DEBBIE-‐ANN ESTWICK architecture, manufacturing and engineering as valuable but felt that lack of control, shortcuts and lack of clear roles prohibited the value of such from being realized. He referenced cases where an untrained approach was used to perform design functions that resulted in deliverables that were not human-‐centered, attractive, safe, and/or were ineffective. A high value was placed on designers performing design roles. Beyond aesthetics, there is a critical, functional role for design in all its disciplines. The well known mantra of “form follows function” rings true and sets the standard for good design. Creative, designer and maker Marlon Darbeau took a deeply philosophical approach, assessing that historically, designers and makers/craftsmen were the same person, but with industrialization, a disconnect appears to have occurred. At times, des ign appears to be missing from the process of some craftsmen, while the requisite skills to be good at their craft seems to be missing from some designers (see Figure 5.1). A series of micro trends and observations came to bear that suggested a complex situation where the disconnect between design and craft can result in the shelving of good design, a reduction in valuable innovations, a stagnating of craft and the downfall of business success. At times, progressive design has not been a priority and as such, design and craftsmanship have failed to keep some MSEs in a wholesome place, resulting in some cases, in a shift from manufacturing to distribution. While such a shift may keep a business afloat temporarily, it does not necessarily improve business value and may not support competitiveness in a global marketplace. Yet, design is not always realized to be a solution for what ails some manufacturing businesses and craftsmen. Figure 5.1: An idea is only as good as its execution. Source: 1stWebDesigner (2015). 100
Small Business Development by Design Business owner Alicia Francis saw design’s value and relevance most in advertising, packaging and innovation: “Design is very important to my business as I create personalized gift items. I have no formal training in design, however, and plan to pursue a course of study in the near future. I believe that this will help with innovation as I will gain the necessary skills and knowledge of trends to lead to innovative product, packaging and promotion design.” Francis saw herself as the solution to her own design needs across a variety of design disciplines, though not a designer. This can often be the case with small businesses that have limited budgets and high aspirations and must become their own solutions in order to survive. The professional practitioners, who may have the ideas and skills to improve business value by way of design, are not always sought or cannot be afforded. Arlen also shared yet another perspective, proposing that design is not as logical as people make it seem. “It’s just practicality. It’s the human level that design is suffering at.” He noted a type of exclusivity that he felt needed to be addressed in order for the value of design to be best communicated, connected to people and thereby, most effective. To Arlen, the creation of synergy and fluidity was important and he saw powerful implications for the improvement of MSEs and the nation through collaboration but felt that there were daunting challenges in actually expressing or creating that spirit of cooperation and collaboration on such a large scale. Perhaps most similar to Severloh, who saw the value of design on a wholistic level best being realized within structure, was Darbeau, who was torn between an ideal of collaboration, harmony and cooperation and situations where designers perform design roles. He expressed a need for clear goals and objectives in collaboration, then a modified form of cooperation where each discipline/field could perform its core functions towards an agreed end. In all interviews and observations, design had value but there was great variance on how much value design had, who was responsible for design’s value, how design could contribute to the development of MSEs and how collaboration and cooperation could be fostered among designers, artists, artisans, manufacturers, architects and engineers. In many cases the idea emerged that total cross-‐disciplinary collaboration and cooperation in an MSE cooperative may be an unrealistic ideal for Trinidad and Tobago at this time. 101
DEBBIE-‐ANN ESTWICK Discussion and conclusion An ideal of cooperation and collaboration among designers, artists, artisans, manufacturers, architects and engineers in an MSE cooperative may be as realistic as world peace. However, there is value in its pursuit that may result in a workable model or structure that embraces unity in diversity without losing the value varying fields, disciplines or industries while reaping the results of a cooperative. Points proposed by Darbeau and Arlen, suggested value in collaboration as a theory but there were challenges in bridging the gap between theory and practice. While it may at times be beneficial to designers to be viewed as superior, mysterious, bafflingly brilliant Creatives/Planners, perhaps an approach is required from designers to actively seek out and educate those who have not consciously experienced the value of design, in this way increasing their own competitiveness and increasing value to businesses and people. Design’s many disciplines vary widely and each come with distinct cultures, sub-‐cultures and value systems. There is a general consensus of design being valuable but value is often relative. In some cases, design is diminished to little more than a trendy buzzword. Design Director Nathan Sinsabaugh suggests that “…the good news of design has been spreading for years. Even so, it remains a black-‐box discipline to many, difficult to understand and explain.” In order to clarify and simplify, design’s value must be experienced. Evidence suggests that efforts to collaborate and form cooperatives could be most effective with clear end goals, defined roles and tasks, developed and managed as distinct, autonomous projects/initiatives within the private sector, that are funded by the government in support of MSE policy goals. While it appears that design practitioners may have a critical role in projects/initiatives, it does not suggest that designers, artisans, engineers or any others involved hold privileged positions, but rather private sector practitioners of varying fields disciplines or industries to work together to meet set goals, each discipline/field playing to its own strengths. Lines may blur and the role of design may be fuzzy even in the execution of projects/initiatives. However, a principle exists that was captured in the words of Alex Schleifer, Head of Design at tech startup Airbnb, “You need to bring your tool forward when it’s most needed, and hide it when it’s not”. The idea of design being visible/vocal when it’s needed, hidden when it’s not is of value. Sometimes it is just more important for “stuff” to work than it is for people to consciously know that “stuff” is intentionally designed. However, while everyone doesn’t need to know, it is dangerous when no one knows, especially leaders, that the activities, projects or initiatives that worked only worked as they did because they were designed to do so. When there is ignorance on the part of leaders, it is difficult to duplicate past success or innovate for new successes. 102
Small Business Development by Design This paper proposes an ideal of design thinking, design practice, interdisciplinary work and MSE development. In order to shift this idea from being a collection of unrealistic ideals to real solutions that are practical, can be applied and will make the desired difference, the value of design must be nationally established. The practicing design industry in the private sector must move beyond conversations, as valuable as they are, to the study, evaluation, publishing and promotion of real, valuable, “man-‐in-‐the-‐street” results. The possible impact of design to improve lives must be felt and known. Designers are the best, and arguably the only, people to take up the cause for design. Take the case of graphic design, for example, one of the more developed design fields in the Caribbean. Graphic Designers must no longer be backroom commercial artists but must sit in the boardroom, straddling the fence between ideas, creativity and beautiful, effective work and business, budgets and bottom lines. This may require shedding some of the exclusivity inherent to a field that values aesthetics and details that are sometimes viewed as optional luxuries. It may call for a dedicated effort to remove the cloak of mystery that clothes designers who think differently. It may call for designers to take the initiative to reach across borders, beyond their craft and those who require, value and can afford their services, to engage and educate even those who have minimal understanding and awareness, to make a difference. This interconnectivity may be possible through government support and investment on a project/initiative basis. Design for the common man. In reference to the words of that valiant, lean team of warriors known commonly as the Three Musketeers, Design for all! All for design! 103
