DESIGN MAGAZINE 28 (SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016)

1

EDITORIAL Tiago Krusse

It seems that the whole people involved in the car industry made a terrible decision since the birth of the explosion motor. At those early and exciting days of development of the car, inventors were able to create an electrical engine that showed better qualities than the explosion one in combining performance, reliability and environmental concerns. It seems now that there was a plot among industrial entrepreneurs, oil producers, trade businessmen, politicians and market agents so that explosion was the thing to be kept at all costs. So for more than one century the car industry and everyone and everything around are responsible for this huge lie of the essential need of oil to make engines work and make bodyworks move through long distances.

Now electrical cars are seen as the top of innovation providing some companies to show all their technological vanguard and their pretended and assumed industrial breakthroughs. For instead, if we look into what Ferdinand Porsche was able to present with his electrical car we would get a deeper impression that this nowadays futurism concerning electrical car solutions and engineering are more likely to be something caught up from a lost trunk, with sketches and technical robust solutions, deliberately put aside all these years.

Now think about all the waste of energy, all the pollution, all the diseases, all the disputes, all the wars ‌ all the greediness that left us all with what?

It seems that all the car industry business was created to optimized the wealth of a few. It is about time to put a stop to the destruction of our environment and definitely the car industry has for sure more than doubled obligations in this particular matter.

2

3

CONTENTS

Painting and Approaches III by Rodrigo Costa Dana Cohen

18

Interview PeiChin Tay The Pozega Project Atelier Z

4

42

32 36

14

WWW.IMM-COLOGNE.COM

A FEIRA INTERNACIONAL DE MOBILIÁRIO E DESIGN DE INTERIORES

16–22.01.2017

As tendências são lançadas aqui: a imm cologne proporciona o impulso decisivo para um início de ano repleto de sucesso. Só aqui o mercado internacional de mobiliário pode encontrar propostas mundialmente exclusivas a nível de mobiliário, acessórios e design de interiores – perfeitamente complementadas pelas últimas tendências e inovações para a cozinha na LivingKitchen. Descubra o mercado global da decoração de interiores num só local, de uma só vez e ao vivo em Colónia.

imm cologne em conjunto com: SGM Ferias & Servicios S. L., C/Núñez de Balboa, 94 - 1º C, 28006 Madrid Tel. 91 7 03 00 50, Fax 91 3 50 04 76, info@koelnmesse.es

5

Director/Editor - Founder Tiago Krusse Executive Designer Lucas Fernandes Text Contributors Rodrigo Costa (Oporto) English editing K Photo Contributors João Morgado – Architectural Photography Advertising http://revistadesignmagazine.com/publicidade/ Office DESIGN MAGAZINE Jardim dos Malmequeres, 4, 2.º Esquerdo 1675-139 Pontinha (Odivelas) | Portugal www.revistadesignmagazine.com Publishing House K Innovative Diffuser, Sociedade Unipessoal Limitada Jardim dos Malmequeres, 4, 2 ESQ 1675-139 Pontinha | Portugal NIPC: 513 314 652 Juridic Consultor Dr. Maria de Lourdes Castelo Branco Accounting Auditoc Media founded in 2011.

Officialy recognized by the ERC - Entidade Reguladora Para A Comunicação Social under the register number 126104.

6

7

8

9

In 2016, e15 celebrates two decades of stool BACKENZAHN™ with a humorous and poignant installation for the Stylepark Featured Editions at imm cologne exploring the topics intellectual property and copyright infringement. A book titled “copy, right?” by Trademark Publishing featuring stool BACKENZAHN™ accompanies the exhibition and focuses on an artistic interpretation of the subject. With a foreword by design critic Markus Frenzl, photography by Ingmar Kurth and art direction by Antonia Henschel, the book addresses the issue of copyright infringement by presenting a variety of copies of the iconic stool. “copy, right?” is available via Amazon and every bookshop.

Copy, right? – An homage to the Backenzan by Antonia Henschel Publisher: Trademark Publishing ISBN: 978 3 9817475 6 0 Hardcover English 48 Pages Photocopies based on original photographs by Ingmar Kurth 2016

Including more than eighty examples, author Philip Jodidio explores the rich potential granted by this built form, and how it engageswith the landscapes, streetscapes and peoplescapes around it. Whether they are temples to digital interaction or provide oases of surreal calm and isolation, all of the featured structures are far more current and revealing than any selection of ‘real’ buildings because their architects have been able to play with the rules, using never before tried methods.

