdsb.com.cn/pic/0/11/23/72/11237283_654818.jpg

4. My focus: from Lantern Festival to daily lighting 1

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http://www.yzdsb.com.cn/pic/0/11/23/72/11237283_654818.jpg

To address this problem, my approach i s to m a i n ta i n a n d re i n fo rce t h e "salt culture" by lifting up related craftsmanship. There are lots of related crafts, I choose the liging installation making because the crafts involved can be done by me at AHO: metal wire welding and local dyed fabric.

A n d t h e re l a t i o n s h i p w i t h t h e s a l t culture is that 1) The Lantern Festival 3 was originally a celebration for the salt business annually. 2) the metal 1. the Lantern Festival frame working is a transition of local 2. lighting installation making blacksmiths' knowledge from making the 3. local dyed fabric drill for digging the salt well.

Pre-diploma/ Lu Ding/ 14.11.2014

Supervisor: Carsten Oeding Loly

http://xianadi.blog.163.com/blog/static/124278516201281101438344/

http://image31.bookschina.com/2010/20100216/s3383776.jpg

5. Approach & Dilieveries 1

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I w i l l s t a r t b o t h t h e o re t i ca l ly a n d practically: 1: culture mapping: I will read relevant b o o ke s , a n d v i s i t re s e a rc h e rs a n d museums to understand the whole picture and background 2:gain insights in the craft by interview, observing and doing it: I want to investigate into the aesthetic, material, skill, identity such aspects of the crafts.

Then I will analyze the research material and refining it into three concepts and then choose one direction to continue with.

Pre-diploma/ Lu Ding/ 14.11.2014

Supervisor: Carsten Oeding Loly

http://xianadi.blog.163.com/blog/static/124278516201281101438344/

My dilieveries will be: 1) a daily lighing 2) documents including process 3) reflections Pictures: 1. (the History of Salt) by Liangxi Song, a well-known researcher into the salt culture of Zigong city.

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Phase 1: Grasp: trip to Zigong City

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Phase 1

6. Scheldule

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 4

School Date: 16 Dec: Deliver portfolio at PreDip’s place at Moodle.

School Date

5 Jan: Diploma semester starts

My Date

10 Feb: First ”Midterm” (PechaKucha – style)

Discussion, reflection and documating

7-8 April: Second ”Midterm”

Phase 5

Phase 6

Phase 4: Develping chosen concept Phase 5: Maing the final object Phase 6: Finish report and deliver

27 Feb: well-communicating 3 concepts and choose one 27 Mar: 1:1 scale mock -up of the final object and some details (materials, finishing and etc.)

24 Apr: finishing the making of the object

11 May: Delivery of final proposal.

5 May: print the report

Supervisor: Carsten Oeding Loly

Phase 3: Three Concepts

My date: 5th Feb: report about exploration of theoretical and practical parts (also deciding on the layout/ color)

13 April: Last chance to with-draw your Diploma (without failing) and last chance to make more substantial changes.

Pre-diploma/ Lu Ding/ 14.11.2014

Phase 2: Exploring and clean-up findings

31 Apr: finishing the report

Zigong city

Transition 1 http://xianadi.blog.163.com/blog/static/124278516201281101438344/

7. Summary

In summary, what's there already is the transition of craft skills from making drill to the lighting installation making.

What I want to do is to sugguest the next transition: to maintain local and traditional skills by using it for mking new things in a daily setting - such as lightingat the same time embedded within the "salt culture".

In this sense, my design is not for a company, it's my suggestion of how things could be done. http://upload.17u.com/uploadfile/2012/02/28/2/2012022811221386865.jpg

Pre-diploma/ Lu Ding/ 14.11.2014

Supervisor: Carsten Oeding Loly

8. References

Liangxi Song (2008). 盐 史 论 集（The History of Salt）, China: Sichuan Province press Richard Sennett (2009]. The Craftsman, Yale University Press; 1 edition LOU, Yongqi (2013). Design Harvest, China: A Mistra Urban Futures

Pre-diploma/ Lu Ding/ 14.11.2014

Supervisor: Carsten Oeding Loly