DEBBIE-‐ANN ESTWICK References 1stwebdesigner, 2015. Retrieved 8 May, 2015, from www.facebook.com/1stwebdesigner Enterprise Development Division (2013). Ministry of Labour and Small and Micro Enterprise Development. Micro and Small Enterprise (MSE) Policy for Trinidad and Tobago 2013-‐2016. Retrieved April 30, 2015, from http://www.molsmed.gov.tt/portals/0/mse/msedocp.pdf Cox, G. (2005). The Cox Review. Pro Inno Europe. Retrieved 6 May, 2015, from http://grips-‐public.mediactive.fr/knowledge_base/view/349/cox-‐review-‐of-‐ creativity-‐in-‐business-‐building-‐on-‐the-‐uk-‐s-‐strengths/ Mathers, J., (2014). Science and Innovation Strategy (2014). Design Council. Retrieved 6 May, 2015, from http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/news-‐opinion/science-‐and-‐ innovation-‐strategy-‐embraces-‐design-‐key-‐growth Nero, S. (2014), Trinidad and Tobago Guardian Online. Retrieved May 7, 2015, from http://www.guardian.co.tt/business/2014-‐06-‐25/new-‐mse-‐policy-‐going-‐cabinet Merriam-‐Webster Dictionary, 2015, Merriam-‐Webster. Retrieved May 6, 2015, from http://www.merriam-‐webster.com/dictionary/design Rassam, C. 1995, Design and Corporate Success, Gower, England. Sinsabaugh, N. (2015), Design-‐Led Companies Work, But Not Without Designers. Wired. Retrieved May 6, 2015, from http://www.wired.com/2015/03/design-‐led-‐companies-‐ work-‐not-‐without-‐designers/ Schleifer, A. (2015), Why Airbnb’s New Head of Design Believes ‘Design-‐Led’ Companies Don’t Work. Wired. Retrieved May 6, 2015, from http://www.wired.com/2015/01/airbnbs-‐new-‐head-‐design-‐believes-‐design-‐led-‐ companies-‐dont-‐work/ 104
Ministry of Design -‐ From Cottage Industry to State Enterprise University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad & Tobago May 28 – 29th, 2015 Designing Strategies for Economic Development of Women Entrepreneurs Sharon WILSON *Corresponding author e-‐mail: [email protected] Abstract: This paper is an attempt to understand the issues and initiatives in developing the entrepreneurship among women in Trinidad and Tobago. For clarity and notwithstanding the broad theme, the paper is divided into relevant sections. In section two, there is discussion on the importance of small and medium sized enterprises and how these sectors have played a crucial role in women’s empowerment. The impact of globalization and use of local resources is included in this section. Section three is about women entrepreneurs in Trinidad with a focus on both rural and urban women. The various problems and issues confronted by women are the other areas of discussion in this section. Strategies for strengthening women entrepreneurship are the focus of the next section. Appropriate training intervention and creation of market opportunities through community participation is discussed as sub sections of strategies. The last section of the paper is a discussion on the relevant policy issues. On the whole the paper would carry on the discussion that entrepreneurship among women has tremendous positive implications to empower them and contribute to economic transformation in the society. Keywords: Women Entrepreneurship, Poverty
SHARON WILSON 1. The Significance of SMEs in the present Scenario: Small and medium size enterprise in today’s context are the principal driving forces in development of economy especially in third world countries. These SMEs encourage the skill entrepreneurship and can adapt to the requirement of the market, act appropriately in the changing market with regard to demand and supply situations. A large number of employment opportunities are created through diversification of economic activities. The developing countries with transitional economy have acknowledged the importance of SMEs for creating an environment of industrial restructuring and formulation of favorable national policies. SMEs are defined in both qualitative and quantitative ways. One should not only consider strictly the number of employees in a particular enterprise. The capacity to create jobs at lower costs , low capital to labor ratio considering the local demand of need based commodities are the criteria need to be considered with importance. The mounting foreign debt burdens and increasing budget deficits has compelled many developing countries to reduce public sector undertakings. Many existing public sectors are being privatized as one of the initiatives or steps to reduce public expenses. Hence the public sectors would play a limited role for providing job opportunities to many job seekers. There are many categorized as job seekers, whereas, these job seekers can be converted to job providers through entrepreneurial skill development. The local entrepreneurship can bring the traditional value system through exploitation of local resources back. 2. Globalization Globalization is broadly understood in economic sense as movement of capital, products, adoption of new technology and skill based people. It is a process of opening up of the domestic economy and integrating it with global economy. There is encouragement for privatization supported by technological advance. The domestic markets in developing countries are becoming more liberalized. The customers are showing more interest for western consumer goods irrespective of quality and durability. 3. Use of local Resources for promoting SMEs: For the economic growth and development of any region a number of factors have to work simultaneously. In developing country context, the human, physical or environmental and financial resources have to function effectively for the growth of any enterprise. The abundance of natural product is not enough to provide economic growth of any enterprise. The abundance of natural resources is not enough to provide economic growth unless it is exploited appropriately through human resources, which 106
Designing Strategies for Economic Development of Women Entrepreneurs include both men and women. The local resources need to be used and exploited in enterprising environment that can raise socio-‐economic status of the community. 4. Rural Women The reflection on the economic history of Trinidad and Tobago relied on cottage industries. Each culture to a large extent depends on art and craft in the rural areas. Through the promotion of cottage industries, not only the rural people can earn their livelihood, it can give them a sense of satisfaction. The need of the present day is to encourage entrepreneurial activities of the rural women, which in turn can take care of the need of the family and absorbed some unemployed people in the villages. 5. Urban Women Many urban women are looking out for careers in non-‐traditional sectors. For instance the business sector has become one of the preferred choices. In educational and health care sectors, counseling services are mostly provided by women. Many urban women are also opting for setting up their own small business. There is a gradual shift from family business to independent business ownership. But these women are limited in number from specific class background. There is still a long way to go for encouraging more number of women to be entrepreneurs. 6. Problem of Women entrepreneurs in Trinidad and Tobago One thing comes out in a more explicit manner that women in business face challenges common to all small firms such as access to credit, contacts and training. The problems are added on by a lack of access to the networks and skills that and help them compete in global-‐business. From many evidences, both at micro and macro level tremendously. It is clear that when women have the opportunity to develop their business, the community and society at large can benefit tremendously. May women are not just businesswomen but “social entrepreneurs” as well. Through their experiences, they prove that a commitment to development goes hand-‐in-‐hand with their drive for growth. Many more women should engage more in the business circle and stop isolating themselves from both formal and informal sectors. Many trade organizations, chamber of commerce, export programs and associations should reach out to women to bridge the gap. 107
SHARON WILSON 7. Strategies for strengthening women entrepreneurs. It is a need of the hour to encourage the women entrepreneurs to start their own business. In this connection, networking is a positive step. Businesswomen’s group in membership drive for chambers of commerce, and trade and professional associations can be targeted. Networking between government officials, international experts and women entrepreneurs can be strengthened. Businesswomen’s groups can be brought together to enhance communication and co operation on trade issues. Government should help fund innovators to assist the “unskilled” participants to provide knowledge, training and skills to overcome unemployment. Women need to be trained to apply for credit. Women exporters can be given access to export training. The participants can be identify through a businesswomen’s association or independent women innovators. 8. Appropriate Training Interventions: Entrepreneurs are not born. Women with potentialities and innovative ideas need to be encouraged and supported for skill developmen t. The initiation of any economic activity requires proper guidance and motivation. Whether it is rural or urban context, creation of entrepreneurial environment is one of the key factors. The other option is to train the young generation to start their entrepreneurial ventures which can make them economically independent at the same time create job opportunities for others. Imparting appropriate entrepreneurial training requires the involvement of number of agencies. Local innovators can be identified to conduct training programmes to develop and encourage entrepreneurship. Based on the available local and natural resources training module can be designed so that existing resources can be utilized. 9. Creating Market Opportunities One of the major problems for women entrepreneurs are marketing. At the initial stages women prefer to be involved in the programmes that ensure almost total marketing support, since they are not confident enough to look for markets. They may take major responsibilities of the business, but marketing the products remains at the peripheral level of priority. Women have been discouraged to take up the challenging task of marketing in many instances. Finance: The finance to start an enterprise and the related facilities like land, building and other infrastructure is often restricted that add on to the problems of women entrepreneurs. Women face constraints for receiving funds for specific activities especially that are considered as males’ domain. Marketing is considered as one of the important activities as it involves the financial matter and can affect the future of the enterprise. 108