The New Pavilions Publisher: Thames & Hudson ISBN: 978 0 500 34322 7 Hardback English 288 Pages 800 Illustrations 2016

10

›

iF DESIGN AWARD 2017 Disciplines: Product // Packaging // Communication // Interior Architecture Professional Concepts // Service Design // Architecture

›

Registration until 20 October 2016

www.ifworlddesignguide.com/if-design-award-2017 11

DESIGN FOR EUROPE

Powering Innovation Summit 2016

Design for Europe, the programme commissioned and co-funded by the European Union to support design-driven innovation across Europe, has announced that its 2016 summit will be hosted in Tallinn, Estonia, the European hub for cutting-edge innovation and entrepreneurship, on Thursday 6 October.

Design for Europe: Powering Innovation is a day-long event which will bring together more than 200 delegates. Pioneering individuals and organisations at the forefront of design-driven innovation will demonstrate the transformational effect of design within European business and governments and provide solutions for future economic growth.

The event will feature more than 20 expert speakers from organisations such as the European Commission, Google, SAP, Mercer, Funderbeam and Future Cities Catapult. They will join Summit host Lynda Relph-Knight, former editor of Design Week, to discuss how design can promote productivity and performance, the importance of design skills within innovation, how design helps to address societal challenges and the way that a design-led approach can bring together different agents to achieve maximum impact.

Kultuuri Katel, Tallinn’s Creative Hub, will play host to policymakers at regional and national levels, representatives from business organisations and networks across the design and innovation industries. This unmissable day will consist of expert panel discussions, interactive workshops and networking sessions addressing how design drives innovation, the skills our workforce need for the future and what needs to happen in the European business and policy ecosystem to implement innovation more effectively. http://www.designforeurope.eu/events/design-europe-summit-0

12

About Design for Europe Design for Europe is a three-year programme to support design-driven innovation across Europe. It is co-funded by the European Union as part of the EU’s Action Plan for Design-Driven Innovation.

Design for Europe is being delivered by a 14-strong pan-European consortium, led by Design Council in the UK*. Central to the project is the Design for Europe web platform – designforeurope.eu – which brings together knowledge and examples of design-led innovation from across the EU. For more information about Design for Europe and to sign up for the newsletter visit designforeurope. eu. You can also follow Design for Europe on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. * The Design for Europe consortium partners are Design Council, Lancaster University, Birmingham City University, Estonian Design Centre, Nesta, Invest Northern Ireland, KEPA, Politecnico di Milano, La 27e Région, Danish Design Centre, Luxinnovation, ARC Fund, European Network of Living Labs and dŠola.

Design Council is the Consortium Lead.

About Design Council Design Council is a charity and is recognised as a leading authority on the use of strategic design.

The Design Council makes use of design as a strategic tool to tackle major societal challenges, drive economic growth and innovation, and improve the quality of the built environment. The approach is people-centred and enables the delivery of positive social, environmental and economic change. The organisation address all aspects of design including product, service, user experience and design in the built environment. The Design Council is the UK government’s adviser on design.

13

PAINTING AND APPROACHES | III | CONTINUATION

When talking about style it is, once more, unavoidable to remember the genetic structure, because we do not make to ourselves; we are product from laws that are beyond our control. There is, actually, the context and its influences, such as cultural and educational methods, but it is like the relationship between the tree and the wind — the tree cannot be immune to the wind, but the wind could not transform the tree’s essence, without to conflict with the Nature.

But we can still refer the struggle between the ship and the sea, in middle of a tempest, concluding to be better to cross the waves, pointing the ship keel transversely to waves, so as to resist to the shipwreck… — the secret of the survival of the Universe and Humanity is the indifference from the Nature to the humans’ laws.

In Art everything begins by sensibility and attraction.

We feel or we do not feel the things; there is or there is not affective connection between author and subject, once our feelings and our will are not programmed by external suggestions, even if we have to keep open mind so that we can see and pick up what may serve us as the project we are.

14

Rodrigo Costa

Fundamental, however, is to preserve the integrity, the character's mark, without losing ourselves among the context conditions; without forget the true reason of living: the pleasure; the harmony, the balance between body and spirit, given that our time is only the time in which we live and along which we have to build our personality and trying to get the fluency for our speech.

Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter are references from and for stylists or dressmakers. As thinker, the artist has not time. The artist has and is his or her own time in the endless Time of the Universe.

It is need to separate Art, Industry and Fashion, once Art has no compromise with who is waiting something considered fashionable or revolutionary. Art has neither political nor revolutionary compromise. The Art may, of course, consider all kind of interventions but preserving its space, its roots, the freedom to choice and approach, according to the natural freedom of the artist.

There is, naturally, institutions, galleries, curators, critics and historians, all of them wanting to paint their own paintings, trying to use the artists' hands for building stuff about which themselves have no

idea, because, in general, most of them live lost among theories, in a fantastic world.

Yes, they have the power, they rule the art world; they can decide about the artistic careers — what people must or must not do —, once they seem to be at the summit of the pyramid. But is that really true? Will they are at so high level? It is true that many artists and supposed artists look at the artistic phenomenon as way to access to the fame.