Designing Strategies for Economic Development of Women Entrepreneurs 10.Community Participation in helping the marketing Strategy: Each region has its own set of products that are manufactured using indigenous skills. Most of these products are made with locally available materials and the skills, which may not be found in other areas. In many places, the major limitation is that the producers are dependent on the middle persons for marketing their produce outside their local area. This reduces the community’s earning even though their products are of good quality. Through the community participatory approach to human development, the community and the beneficiaries can handle much of the activities. This reduces administration costs and many other skilled artisans will venture into micro enterprise and join the network once they are aware of the success of the network. The low risk factors are that balanced production, timely supply and quality assurance should be ensured. 1. Conclusion and Policy Issues: Entrepreneurial activities does not only include the initiation of the enterprise, the promotion and the maintenance of economic growth also needs to be considered with equal importance. It is important for the State and Central Government to encourage the innovative small-‐scale businesses. The potential women entrepreneurs need to be trained and inspired to set up the enterprises with the strength of knowledge and information, capital and technology, market and demand as wells as labor and skills. The State should also contribute in rebuilding the existing small and specifically the sick industries to overcome the financial burden. The training interventions and introduction of various schemes through government initiatives alone will not help to create an entrepreneurial environment. A number of agencies and stakeholders need to work together for satisfactory implementation. The approach should be effective and results oriented. For instance in rural areas Government machineries cannot function in isolation. There should be a collaborative effort among the community and local political members/MP’s. There are two categories of people of whom the targeted interventions can be focused. The first category includes the people who want to set up enterprises. They want guidance, encouragement and support. The second category includes existing entrepreneurs who face problems to run their ventures due to various reasons. Some may not have financial problems but required training or need new technology to increase productivity. All these aspect and issues need not to be considered as entrepreneurs’ problems in homogenous categories, rather specific problems can be handles with specific requirement. 109
Ministry of Design -‐ From Cottage Industry to State Enterprise University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad & Tobago May 28 – 29th, 2015 Design and Philosophy Underpinning Design Practice
Ministry of Design -‐ From Cottage Industry to State Enterprise University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad & Tobago May 28 – 29th, 2015 The cooperative as a solution to manufacturing, production and isolation for fashion designers in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean Robert YOUNG*, Cilla BENJAMIN a The Cloth Caribbean Limited; bDept of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, UWI * [email protected] Abstract: There is the idea that production of design, especially fashion, is impossible in the Caribbean islands. The solution often proposed by technocrats is that industry participants should ‘design’ and have the clothing produced in low cost manufacturing countries such as China or Colombia. In Trinidad and Tobago, despite state recognition of the fashion industry as one for special developmental attention, there has not been much support for the production aspect of the industry. Fashion design is susceptible globally, to counterfeiting and piracy. The modern fashion industry requires flexibility, agility, and fast response times, which may be achieved by having more control over diverse activities within the value chain, such as rapid prototyping, pattern making and production. The current profile of a typical fashion production specialist is middle aged, with a preference for working at home, and flexible work schedules. They value autonomy as opposed to the typical employer/worker relationship and are not satisfied with eking out a basic living from participating in an industry with so much economic potential, regionally. In fact, many are considering leaving the industry entirely. This paper relies on the expert opinions of veteran designers and production personnel to present a solution in support of the local fashion industry achieving its potential through the integration of the value chain activities of rapid prototyping, pattern making and production. It proposes the development of cooperatives, owned by skilled workers, who provide these services for designers. The workers may also produce their own product lines to compensate for variation in demand, where necessary, utilizing design services existing within, or external to their cooperative. Keywords: Fashion industry, production, Caribbean, cooperatives
ROBERT YOUNG, CILLA BENJAMIN 1. Introduction The Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) Fashion Industry has received state recognition as a creative industry capable of playing a significant role in diversification of the economy away from rents from the energy sector (Reis and Ivey, 2008; Lindsay, 2012; Carr, 2013; Reis and Ivey, 2008 and Reis, 2007). Its development has been assigned to the FashionTT company, a special purpose government entity under the umbrella of the Creative Industry Company of T&T (CreativeTT) (Dickson, 2013). This initiative to develop the industry for its potential to contribute to GDP while creating good jobs, is only one of many efforts, over several decades, to ‘develop’ the industry. Former interventions had questionable impact. They included the establishment of a negative list in the 1980s which restricted imports of clothing into T&T and state support for manufacturing enterprises under the free trade zone act. The multi-‐fibre arrangement (MFA) which restricted imports from large low cost manufacturing countries into the United States and Europe, thereby creating opportunities for countries in the Caribbean Basin like T&T, was in force at the time. The MFA only benefitted the origin country when the imported input was restricted to low cost assembly operations so it was designed to work against the development of high value adding activities in the region (Heron, 2006; Robertson and Lopez-‐Acevedo, 2012). More recently, the state has provided sponsorship of fashion week events and funded participation by individual designers in foreign fashion events. The large manufacturers characteristic of the industry in the 1980s, have disappeared from the local fashion landscape. This is partly due to competition from lower cost manufacturers such as the Chinese (Stone 2011). Even suppliers to the Carnival industry have been affected as carnival ‘bands’ outsource their base garments and, increasingly, their entire costumes. Recent initiatives to revitalize the fashion industry have been subject to the skilled labour crisis plaguing many industries locally. Experienced fashion producers are aging and retiring and younger individuals seem disinterested in getting involved in this part of the industry. The industry still operates on a highly informal basis. This made exact data gathering concerning jobs and earnings impossible. The Central Statistical Office, however, reports declines in contribution to GDP for the Textiles, Garments, and Footwear Industry from the year 2009 to 2013. See Figure 1.1: 112
The cooperative as a solution to manufacturing, production and isolation for fashion designers in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean Figure 1.1: Percent (%) Contribution of Textiles, Garments and Footwear to T&T GDP Adapted from: http://cso.planning.gov.tt/content/gross-‐domestic-‐product-‐data-‐2009 Poor work ethic is often cited as the main reason for low productivity with local industries and it is ranked in the Global Competitiveness Report of 2014-‐2015 as the 3rd most problematic factor in doing business in T&T (see Figure 1.2). Government work programmes where unskilled persons work just a few hours per day are usually blamed for contributing to this. This paper deals with the human resource aspect by of the industry by investigating the viewpoints of designers and producers for a more comprehensive explanation for low productivity in the Fashion Industry. Figure 1.2: Problematic Factors in Doing Business in T&T Source: Adapted from the WEF Global Competitiveness Report 2014-‐2015 113