For an award, many artists are able to mortgage hands and head, and supposed artists are available for giving everything they have not. Both can follow innocent, ignorant and perverse advices, because they think of being possible and easy to climb up true mountains…without faith — there go them climbing down toward the base seen as the summit of the pyramid.

We cannot talk about Art without talk about Life and about social life. And coherently, we cannot talk about Art, Life and the social life degradation without talk about the human being degradation. We cannot blindly go ahead without analyze the absence of philosophical thinking in the technological thinking. The result is there: lots of high technology and unhappiness. Why? It is not possible to be affectively empty and, at same time, affectively fulfilled.

On Painting — on Art — there are the unavoidable — grammars, knowledge — and the variables —themes and approaches. Such as on writing or talking, we need to know about words and how to conjugate them —lexicon and syntax; in Painting, forms, colors and composition.

Well, but what is the creativity, then?! In a simple answer, the creativity is the stimulus from the intelligence supported by the memory, given that without memory there is no intelligence —when thinking about Alzheimer, we realize that its victims do not lose the intelligence but the memory. The technician (intelligence) has lost manuals and toolbox (memory)…

Many contemporary say does not be need the command of drawing to be a painter. I would say does not be need to think or be able to do whatever we want, once the scientists exist for thinking and fulfill our gaps; they can create everything, or almost, while we are sleeping or playing.

There is no better! However, there is a little problem: the scientists cannot live our frustrations, our affective emptiness and our incapacity to respond to

ourselves, our inability to be minimally autonomous, having command of basic matters, because the Life is not only fame and business —the Life advises us to be affectively fulfilled through the healthy combination of brain and body, thinking and action, through the sensation of we feel ourselves complete through the knowledge.

As artists or supposed artists we have lots of technological prosthesis that can substitute our thinking and our hands. But it does not make sense to defend the need of thinking by ourselves and, on the other hand, waiting our needs satisfied by stranger's thoughts and capacities — thoughts and capacities that we do not have or that, for laziness, we do not want to develop and use.

I must remember that we are talking about Art — about Painting, in this case; we are not talking about industry. And that, independently of the transverse economic crisis, the art market is going by the bitterness street in consequence of the action of hordes of the curious, ignorant and perverted people —artists included, indeed —, given to be nonsensical to ask prices for standard bad stuff as if it was something unique.

First of all, we must not put painting, design and new technologies in the same bag, even if it is consensual to realize that Art can be present in all activities whatever they are, once the Art depends on the attitude more than from shapes or designations.

However, there are some differences, important differences: among all disciplines, the Painting is the rawer, the wilder; what more depends on the naked and free hand.

Have I something against new technologies? ... I just say that each thing must be in its place, despite the semantic and the subjectivity around it. Beyond this, it is due to new technologies that I know a little more about painting and Art in general, thanks to the windows now open to the World.

In the Painting the hand is important. And when, sometimes, somebody asks what is most important, whether the skills or imagination, the answer is obvious: imagination without skills is a bag of potatoes.

The same happens when there is skills but not the inside vision; when, through the exercise of copying, was not possible to memorize lexicon and ways of syntax From times to times appears the question: — What is most important, intelligence or knowledge? It even

15

is told that Einstein would have said that the intuition is more important than the knowledge! ... I ask, for what intelligence would serve if not for acquire and improve the knowledge; and for what knowledge would serve if not for helping and improving the intelligence? ...

We must not forget that all growing up happens by imitation. All we were born naked and just after we will be clothed but, first, with pieces chosen by adult people. Later, according to our already formed opinion, we will wear what, in different moments, matches better to our personality — this is the course of the Life.

To draw, then, is the better way to apprehend shapes, volumes, contrasts, distances and the relationship among elements. Through the drawing we can feel the sensibility and the strength of the forms. Even while drawing our brain is analyzing colors and tonalities; the brain is attentive to what we observe.

In resume, the drawing gives us, as painters, the inestimable autonomy and the unity in the gesture — with or without color.

Thus, it is easy to conclude how much the style of the painting depends on the style of the drawing, once painting and drawing are both eternally accomplices. Therefore, the gesture and the quality of the gesture, in the painting, are consequence from the gesture and from the quality of the gesture in the drawing.

What kind of drawing? — it is possible to ask. I would say that the drawing is for an artwork like the clothes are for the occasion and… our mood.

Depending on all the two previous and unavoidable factors, the drawing may go from a simple sketch till a detailed work. So it is better to wonder what kind of drawing we want, according to the circumstances — objective, tools and our mood. According to the goal, the drawing can be analytical, rough or merely structural. Different circumstances propose and impose different approaches.

To be continued … http://rodrigovcosta.wix.com/rodrigocosta

16

“Pigeon”, 2016. Rodrigo Costa. Drawing.

17

DANA COHEN

Worn Again is the couture collection by fashion designer Dana Cohen and is an award winning graduation project by the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design in Israel. Textiles leftovers were recycled and given a new life cycle by introducing innovative approach to ecological fabric manufacturing.

Dana Cohen is a young fashion designer who just got her graduation from the Shankar College of Engineering and Design in Israel. Through the information she sent us we get to know that each year there is around 17 thousand tons of textiles that are thrown away in Israel, numbers according to Adam Teva V’Din the Israel Union for Environmental Defense. Getting knowledge of this situation near the end of her studies Dana started thinking about clothing mass production and she also felt bad for throwing away good textiles and garments. So she decided to come up with the idea of this haute couture collection that basically gave a new life cycle to textile leftovers and waste. As she points out the ”collection introduces an innovative approach to ecological fabric manufacturing, used for designing luxurious and distinctive garments”. Dana also clarifies on how her design is innovative saying that “until now, used 18

clothes were recycled mainly for practical purposes.

I found a way to create a new cycle of life to used knits by shredding them and using them to create new textiles. I like the idea that the unique color of the recycled textiles consist of many different knits, each with their own history. And meanwhile we can reduce pollution!”.

Beyond the inspiration in which the collection lies, the designer explained that “by knitting new knits and integrating them in the new fabric, I could illustrate the transformation from old to new. For some of the outfits I used patterns as argyles and stripes that are usually associated with traditional sweaters.”

She concluded referring that “each garment symbolizes the possibility of creating beauty out of something we thought had already ended”. www.cohendana.com

Page on the left, Dana Cohen photographed by Madlen Cohen This page, up and down, photos by Madlen Cohen

19

Lookbook Photography: Ron Kedmi Mua: Dan Michaeli Model: Elena Terekhova

INTERVIEW

PeiChin Tay

She’s the project lead of the Design for Europe, lead by the Design Council, the programme co-funded by the European Commission with the mission to support, from 2014 to 2016, what has design-driven innovation across Europe. With a great amount of experience gathered within this initiative, we asked PeiChin Tay to give us a detailed perspective of what has been made, what sort of progressions were achieved and what could be expected for the future.

By Tiago Krusse Photo and image: Courtesy of the Design Council

32

What is the Design for Europe? Who came up with the idea and how it was planned?

Design for Europe is a three-year programme (20142016) co-funded by the European Commission to support design-driven innovation across Europe.

Over recent years, there has been increasing recognition and support at the European Commission (EC) about the value and importance of design. In 2013, the EC published an Action Plan for Design-Driven Innovation which aims to accelerate the take-up of design in innovation policies and to create the capacity and competencies needed to implement these policies. As part of the Action Plan, the Commission called for the creation of a web platform to bring together those interested in design-driven innovation. Design for Europe was thus born.

Also referred to as the European Design Innovation Platform, Design for Europe aims to increase the use of design for innovation and growth across Europe. It is primarily delivered through a web platform (www.designforeurope.eu) and an active programme of engagement that brings together knowledge and best practices of design for innovation from across the private, public and policymaking sectors in Europe.

Who makes part of this programme and how much investment is there from the European Union?

Design for Europe is co-funded at €3.8m by the European Union. It is led by Design Council with the support of 13 pan-European consortia partners: ARC Fund, Bulgaria; Birmingham City University, UK; Danish Design Centre, Denmark; dŠola, Slovenia; Estonian Design Centre, Estonia; Invest Northern Ireland, UK; KEPA Business and Cultural Development Centre, Greece; La 27è Région, France; Lancaster University, UK; Luxinnovation, Luxembourg; Nesta, UK and Politecnico di Milano, Italy.

When did it start and which major achievements would you like to underline?

The project commenced in 2014 and has received a lot of interest, which shows just how much appetite is out there. Over 47,000 people have visited the site, and the partners have engaged with over 4,500 people face-to-face across all EU member states.

In its second year of operation, Design for Europe made significant progress towards achieving its

goal, of raising awareness and capability of design for innovation across the EU. On the platform, we offer high quality content and we curate them for the best user experience. We are also experiencing a growing momentum of community participation through our forum channels (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn) and have amassed over 12,500 social media followers so far. So far, we have delivered or been present at 72 events, promoting the use of design in businesses, public sector and policymaking.

Our established network of 46 European Ambassadors has effectively been creating a ripple effect of design awareness through their networks, and we have already seen some concrete outcomes.

How the work has been developed and what kind of obstacles were found?

The project has moved from broad awareness-raising to a more sophisticated model, making a deep impact by supporting the European regions that are less advanced/widespread in their use of design.