ROBERT YOUNG, CILLA BENJAMIN Why local production? The highpoint of garment production within T&T during the 1980s and early 1990s was unsustainable, as the industry revolved around the production of basic items such as shirts, T-‐shirts, sleepwear and jeans (Stone, 2011; Newsday, 2003). Globally, state-‐of-‐the-‐art technology in high capacity factories manufacture these items at costs that could never be matched in T&T (Stone, 2011; Newsday, 2003) so consideration of the re-‐establishment of such an industry locally is doomed to fail. T&T’s fashion designers however, continue to be internationally acclaimed for their creativity (Lindsay, 2012; Carr, 2013; Reis and Ivey, 2008). The fashion industry is one of the most counterfeited and pirated in the world and within, talented ‘new’ designers are the most susceptible to being copied (Tan, 2010 and Poulliard, 2011). Faster responsiveness and agility and the ability to benefit from high margins on new designer clothing before they are copied are key to developing a sustainable industry in T&T. This means that local production is desirable, as opposed to production outsourcing, which is more suitable for mass production of items lower down on the fashion pyramid such as shirts and basic sleepwear. With the drive to develop the fashion industry, the establishment of the Caribbean Academy of Fashion and Design at the University of T&T has meant that each year, new aspiring fashion designers and managers are emerging locally. With poor formal production channels available to them, these graduates are at a serious disadvantage as they lack the experience, capital, markets and minimum production runs required to outsource production for their businesses. Furthermore, unlike the situation existing in the typical fashion capitals around the world, there is little opportunity for these graduates to gain hands-‐on experience within the industry because of the lack of depth, which currently exists. 2. Methods This study utilized desk research to gain a better understanding of the history of fashion production in T&T and the current environment within which the industry operates. Major issues arising from the desk research which required further investigation included the fact that the Global Competitiveness Report reflected the widely held opinion that ‘poor work ethic’ in the national labour force is a dominant reason for lack of competitiveness in the nation’s industries. It was thought that this perception needed a much deeper analysis in the context of the fashion industry. The fact that much of the industry operates informally contributed to the selection of the main methods used in the paper. Fact finding missions among experienced local designers and production workers were the main information gathering tools used for this paper. Information was gathered from a comprehensive study of leading T&T designers and compared with the situation in other Caribbean countries such as Barbados, St. Lucia, Guadeloupe, Jamaica and Haiti. In total, 50 designers’ experiences with fashion production in the region were used in informing this study. The situation with the production workers were also 114
The cooperative as a solution to manufacturing, production and isolation for fashion designers in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean considered through a study of eight (8) small or micro production facilities as well as the ateliers of top T&T designers. 3. Findings Fact finding missions among experienced local and Caribbean designers and production workers converged and led to 12 main conclusions which form the context for the proposed solution. These include: 1. The population of ‘workers’ in the industry including pattern makers, cutters and stitchers is declining at an alarming pace; 2. The average worker in the industry is middle-‐aged which suggests that younger individuals are not attracted to this part of industry at a sustainable rate; 3. The worker prefers a flexible schedule which would still afford them time to tend to their families and homes; 4. The worker desires to be well paid for services and is no longer comfortable with accepting low wages; 5. The worker does not want to take ‘orders’ from the typical designer or owner of a fashion enterprise; 6. The typical employer-‐employee relationship between the owner or fashion enterprises and production workers has failed; 7. The production worker prefers to work at home; 8. The worker is highly skilled; 9. The worker is highly productive when earning an agreed upon piece rate and will deliver at speeds that cannot be matched in any local factory; 10. If the independent home-‐worker needs assistance to meet production deadlines, they are capable of, and would usually work together with other stitchers; 11. Technology, marketing, graphic design, packaging and other high value adding activities are lacking in the industry; & 12. The worker values opportunities for socializing and other non-‐work related activities as well as support like childcare, a play centre and homework centre to occupy their charges while they work. 115
ROBERT YOUNG, CILLA BENJAMIN 4. The Fashion Workers’ Cooperative The Fashion Workers’ Cooperative (FWC) is proposed as a solution to the labour crisis that threatens the development of the Fashion Industry to attain its full potential. The FWC is envisioned as member-‐owned and managed associations that would satisfy the financial compensation requirements of the workers while affording them the flexibility they crave for a healthy work-‐life balance. The FWC’s main activities would include in activities such as prototyping, pattern making and manufacturing services to designers; production of costumes for T&T styled Carnivals such as those in the Caribbean, New York, Hollywood, Miami, Toronto, Nottinghill and increasingly, European cities; provision of services to corporate clients, event planners and interior designers; design, production and sale of a private line; and the provision of training in fashion production persons desirous of entering the fashion industry or producing fashion items for their families and themselves on a non-‐commercial basis. See Figure 4.1: Figure 4.1: Major activities of the Fashion Workers’ Cooperative 4.1 Governance of the Fashion Workers’ Cooperative The FWC will be overseen by a board consisting of six members. Day-‐to-‐day operations will be managed by a manager and cooperative members who shall be in communication continually and meet on a weekly basis. The position of manager will be rotated among members and based on nomination by their peers. There will also be appointed, an Advisory Committee who will be consulted collectively as needed on general matters or individually on matters within the sphere of the committee member’s area of expertise. The Advisory Committee shall always include a Lawyer, an Accountant/Auditor, a Marketing/Public Relations Specialist and a Designer. See Figure 4.2: 116
The cooperative as a solution to manufacturing, production and isolation for fashion designers in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean Figure 4.2: Advisory Committee 4.2 Membership The FWC shall commence operations with at least twelve to fifteen (12-‐15) core members. It shall also associate itself with a wide network of service providers who must all be certified to provide services to the cooperative but may not be actual members. These would include but not be limited to, printers, embroiders, pattern makers, external seamstresses, tailors, craftsmen and craftswomen. These external providers will be trained and certified in order to ensure consistent quality. The Cooperative will also open membership constituted of interested parties who have demonstrated their dedication to ensuring the sustainability of the association. 4.3 Finance The FWC will initially be funded by members’ contributions (equity) which will ultimately determine their share in the profits. Members’ contributions may be in the form of cash, equipment, the use or donation of property, labour hours, services or any other means deemed acceptable and approved by the Cooperative Board. See Figure 4.3: 117
ROBERT YOUNG, CILLA BENJAMIN Figure 4.3: Members’ Contributions Seventy percent (70%) of share ownership will be retained for initial core members of the FWC. These members are free to trade their shares only as approved by the board. The board will defer to reinvestment of any profits gained during the inception period of the FWC. The cooperative will also seek other sources of funding/sponsorship for capacity building, web development, market exposure, equipment upgrading and skills training. These activities will enhance the skills of the membership and assist in mentoring and training new industry entrants. 4.4 Fashion Workers’ Cooperative Line A study of the literature on sewing cooperatives suggests that in order not to get locked in to low value added activities, some upgrading into design and branding may be necessary. The FWC shall therefore on a phased basis, introduce and market its own line of clothing. This will be necessary to ensure sustainability to ensure a constant flow of work, given the seasonal nature of the Fashion Industry which sees little to no demand at certain times of the year. The FWC shall therefore undertake different types of activities, which will ensure a regular income stream. The FWC Line of items may consist of any or all of the following: Fashion • All types of Fashion Clothing Career • Career Apparel and Industrial Clothing Uniforms • Printing/embroidery for Institutions, Teams etc included Accessories • Bags, purses, belts, jewelry Soft furnishings • Drapery, bed and table linens and cushions Figure 4.4: Potential product lines 4.5 The Organizational Structure The key characteristic of the FWC is its owner-‐managed nature. Real-‐time information would be widely shared among members through electronic means and a quorum of at least six members would meet regularly to made decisions regarding the 118
The cooperative as a solution to manufacturing, production and isolation for fashion designers in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean day-‐to-‐day running of the Cooperative. The Manager/Fashion Director would have overall responsibility for managing the daily activities of the Cooperative. This individual would be charged with duties such as sub-‐contracting services, conducting business meetings with members and associates and ensuring that targets are met in areas such as cost of production, sales/income and new product launches. This position will be rotated on a yearly basis, with members of the cooperative voting for the next Manager/Fashion Director. No single individual will serve more than two (2) consecutive terms. The core team is shown in Figure 4.5: Manager/Fashion Director (Rotating Position) (1) Web Sales/Planner Driver (1) Cutters (2) Pattern Makers (2) Stitchers (6) (1) Figure 4.5: Organizational Structure Web Sales Representative/Planner. The individual in this position will be responsible for receiving all orders and issuing them to production in accordance with a schedule that ensures 100% on-‐time delivery. This person will be responsible for communicating with cooperative members and clients, keeping everyone abreast of the status of jobs. In addition, the Web Sales Representative/Planner will generate sales of the FWC Line of items with the use of electronic marketing inclusive of e-‐mails, and social networking. As the line developed there will be an additional person dedicated to Web Sales and Communicating with clients. Driver. The driver will be a key individual within the cooperative, responsible for moving jobs seamlessly from one production station to the next, and collection of raw materials. The driver will also be responsible for making deliveries, where necessary, to the Cooperative’s valuable clients. Pattern makers would be responsible for preparing patterns for clients as well as for in-‐house use. The FWC will offer pattern making as a service to designers even when these designers do not need to use the sewing services of the cooperative. The pattern makers will make patterns for clients using the cooperatives sewing services and make patterns for items designed by the Cooperative to generate its own sales. Cutters shall be able to cut fabric using machines as well as by hand. They would be responsible for ensuring that fabric is cut, to strict specifications, both for in-‐house processing as well as for external seamstresses/tailors. Internal stitchers will be key to meeting the FWC’S goals of daily production. They would especially prove critical when last minute or Just-‐in-‐Time orders are received. Any time the volume of orders cannot be met in-‐house then homeworkers, described next will be used to provide the extra capacity. 119