Design for Europe has been enterprising in brokering new opportunities and testing new approaches, such as co-designing a bespoke programme of support for specific countries. This is not without challenges - as policymakers are one of our key target audience, we have experienced some barriers as a result of changes in governments and consequently, priorities and support for design. Whilst we continue to engage policymakers, we also find different ways to support bottom-up initiatives.

The other challenge that we have encountered is of the shortage of design skills – as we drum up support and create demand for design thinking, some countries do not yet have a steady supply of design skills to meet the requirements.

Why it was important to come up with this initiative?

On the European level, we know that the economy needs innovation to grow. There is compelling evidence that design-driven innovation is important as it can be a strong driver for economic growth.

The Design Value Index 2014 showed that over the last 10 years, international design-led companies have maintained significant stock market advantage, outperforming the Standard & Poor’s 500 index by an extraordinary 219%. Design Council’s latest research shows that research shows design

33

contributes £71.7bn to UK economy and our Design Leadership programme shows that, for every £1 invested in design, the business can expect over £20 increased revenue and over £5 increased exports.

Design for Europe brings visibility of the role and value of design to a broad audience. It is a one-stop destination that brings together the best practice of design; shares knowledge, experience and skills across Europe; and links up a community of people interested in this subject matter. Ultimately, Design for Europe equips businesses, public sector organisations and policymakers with the practical tools they need to innovate. Design for Europe is just the beginning, there is a lot more that needs to be done.

What sort of perception do you get from the level of the design-driven innovation across Europe?

The emphasis of the project as outlined in the EC Action Plan was on “closing the divide between advanced regions and those lagging behind in applying design-driven innovation”.

There is common recognition that while some European countries like the Scandinavian countries and the UK are world leaders in this field, others are just beginning to embrace design as an economic driver.

This seems to be broadly true, but we have found very interesting examples of so-called ‘modest and moderate innovator’ countries (who score low on the EU Innovation Scoreboard) like Estonia who have been extremely innovative in integrating design-driven innovation in the development of public services. In Luxembourg, we have seen an effective model of bottom-up initiatives like the Luxembourg Design Action Group that has made incremental changes over the years.

We have also experienced much interest from countries like Lithuania, Hungary, Ireland, Malta, Spain, Portugal and Poland, and are working closely with them to accelerate the uptake of design. Through Design for Europe, we are keen to create real impact, encourage more knowledge exchange between different countries/regions, and to bring more of such examples to light.

When will it be a more comprehensive attitude from European leaders about the key role of design in the economic development?

34

The European Commission has referenced user-driven innovation in the Innovation Union flagship initiative, so there is top level support. We have engaged a range of European policymakers, MEPs and business leaders, who have expressed strong support and recognition that innovation and design are key to Europe’s success in the global race. At our inaugural summit, titled ‘European Growth by Design’, a strong call to action from the high-level European speakers was loud and clear: get Chief Design Officers into the boardrooms of major European companies; train EC officials in design methods; and position design as a differentiator for products and services in a hyper-globalised world.

“The role of design in corporations is maturing, many corporations are setting a place for design at the board, and the role of the Chief Design Officer is to be the catalyst for transformation, helping the culture of these companies to further develop and further embed design into their core strategies.”, Stefano Marzano, Former Chief Design Officer, Royal Philips and Electrolux Group.

The strong support was further echoed in a more recent event on European manufacturing held in Brussels, where Christian Ehler MEP (Committee on Industry, Research and Energy; Chair of Creative Industries InterGroup) spoke about how the creative and cultural industries are the unique selling points of Europe. Similarly, Slawomir Tokarski (DG GROWTH, EC), Luke Logan (Rolls Royce), Sean Carney (Philips), and a number of MEPs signalled a similar message.

The Commission has recently launched a call for ideas for the European Innovation Council, and this could be a good opportunity to do more with design. As well as supporting the use of design, the European Commission have begun to explore the use of a design-led approach to policy formulation and implementation.

How has been the reaction and the level of commitment shown from the different players found along the way?

We have received a lot of interest in the project, surpassing our initial expectations and targets. For instance, we have a network of 46 European Ambassadors who are helping us voluntarily to promote the project to their networks. There is real effort and commitment from a range of stakeholders (business

intermediaries, public sector, policy-maker, academics, design community, etc) to raise awareness, exchange knowledge, and advance design development in their own areas. The Luxembourg Design Action Group example I mentioned earlier is a good one, and we are keen to share this model and support other countries to adapt this and implement their own.

Our audience have also been helpful in submitting useful content and some users have even helped us to translate our case studies (e.g., to Bulgarian and Portuguese), in order to share them with a wider audience. We are experiencing a growing momentum of community participation through the various social and face-to-face channels. Overall, we are very glad that there is immense interest in what we are doing, which gives us confidence and ambition to aim far beyond our initial project targets.