ROBERT YOUNG, CILLA BENJAMIN Homeworkers. The FWC will be largely dependent on the services of homeworkers. Homeworkers are typical within the industry globally and may be widely found in garment manufacturing groups within the traditional Fashion Capitals such as in Italy, France and London, as well as the emerging economies such as Indonesia and Pakistan and low cost manufacturing countries such as Vietnam and Bangladesh. Homeworkers play a very important role within the industry. They are able to increase the capacity of the cooperative during peak periods so that On-‐Time-‐Delivery (OTD) never suffers because of a sudden increase of orders. 5. Financial Projections 5.1 Yearly Projections Yearly Projections for the 1st , 3rd and 5th years of operation are presented in this section. The FWC’s business model is based on a conservative starting utilization 30% of target in the first year with 60% of target to be reached by end of the 3rd year and 100% in the 5th year. The Financial Projections are indicated in Tables 5.1 to 5.4 and Figures 5.1 to 5.3: Low Est Med Est High Est Table 5.1: Projected Estimates Year 1 Contract Mfg (Designers&Carnival) 720,000 960,000 1,200,000 Corporate/Commercial 360,000 480,000 600,000 Own Brand 600,000 750,000 900,000 Training 12,000 36,000 72,000 Total 1,932,000 2,496,000 3,072,000 Low Est Med Est High Est 1,440,000 1,920,000 2,400,000 Table 5.2: Projected Estimates Year 3 720,000 960,000 1,200,000 1,200,000 1,500,000 1,800,000 24,000 72,000 144,000 3,384,000 4,452,000 5,544,000 Contract Mfg (Designers&Carnival) Corporate/Commercial Own Brand Training Total 120
The cooperative as a solution to manufacturing, production and isolation for fashion designers in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean Table 5.3: Projected Estimates Year 5 Low Est Med Est High Est Contract Mfg (Designers&Carnival) 2,400,000 3,200,000 4,000,000 Corporate/Commercial 1,200,000 1,600,000 2,000,000 Own Brand 2,000,000 2,500,000 3,000,000 Training 40,000 120,000 240,000 Total 5,640,000 7,420,000 9,240,000 Table 5.4: Projected Expenses for Years 1 to 5 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Rent 48,000 48,000 48,000 48,000 48,000 Cost of Goods Sold 1,500,000 2,000,000 2,500,000 3,000,000 3,500,000 Business Plan 140,000 60,000 60,000 Basic Software Licenses 40,000 40,000 40,000 40,000 40,000 Specialized Machinery 400,000 400,000 400,000 Technical Assistance 300,000 300,000 300,000 300,000 300,000 Marketing and Promotion 480,000 480,000 480,000 480,000 480,000 Training Facilitation 240,000 240,000 240,000 240,000 240,000 Total 2,748,000 3,508,000 4,068,000 4,508,000 4,668,000 Figure 5.1: Financial Projections Year 1 121
ROBERT YOUNG, CILLA BENJAMIN Figure 5.2: Financial Projections Year 3 Figure 5.3: Financial Projections Year 5 The operation of a conceptual FWC called the Living Through Dreams Workers’ Cooperative is shown in Figure 5.4. Should grants or state investment in this concept materialize, the cooperative would use it to deliver enhanced services based on greater investment in technology for the fashion industry. In addition, the FWCs would be able to commit to the training of more apprentices to build the industry. Capacity building for the organization and its individual members and associate members in the areas such as technical assistance, marketing and promotion, business planning and operation, quality control, production control and management would be priorities. 122
Title Living Through Dreams Workers’ Cooperative Operational ChartDesign Internal Design External Designers No Team NoPre-‐Production Pattern Designer/Team Yes Pattern Making/ Approval? Making PrototypeProduction Stitiching NoOutsourcing External No Stitchers Req’d? Craftsmanship Reqd? Yes External StitchersPost-‐ ProductionFigure 5.4: Operation of the Conceptual Living Through Dreams FWC
Ministry of Design -‐ From Cottage Industry to State Enterprise University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad & Tobago May 28 – 29th, 2015 Phase Initial Constitution Distribution/SaleAssembly/TrimmingNo Craftspeople Yes Ironing/ Packaging
Ministry of Design -‐ From Cottage Industry to State Enterprise University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad & Tobago May 28 – 29th, 2015 6. Conclusion This study revealed that production of fashion in T&T is desirable, and necessary for the industry to attain its potential. Production is problematic at present because although there are skilled workers within the fashion industry who love what they do, their numbers are rapidly declining. The main reasons for this are related to unsatisfactory compensation in the industry as structured and the failure of the traditional employer-‐employee relationship within the industry. Workers are no longer satisfied with earning low wages and prefer flexibility and autonomy as opposed to being traditional ‘workers’. The workers’ cooperative is presented as a solution. The proposed fashion workers’ cooperative gives the workers control of their destiny where they own and manage themselves as they see fit. Working from home, a desirable phenomenon, is possible, and they maintain real-‐time communication using smart phones to call, text and e-‐mail. They are also able to counteract the seasonal nature of the industry by launching and maintaining their own private product lines. This adds to their security by assuring a steady income year round, which was something that designers and owners of the fashion enterprise which ‘employed’ them, could not guarantee. In the case of the fashion industry, a closer analysis of low productivity revealed that it could not simply be attributed to ‘poor work ethic’ but rather was the symptom of a history of complex and dysfunctional societal and employer-‐employee relationships. References Carr, S., 2013. Trinidad and Tobago Fashion Industry [Interview] (4 March 2013). Dickson, D.-‐A., 2013. Creative Industries put on hold: Back to the Drawing Board. [Online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2013-‐01-‐28/creative-‐ industries-‐put-‐hold [Accessed 27 June 2013]. Heron, T., 2006. An Unravelling Development Strategy? Garment Assembly in the Caribbean after the MultiFibre Arrangement. Bulletin of Latin American Research, 25(2), pp. 264-‐281. Lindsay, J., 2012. Development of Fashion Industry and Strategic Positioning of Local Industry. Macoya: Fashion Industry Development Committee. Newsday, 2003. Garment Industry needs new Suit. Port-‐of-‐Spain: Daily News Limited. Pouillard, V., 2011. Design Piracy in the Fashion Industries of Paris and New York in the Interwar Years. Business History Review, pp. 319-‐344. Reis, M. & Ivey, I., 2008. Fashion Advanced Sector Foresight Project: Best Bet Investment Opportunity Cases, Port-‐of-‐Spain: NEXT/NIHERST. Robertson, R. & Lopez-‐Acevedo, G., 2012. (2012-‐03-‐14). Sewing Success? (Directions in Development). Kindle Edition: World Bank. Stone, R., 2011. A Spirited Butterfly: A History of Fashion in Trinidad and Tobago. Coconut Creek: Caribbean Studies Press.
The cooperative as a solution to manufacturing, production and isolation for fashion designers in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean Tan, I., 2010. Knock it Off, Forever 21! The Fashion Industry's Battle against Design Piracy. Journal of Law and Policy, 18(2), pp. 893-‐924. 125
Ministry of Design -‐ From Cottage Industry to State Enterprise University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad & Tobago May 28 – 29th, 2015 DRAWING TOGETHER -‐ Reshaping our world through Design in the 21st century Nigel THOMAS Architect -‐ B.A. (Hons)., M. Arch., M.T.T.I.A.#102, BoATT * [email protected] Abstract: If we desired and dared an architecture (design) corresponding to the nature of our souls ... our model would be the labyrinth (Nietzsche, Daybreak, 169) We remain unknown to ourselves, we seekers after knowledge, even to ourselves: and with good reason. We have never sought after ourselves -‐ so how should we one day find ourselves? (Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals, Preface 1) Immanence, meaning \"existing or remaining within as opposed to transcendence, which is beyond or outside\"... It is only when immanence is no longer immanence to anything other than itself that we can speak of a plane of immanence (Deleuze, Immanence: A Life) KIN: \"Kinship, Kindred relationships by nature or character, community, togetherness, affinity, a feeling of being close with common connections, communion\" -‐ 'Drawing Together' is a commitment to designing Life as affirmation, taking in hand the future direction for Life on earth -‐ A state of emergence for the design and management of complexity as opposed to emergency.