Why were business, public sector and policy selected as main targets?

To strengthen Europe’s competitiveness and to promote jobs and growth, it was critical to engage business intermediaries and businesses. And of course, policymakers play a vital role in underpinning this development and in setting out short and long-term plans towards the integration of design in innovation policies and/or creating design policies.

The public sector plays a key role too, not least due to their procurement of design services. Design methods can help drive public sector renewal and efficiencies, which is much-needed in a time of budget tightening.

A continuous and joined-up dialogue with various industry leaders, regional and national governments, academia and the design community is supported through Design for Europe. This holistic eco-system of different players is fundamental towards the sustainable advancement of design-driven innovation.

ground. The highlight of this year will also be our final summit which will take place in Tallinn, Estonia on 6th October, where we will share our success stories and future plans. If you would like to join us, please email hello@designforeurope.eu.

Will Design for Europe continue for the following years?

Our work in the countries mentioned above gives us the opportunity to test potential future business models for Design for Europe beyond our initial funded phase (2014-2016), which we hope will help us build a strong pipeline of future projects and partners. There’s evidence to suggest that there is demand for Design for Europe’s expertise and events, which backs our ambition to continue the project with a more refined scope. In design terms, you could say that we have built a series of prototypes of design support, continuously refined it based on user needs, and are in the process of developing a version 2.0 to take further beyond 2016. We hope to garner funding and support for our continuation. We have built a strong foundation and a growing community with huge potential, it would be a shame to stop there.

What important actions are scheduled for this year?

The final funded-year of the project will see us intensifying our work in selected countries like Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Spain, Portugal and Poland, who have approached us for help to advance design development in their countries/regions, and have also shown readiness to pilot new initiatives. The objective is on creating measurable impact on the

35

THE POZEGA PROJECT

Design as a tool for creative, social and economic empowerment

Text: Julia Cassim Photos courtesy of The Pozega Project

The professor Julia Cassim of the Kyoto Design Lab and Kyoto Institute of Technology, in Japan, describes her experience with the Pozega Project, a remarkable mission with good results.

In 2008, while at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design at the Royal College of Art, I received an email from Natasa Perckovic, a young designer from Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was brief and to the point. “Could I help her with a project?” I was used to such requests but this one caught my attention. Natasa wanted to use design to address the plight of three organisations employing skilled deaf people in Sarajevo – a printing firm, a network of craftspeople, some industrial seamstresses and a metal fabrication workshop whose core financial support had been abruptly terminated by the Bosnian government due to the dire state of the national economy. As a result they were facing collapse. Their situation mirrored that of so many other organisations of this type. What they produced was well-made but entirely lacking in the design qualities that would make them attractive to outlets other than charity bazaars. Sarajevo 36

is a small city and the Academy of Fine Arts where Perkovic works is just across the river from the workshops but the organisations had no links to the local design community or commercial ties beyond heavily subsidised state contracts.

I had no hesitation in saying yes, approached The British Council for funding and the result was the All Inclusive Sarajevo workshop in 2009. This brought volunteer designers from the UK, Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia to Sarajevo for a week where they co-designed and prototyped a set of products with the deaf craftspeople to generate income for their organisations. Perkovic continued to work with them long after the workshop ended to bring the products and the new sets of Design Goods she co-designed with them to market and the results were transformational on every level.

Extra:ordinary Design Workshops in Croatia & Macedonia Such was the impact of the All Inclusive Sarajevo project that workshops based on the model and funded by The British Council were held in Zagreb and Osijek in Croatia in 2011 and 2012, in Skopje, Macedonia in 2012 with an exhibition of the work held at the British Council headquarters in London in January 2013 to celebrate Croatia’s accession to the European Union. They say that a rolling stone gathers no moss but the workshops won a slew of design awards and created an expanding European network of designers, who thrived on the challenging workshop context and could literally deliver the goods.

And so when Rosana Besednic, the tireless Programme Manager of the British Council in Zagreb contacted me with the good news that the British Council in Croatia had won EU funding for a further workshop in Croatia, it was a no brainer. The only element that differed this time was that we would be working not with individual organisations but a whole city of 26,000 people – Pozega in Western Slavonia.

The aim was to involve as many individuals and organisations as possible – to use their skills and the public and private resources of the city to design a family of products with an overarching visual identity that could best represent Pozega and could be sold by the city, its museum and online. A percentage of the income generated would be set aside to support the activities of the MI, a non-profit organisation in Pozega, dedicated to providing recreational opportunities for its learning disabled beneficiaries and respite for their families. One condition of the funding was that we involve 50 people with disabilities from the Pozega region, develop new and existing skills and thereby enhance their employment prospects.

Thus, it was crucial that the products designed could serve as a learning template, be bound by strict design guidelines and be replicated perfectly once the workshop ended. No sweat then!

the design teams on what makes Pozega unique and special - its history, physical characteristics, personalities past and present, its cuisine; legends and folklore as well as the special skills and stories built up over time. The high school offered its premises and a band of eager students volunteered to be the design teams ‘runners,’ while Spin Valis, the local furniture factory offered technical support and to supply of Slavonian oak offcuts from the high quality furniture they produced for the teams to use.

It was a dream situation yet one that presented its own challenges – from the number of partners involved to the very specific requirements that come with any European Union funding. As creative director of the project, I had to find an overarching narrative that would bind the different elements together and enable the teams to work towards a coherent identity for the family of products that had to be specific to Pozega, irrespective of the medium in which they were produced.

The Conceptual Fan I found my answer in the Pozega museum in the form of a 19th Century fan made up of twelve different sections that show in pictures and words the ethnic and linguistic make-up of central and Eastern Europe – an integrated object that nevertheless expressed diversity. Taking this as a conceptual basis I asked the four teams to do two other things: To take traditional motifs, narratives, products and give them a new twist so that they can exist within a broader contemporary context, To work with, support and enhance the existing context, skills base and materials.

Twenty designers from eight countries took part, some newcomers responding to the open call but the majority veterans of past workshops. They were divided into four teams – wood, constructed textiles, printed textiles and graphic goods with a visual identity and web team.

Process, Partners & Results

Defining the Visual Identity

So what did we design, what was the process and who were the partners?

When the project team visited the town in October 2015, we were astounded by the high level of local support and interest shown from the mayor all the way down - unsurprising perhaps, in a region where youth unemployment is so high. The museum opened up its archives, while the vocational school offered its textile and wood workshops and technical staff. Students at the economics high school agreed to do the crucial background research in advance for

One of the first tasks was to define a visual identity and graphic language for the overall project on which all the teams could draw. This was left to the web and visual identity team lead by Croatian graphic designers Ana Petak and Dino Smrekar, Marija Veteroska from Skopje and Hamburg-based Gero Grundmann.

The visual identity they developed was a direct response to the big challenge presented by the workshop as a whole. How to include 50 disabled people in the process particularly those with learning disabilities so that it was truly an exercise in co-design?

37

In past workshops, drawings and writings by this group have been a major source of graphic inspiration for the final portfolio of products. So a drawing studio was set up at MI for their beneficiaries to generate graphic material that could be used both for the project identity as well as in the products themselves. A selection of their utterly charming drawings of animals and local buildings were then scanned, edited and digitised for use throughout the family of products as stencils, patterns, illustrations or stamps.

Marija Veteroska, the accomplished Macedonian typographer transformed two versions of the handwriting of one beneficiary, Ivana Mrsic, into a new font, which became the basis for the project’s visual identity. They were called Falsely True Slow and Falsely True Fast as a nod to the fact that it was authentic and real but made usable only by Veteroska’s skill.

Constructed Textile Products Each team set to work to identify features particular to Pozega – the constructed textiles team led

by Natasa Perkovic and jewellery designer Biljana Klekakovska looked at the pleating found on traditional clothing; the braids used to decorate young women’s hair and signal their fertility and the crochet handcrafts made by many women in the area. Three

38

product lines were created based on these elements - a textile, a knitted and a crocheted line of interior goods. The textile POŽÉ line consists of handmade luxury backpacks, bags and a clutch bag, as well as collars and cuffs with varying degrees of production difficulty so as to serve as a learning template for the students of the vocational school. The POŽÉ knitted line consists of playful slippers, ear warmers, hooded scarf and mittens, which use the traditional hair braiding technique in an unexpected and innovative way and are structured using continuous braids with the hooded scarf based on the shape of traditional hairstyles.

Printed Textiles & Graphic Goods The printed textiles and graphic goods team led by Croatian graphic designer Mirna Pticek and product designer Michelle Baggerman from the Netherlands selected natural and geometric motifs found on traditional textiles and adapted the animals and local houses drawn by the MI beneficiaries to create graphic elements that could be used for symbols and patterns. Their research revealed that many local customs and traditional products centred on food so they designed a line of textile goods for preparing and serving it. Some foods and rituals were ev-

39

eryday, others reserved for special occasions, hence the products have two contrasting sides to be turned over depending on the occasion. Some forgotten local dishes that had been revived by the Museum in a Pot project run by the Pozega museum were printed on kitchen towels along with poems by one of the Mi beneficiaries. The texts used the Falsely True Slow and Falsely True Fast fonts developed by Veteroska.

Besides the physical products, stencils and stamps were created to add layers of decoration on the otherwise plain products. Based on the drawings of the MI beneficiaries these would allow them play an active role in the production of the final products.