DRAWING TOGETHER Reshaping our world through Design in the 21st century DRAWING TOGETHER It all begins with a paradox. We designers must share the guilt of the legacy of errors strewn over our liberal democratic landscape through the ages. The only plausible excuse is that design as the dignified expression of human intentions and plans has always required a milieu of design; a radical design culture in order to thrive. Guilt and shame force us to develop a countermovement to the ultimately violent modern state of Plato's \"Republic\", reflected in the mean streets and sharp edges of the contemporary city, or the brutal grid of colonization in the Caribbean. To state that design is in the process of expansion as a global construct still does not provide us with enough latitude. For we are living at the expense of the future, unable to question our own truths in order to know ourselves, as the philosopher Nietzsche forewarned in the 19th century. How is it possible to advance to our highest potential and splendor unless we can probe the depths of our own truths? In the context of Trinidad & Tobago we can virtually draw invisible lines that separate our communities, our KIN. Lines of disparity. In order to achieve our highest power we need to change our lives by drawing (our world) together as a new paradigm for culture. Connecting designers, philosophers, activists, policy makers, legislators, reformers, politicians and civil society, to empower our people and transform Society. Designing with a new courage, maturity and strength to solve the 'collective unconscious', our internal ecosystem and eco-‐master planning challenges of our era. We are all implicated in the great danger that threatens humanity: the will turned against life -‐ towards nothingness -‐ nihilism (GM. Preface 5) ... that we would rather will nothingness than not will (GM, Essay 3). This concept is as uncanny and provocative today as it was in the 19th century. As a counter-‐movement to 'nothingness' we will argue that design as creative will and affirmation of life be renamed KINAESTHETIC -‐ INNOVATION -‐ NOW (KIN), for the self-‐overcoming of nihilism that is recognized everywhere through the portal of the trans-‐Asiatic-‐trans-‐European eye from Nietzsche in the West to Nishitani in the East. We prepare to breach from below the language of Plato's Dialogues of ancient Greece to post-‐Hiroshima Japan. Radical Immanence and Emergence can satisfy the needs of the real world and not 'a priori' metaphysical ideals. Embodied and open-‐ended design renaturalizes our experience and embraces the chaos of life as opposed to the denaturalized Ideal of Plato's Phaedo expressed by his mask/foil Socrates on the sorry day of his execution, while destined for hemlock and Tartarus. The life suffering dialectician turned prophet pronounces in vain that earthly reality is nothing but a crude reflection of Ideal intergalactic worlds... Socratic enchantment as global vortex. 127
NIGEL THOMAS A clairvoyant also appears at the end of Plato's Republic as a \"fixer\" of a \"sophisticated\" lottery of souls in which the dead are forced to choose a new life-‐paradigm in order to transmigrate from this beautiful earth to collect their Olympian rewards. No great stretch of the imagination is required to make the connection between the Platonic Ideal and contemporary terrorism and suicidal nihilism... Design as transcendental temptation in the form of Platonic Ideals, Forms, Kallipolis etc. have all negatively impacted our contemporary dystopia. However, until Nietzsche in the late 19th Century we were unable to listen to the multiple active voices of the genealogical discoveries -‐ philosophical, anthropological, linguistic, pan-‐ psychic -‐ to decipher the true problematic, of the origins (Herkunft) of morality, the meaning of the ascetic ideal and the power of philosophy. I will argue that (embodied -‐ intuitive) design shares the comprehensive collective moral and ethical responsibility of philosophy and just as the 'truths' of philosophers must be subjected to the re-‐evaluation of values, so must our suspicions of culture and trans-‐valuation by design. So now we have opened our Pandora's box of tension and paradox. Despite the need to advance creatively, we face the eternal dangers of nihilism from within. Nietzsche's 'Genealogy of Morals' is our primary kinship model for advancement and the self-‐overcoming of decadence and nihilism inherited from Plato's Dialogues. Strangely we observe that nihilism and loss from the third world/developing countries to the developed world is expanding not only in the wake of Darwinian evolution theory: \"natural selection\" and \"survival of the fittest\", or notions of the death of God, but precisely in conforming to society's norms and dysfunctional systems, that promote short term planning and development, in line with the existing global organizations and codes of morality. The result is an overly militarized, segmented, specialized and administered life disallowing connectivity and free association... The pathos of distance has become internalized and extreme resentment has resulted as we experienced with the debt crises of the 80's, 9/11 and the latest specter of terrorism. Many pundits scoff at the Green revolution as an example of immanence but what role would agriculture play in developing countries without such design thinking? In this time of crisis we are forced to listen to other parts of ourselves, achieve our heights as a team, a village, as though gathering and drawing together new settlement patterns into new innovation cycles. Our very DNA has been altered by pursuing short-‐term planning policies, resulting in one-‐dimensional sustainable and economic design thinking. Major economic decisions have been made in the past without intense design and planning input, such as developing automobile assembly plants instead of upgrading existing rail systems in Trinidad and Tobago for example. Squandered opportunities and inappropriate systems have long-‐term consequences and are unable to self-‐correct. Our peers are fighting in the streets: the Occupy Wall Street movement for fairness and equity, or fighting for people's lives, spaces and new ways of moving, living, breathing, to mitigate against global warming, amidst civil and guerrilla warfare, refugee encampments, and narco-‐economies from Medellin to Morocco for example. 128
DRAWING TOGETHER Reshaping our world through Design in the 21st century We designers habitually research the major challenges to life and the various responses in the margins while creating our own innovative pockets of resistance and models, that could benefit the future of our Nation, but until we can draw together, and erase the perversion of anthropomorphic projections and hubris, nature dies, not God(s) in this new enactment. Nietzsche's message in a bottle to the 21st Century contains echoes of ancient Greek voices in the form of the Dionysian and Apollinian states. The former state represents the sacrificing of individuality to the Earth, while embracing the complexity of instincts. The \"Rausch\" and ecstasy of Bacchus the God of wine is invoked by our contemporary designers as second nature tempered by the unique Apollinian rational structure, with its lucid 'shining' clarity on the verge. Our new European and Asiatic designers embrace the uncanny polarity and oscillation between Yin and Yang states, which allows the multiplicity-‐chaos of life to be experienced and renaturalized globally. SCHEMA 1: The first diagram illustrates the progressive decline from the end of Plato's Republic described by Socrates as degenerating life expressed in parallel character types and political regimes -‐ all typified by a loss of belief in the world, ultimately flat lining with tyranny. Although the tyrannical city occupies the lowest rank in Plato's Republic, it should be noted that in the more mature Dialogue; the Laws, the 'true legislator' yearns for a city ruled by a young, almost Dionysian type possessing special 'natures' and the vulgar moderation of a child. One is reminded of a Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore in our era. Is such a dictatorship progressive or an absurdist, surreal spectacle on the verge of semi-‐barbarism? 129
NIGEL THOMAS The Universal Socratic grid as yoke of colonization, traces the extremist idealism that has led to the ultra-‐violence in our contemporary cities, while wolves in sheep clothing leave their imprint upon pure space in their contrails ... evaporating into the ether with their Ponzi schemes and exit strategies... Our new paradigm for advancement illustrates that it is far better to combat nihilism with passionate and constructive ideas, or to exercise largesse on the less powerful third world with a \"gentle claw\", or better yet to draw together as a group sharing credit for new prototypes and apps. The new emphasis on emergence allows a top-‐down, bottom up ( grass roots) innovative sharing beyond one-‐ dimensional commercial interests and encompassing the full economy of human nature. What does it mean today for a designer to transgress from Platonic Ideas, to adopt oblique and indirect modes of simulation? -‐ It means taking a radical stance in order to be ecologically, and socially engaged. Capitalist or Socialist ideologies offer only glimpses of hope of kindred inventiveness. I will argue that our new KIN model can become the active drawing together or cross-‐pollination of disciplines in a new quest for advancement. Such a union needs to be naturalized under the open sky. The history of our nation has been forged from great artistic accomplishments such as the steel pan, Carnival and Calypso, but also of intense reactive divisions, secret societies, slave rebellions, or Convois regiments reacting against the forgeries of birds of prey in the form of the 'good and just' plantation owners. Revolutions, coups, gangs and banditry characteristic of the 20th century are mired in the blood of 'ressentiment' and possibly stem from harsh reaction to the Athenian stranger, Plato himself in the Laws. The vacillation between tyranny, courage, moderation, rank and file is felt as a savage shudder from within. A chaos of instincts posing as soul is honored even more than the City, our people, the earth...In these moments we realize that 'goodness' and 'kinship' (fraternity) are two very different things. However, we are optimistic that multi-‐cultural design thinking as a vital Dionysian drive or the art of will to power to manage chaos and overcome tyranny will allow our civil society to regain its ancestral soul and good health. Schema 2-‐ (Design etymology -‐ towards action): Under the stewardship of the \"maternal\" and warrior philosophers, characterized by Zarathustra's Speech Before Sunrise ( Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche), we learn to design for living as though educating a child. The freedom to create natural environments and experiences in an open innovation space with hands-‐on activities like drawing, storytelling, prototyping, in the wide bands of potential beyond Aristotelian boundary conditions of time. Design to guide our children with music, free-‐ association, games and uncorrupted play. A Dionysian and Apollinian fluidity. In the context of Trinidad & Tobago, the cyclical festival of Carnival (Bacchae) is an opportunity to create new modes for life as the natural way of rejuvenation including innovative new brands, entrepeneurial opportunities woven into the weft and warp of our unique culture. We play our mas with the seriousness of a child at play and can now design responsible institutions out of which future grows. Eros, rhythm and 130
DRAWING TOGETHER Reshaping our world through Design in the 21st century pleasure intertwine in the music. The jab-‐jab of reality interrupts the pre-‐ waking dream and myth. Interestingly, in Plato's ‘Laws’ it is Dionysus the god of wine who is responsible for the unbounded safeguarding of the child's education through dance, song and choral discipline-‐ Chora. This is a significant leap for Plato had earlier excised the Dionysian cult altogether from the Republic, fearing that his prized ‘Forms’ would collapse. Becoming-‐ innocence and freedom without fear of limits is what we designer's seek and following the great Bauhaus teacher Paul Klee, we take a line for a walk, draw together, connecting Communities, forming kinships, reaching out, visualizing our experiences of life through drawing...Design activism to create meaningful environments; cities, communities, global villages, parks, recreational and educational spaces with the spontaneous gestures of a Zen master... MINISTRY OF DESIGN -‐ The Culture Industry: The necessary provocation in the form of a ‘Ministry of Design’ for Trinidad and Tobago, with the explicit objective of building a new awareness for design immanence, represents a first step towards togetherness. To commemorate this occasion we propose a new Kinship model for drawing together. The emergence of a new global design studio KIN is envisaged as working alongside the Ministry of Design, Academia (UWI) and as a possible NGO, operating freely in the fields of communities (North, South, East & West), to develop new planning concepts for education, health care, disease prevention and the research of necessary systems, technologies and local innovative ideas and products to assist with the diversification of the economy. KIN is also conceived as the Cultural and global exchange of ideas, a comprehensive 'deal flow' of new ideas from Architecture to fashion design, all emphasizing the uniqueness and power of our Carnival culture, no longer as a cyclical festival. The Design emphasis would be on connectivity and integration, with the goal of both identifying and isolating real infrastructural and economically sustainable needs, while creating total environments to truly know ourselves and our neighbours. Community largesse in tandem with our 21st century potential for openness is an etymological quest which becomes a partial re-‐tracing of the lines of our ancestors; our First people. Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals teaches the comparative philology and anthropology that lies underneath language. Through our Kinships, lineage, blood-‐lines and DNA -‐ genealogy gets personal ... Just as Nietzsche was inspired by his famous predecessor Spinoza and the adventures of pantheistic immanence through the experience of the Marrano, it is critical for us to reconstruct our own genealogy for our context in Trinidad and Tobago. The historical sweep and whip of cruelty and exploitation of our \"First\"/indigenous people, continuing with persecution under colonization in the form of slavery, should already have cautioned us against the problems of disparity, social unbalance, and re-‐ 131
NIGEL THOMAS colonization by global giants of manufacturing, technology and industry. This global syndrome is forcing us to defiantly redefine our notions of Design with an emphasis on local products, provocative new technologies, along with educating our people to become a necessity. New radical education is required to decipher propagandist or deceptive marketing for unnecessary consumer products. Workshops to mitigate against poverty, gender empowerment, pollution, drug addiction, AIDS, the physically challenged, the aged, desperate and needy on the life-‐support of Plato's ‘Nurse of Generation’. Designers must penetrate deeper to establish principles of mutual trust without abandonment. We can now create a montage of the etymology of design with the hope of forming new productive meanings. The formula proposed is not \"form follows function\" but form and function embodied within KIN to create dignified new relationships beyond traditional values, prejudices, and utility. From Etymology, the word Design is both noun and verb -‐ \"purpose\", \"plan\", \"intention\" (but without craftiness), \"goal\", \"plot\", \"form\", \"fundamental structure\". -‐ Giving the sense that the designer like a primordial hunter sets traps, feigning, simulating nature( eco-‐mimesis), drafting, sketching, shaping, continually \"relooking\" and reshaping nature and culture while strategically signing (as in drawing a sign or signature)...de-‐signing, planning and directing the totality of drives that are conducive to the flourishing of humanity. Our notion of design then becomes a kind of Dionysian morphing, continually shifting shapes that no longer poison our inner nature and ecology. Drawing together also implies informed forums of participation that benefit from the synthesis of multiple disciplines, whilst transforming systems and technology with Design as a vital force. We can now audaciously propose drawing together the Ministry of Design with Academia; the University of the West Indies ( the research arm renamed 'Reading and Writing'), with the action-‐oriented, Studio KIN to be located out in the fields of community outreach as a 'crafty stratagem', in the manner of Ulysses the polymechanikos' Trojan horse (but without the negative connotation of 'machine thinking'). For the creation of a new dynamic and natural system with collective social and moral responsibility to empower our heirs and children of the future. For \"Mechos\" we learn is derived from the ancient root \"magh\", the German word \"macht\" (power) and \"mogen\" (will ; desire) -‐ From this it is conceivable to connect design with will to power in the Nietzschean sense. Our history of conflict was the story of life against life. Our future hangs in the balance because life needs to live. Emergent Design must become mastery of the art of \"mogen\", will, to \"macht\", power. This concept of will to power as design is a creative and critical transformation of Schopenhauer's \"will to life\" which is ultimately deemed pessimistic. 132
DRAWING TOGETHER Reshaping our world through Design in the 21st century Nietzsche's concern is that life can be re-‐designed beyond suffering and pity if combined with love, pathos and affirmation: -‐ Kinship. BRIEF GENEALOGY OF PROTOTYPES -‐ KINSHIP MODELS SCHEMA 3 :-‐ (Kindly note that many of the prototypes chosen for this section are historical speculative attempts to advance culture outside of traditional Academia, Political or Corporate systems, and do not represent an exhaustive history. The focus is on models of direct action. We have purposely left out distorted models such as Albert Speer's use of Neo-‐Classicism for planning and design of totalitarianism under Hitler's regime( Rome-‐Judea, Judea-‐Rome...). Our model is always to set up a kind of design encampment to draw with the people in a manner that has never yet been attempted(it should further be noted that many of the following speculations are designed for a time and people to come...). Architects, Designers and Planners throughout history have proposed meaningful design prototypes for enhancing humanity beyond concerns for individual aesthetic structures, however, for the sake of brevity we will concern ourselves principally with 19th, 20th and 21st Century people and life centered models for advancement due to the accelerated technologies and the associated 'horror vacui' and increasing complexity of humanity's needs (socio-‐economic, anthropological, psychological, spiritual, technological). It is not our purpose to create an exhaustive list or to judge any of these prototypes but to 'relook' and to draw out their speculative possibilities for shaping our future environments, thereby motivating and inspiring our people who are suffering from poor parent-‐child bonds and weak social links that have contributed to gang membership and crime in many 'hot-‐spot' zones. PROTOTYPES -‐ KIN (Design and the Culture Industry) The key for design in relation to the Culture Industry is to focus on reality and meaning and not to be distracted by deceptive advertising, consumption and big business to simply mirror the ideological clichés of a culture. Let us explore the adventures of some of our kin: (The Athenian Stranger, The Corbeaux and the Silver Prince) 1). Russian Constructivism and Suprematism were never caricatures of solidarity. These Design models were provocative and yet conceived alongside the State as a revolution inside the revolution: \"the streets our brushes, the squares our palettes\" was the cry. In this context we can almost speak of a Ministry of Design as El Lissitzky & Co. our special KIN felt a new kind of freedom, at least while the revolution was young. This was indeed a unique moment in history as the Avant-‐garde co-‐existed with the State to create suspended, private and elemental spatial ideas in the open public forum without feeling an obedience to the social hierarchy in the wake of the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. Tatlin for example designed machine art, and the famous un-‐built Tower (its spiraling transcendent Forms caged within an immanent machine of hope). Tatlin's versatility prevailed in designs for economical stoves, worker's overalls and furniture as 133