Wood Magic from Offcuts The wood team was led jointly by Portuguese product designers Ligia Lopes and Carlos Aguiar, Tom Stables from the UK and Croatian graphic designer Barbara Zec. They used the mountain of Slavonian oak offcuts provided by the Spin Valis furniture factory as their point of departure and based their range on the design question “How many things that can you do with a stick?” - in this case the Pozega stick - a 18mm x 18mm x 250mm piece of Slovanian oak engraved with local information that included poetry, recipes, drawings by residents and pictures of local landmarks. The products varied in dimensions and functions but all contained the element of a stick – a revived traditional game, a set of chests of different sizes that drew on the tradition of the dowry chests they had seen in the Pozega museum, small boxes, a necklace and keyring, a fox puzzle, a flexible bread board and pot holder and a series of nine stamps with different symbols taken from the city’s heritage or the drawings of the Mi beneficiaries.

The workshop took place over a week and culminated in an exhibition of the products and presentations at the high school. They are currently being prepared for further showings in Zagreb at the Museum of Crafts in March and in Pozega in April. As with all the workshops to date, the designers, many of them senior professionals, received token fees, which bore no relation to those they can expect from commercial practice but we were able to pick and choose from a long list of applicants.

The Legacy for Designers So the question is what does this kind of workshop offer designers? In many ways it is a ‘take no prisoners’ approach to design that is not for the fainthearted - those made of sterner stuff come out with a stronger focus and an enhanced sense of their capabilities whereas some can be overwhelmed by

40

the experience and lose confidence in their ability.

Whatever the case, it brings tangible creative benefits alongside the obvious social and economic ones to all involved.

Firstly, they are working to a brief that is direct, realistic and utterly linked to the context and to an unequivocal deadline in which concepts need to be thoroughly interrogated but where often one’s first idea turns out to be the best one. In a project such as this, only a holistic approach works – fragmented or tentative design solutions make no sense since the purpose is to create a set of simple products with a coherent integrated narrative and identity bound by a set of design guidelines that can be reproduced perfectly again and again long after the workshop has ended and the designers have returned home. Too often the results of design workshops are ephemeral. The designed products take creative journeys of their own once they have escaped from the rigours of design guidelines which return them back to the welfare goods market from which they had hoped to escape. And with the departure of the design teams, the project benefits evaporate because there is no local basis of support or expertise.

Secondly, designers can test their mettle professionally by being part of a team many of whom they meet for the first time, where ego has to be put aside yet where they can find out just how good they really are. The challenge for those who lead the teams is even greater - the available skills set may be uneven, some essential ones lacking but from this raw material they have to forge a common purpose and deliver design solutions that can be made. So while on first sight it may appear to be a feel-good experience in charitable activity, in fact it is an unsentimental exercise that stretches the limits of the individual designer and allows them to understand their core strengths and abilities, which may not be the case with routine commercial projects. The fact that so many at every level of the profession are willing to take up the challenge is a tribute to designers as a tribe of creatives who really do want to change the world and are brave enough to test their mettle in this most extreme of design situations.

41

ATELIER Z Architecture: Paulo Santa Cruz Arquitectos Photography: João Morgado – Architectural Photography

Located in an historic building in the heart of the city of Porto, this project consisted in the transformation of a room into the author’s architecture office. Although small (55 m2), this premium space, in regards of solar exposition and relationship with its urban surroundings, was able to accommodate all the demands and areas inherent to its new role as a contemporary office.

Therefore, the office develops throughout six distinct areas: (1) a working area, (2) a printing area, (3) a meeting area, (4) a storage area, (5) a kitchen and (6) a bathroom, in a set of spaces organized in two groups – work and services – distributed along a corridor that unifies the entirety of the place. This distribution results from the functionality and time of usage of each area, whereby the office was organized in a way that the most ephemeral spaces were located by the door, as opposed to the more permanent working areas which require the most privacy and light.

42

Due to the specificity of all the different spaces, they were distinctly organized in a way that the support areas were enclosed in a volume attached to the circulation corridor and parallel to the working areas laid out in an open plan. This unity is also strengthened through the usage of a profile of light and bookcase that link the three working areas and promote their interconnectivity and fluidity of circulation.

In order to create a coherent unit between these new elements and the pre-existing ones, the entirety of the space was painted white with the exception of the more concrete looking grey floor that allows for a contrasting element that avoids an excessive homogenization of the space.

This proposal mainly intended to create a space that, although located in an historical building, would answer the modern demands of an office and promote a respectful dialog with its pre-existence.

Description: Paulo Santa Cruz Arquitectos

Location: Porto, Portugal Area: 55 m2 Year: 2011

www.revistadesignmagazine.com