NIGEL THOMAS the State and the Constructivists themselves provocatively toyed with 'capitalism' and market economics eccentrically at least until the Gulag Archipelago opened their eyes to the monstrous underbelly within the straight jacket of communism. These prototypes are highly influential but only if we could vivisect the idealist totalitarian beliefs and accompanying elements of deception. (2) The Bauhaus (Architecture House) as a synthesis of design (gesamtkunstwerk), also teeters on the brink of both Academy and Firm with its rational modernist critique of the horrors of the world and the overarching concerns for a new brotherhood of man. ...\"Starting from zero\" became a synthesis of communism and even a new religion; 'Mazdazan' ( signaling a new transcendental idealistic realm)... This 'spiritual' dimension was limited although the tsunami of Bauhaus flat roofs and glass corners can still be seen and felt in Universities and Cities around the globe. Throughout the Third World we see influences of Mies, Gropius (The 'Silver Prince'), Bruno Taut; the Architect as activist. The muscles of design were being flexed under the dark shadow of National Socialism's blanket of oppression. A political stance that became harder to maintain along with the various manifestos for 're-‐creating the world' as a new ideal when that Ideal had been corrupted from the outset. Even the Nietzschean New Man was referenced though without the subtle nuances or necessity of real engagement. The severe modernist curriculum emphasized a new aesthetic but there was something important missing; the real world -‐ people. We need more sharing, drawing together, trading books and learning the art of reading to find ideas to bring the balance back. We do claim Bauhaus artists like Paul Klee as kin however, and have transformed the idea of taking a line for a walk into our new concept of drawing together. We also feel that the 21st Century demands much more open-‐ended, indeterminate forms to create more linkages with our First people for example which would be unheard of in the brutal Bauhaus 'compound'. Those artists and designers in the Bauhaus who tapped into the Jungian 'collective unconscious' and 'archetypal myth' would surely connect with our complex 21st century challenges. Other kindred spirits at the turn of the 20th century include the de Stijl (style) or the Vienna Secession (literally seceding) from the Austrian cultural organization in which initial attempts were made to work alongside Government based cultural organisations. The Dadaist shock to art itself is our oblique mandate and wake up call to design for the real world and to allow everyone a chance to cultivate creativity. (3). Le Corbusier's (the 'Corbeaux') poetic and bold egalitarian reconstruction of the 'City of Tomorrow' as a machine for living or other speculative projects such as 'The Ville Radieuse' designed to transform Paris, have been much maligned and misinterpreted in gargantuan 20th century developer driven City Planning, which deflates the rapture and poetry of Corbu's City brain as elegant new dawn. When the speed of a City can achieve success, then why not develop mass transit systems as opposed to the carnage of the automobile with its super highways that lead nowhere. This is a valid critique of the speculative visions of Corbu, along with the possible addition of multiple layers of indeterminacy in the bands of green courtyards or the lack of Dionysian multiplicity in 134
DRAWING TOGETHER Reshaping our world through Design in the 21st century the buildings themselves, the bands of landscape or at the level of the street. Of more interest are the individual villas with their Brise-‐soleil, pilotis and sculptural roof tops. We designer's recognize many of the unlearnt lessons in the unbuilt sketches of Le Corbusier throughout the City sprawl of the American dream that lack the original poetic elements and human scale. Interestingly, Corbu's purist, overly Apollinian modular system was derived from Plato, which could account for the coolness in the vast planning schemes. Of particular interest to our Tropical context are Corbu's Ebenezer Howard garden city references and subtle intimate and poetic honey combed courtyards which separate Le Corbusier from his imitators. Perhaps only Neimeyer in Brasilia or OMA critically engages this expansive merging of Architecture and Planning. Neimeyer's sensual transformation of his teacher Corbu proved too austere for his own people in the New Town of Brasilia. The repetitive housing blocks lacked the Samba rhythms and scents of life that the people had grown accustomed to. The austerity and purity of the rational planning grid inherited from Corbu and Plato, lacked the colour and texture that many of Neimeyer's individual buildings sensually embraced. Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore as experimental space for Japanese hired guns (designers) with hanging gardens and Metabolist glimpses of tyrannical power behind the message, and countless other hidden secrets no doubt. On the shimmering surface we almost touch the dream as the innocent lamb aware that the bird of prey hovers in a surreal, semi-‐barbaric tabula rasa. We cannot forget that tyranny -‐ dictatorship -‐ occupied the lowest rank even in the Socratic hierarchy of degenerating City types; \"tyranny leaves the body free and directs its attack at the soul\". The productive tension of Singapore creates a kind of spiritual warfare for designers seeking ever more subtle and refined models for the advancement of humanity. We Architects can still enjoy the later poetry of Le Corbusier and promise a more meaningful engagement with this and other work in the future. (4). Other kin such as Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesen East and West fellowship community, captures our notion of a design school as 'gypsy encampment' outside of Academia and the Corporate Spheres which have stifled many designers. Utopian organic models such as the Usonian prototypes and Broadacre City contain interesting ideas but there is an overwhelming sense of distancing and inefficient suburban sprawl, too heavily reliant on the automobile, and perhaps a slight reluctance on Mr. Wright's part to listen and even learn from some of his talented associates and students such as Schindler and Lautner for example. We get a similar feeling from Solari's progressive ecological experiments; Eco-‐polis and 'Arcosanti' previously voiced about Neimeyer's Brasilia, that despite the exciting and innovative Architectural ideas, their location in the deserts of Arizona or in the jungles of Brazil surrounded by shanty towns, prohibits the ideal of socialist transformation. Unless of course global socialism had become a reality.. Che Guevara's assassination in Bolivia placed a hiatus on the revolution...until now. Che means 'buddy' in Argentina and we recognize the revolutionary Che Guevara as passionate kin. We intend to research, work with and transform many of the 135
NIGEL THOMAS concepts and ideas contained in these prototypes and many others in the future. It must be admitted that many of these concepts were far in advance of their time. For most of the 'avant garde' prototypes of the 20th century, the bourgeoisie was the enemy which de-‐emphasized a commitment to the real world. Our total community prototype KIN on the other hand would seek to work with NGO partners globally after launching a successful pilot program in Trinidad and Tobago to design with nature to eliminate abject poverty and pollution in the 21st century. Attending to the Biosphere by conducting global \"charretes\" with ecologists, policy makers and stakeholders out in the fields. Our kinship prototypes illustrate the tension between earthly immanent needs and transcendent hopes. This tension co-‐exists all the way back from models such as the Greek Stoa, to contemporary Agricultural innovations in Africa. The lessons to be learnt in our context are to set realistic goals that are achievable; tropical design as bio-‐integration for unique eco-‐masterplanning of a necklace of interconnected sidewalks, parks, gathering spaces, pedestrian and bike paths, where everyone is included and corruption and greed excluded. This is immanence as kindred or spiritual practice: KIN . From the Tuscan hill towns to the oriental shop-‐house and Arabic fareej courtyard cluster, we understand the importance of designing close-‐nit webs of trust to provide a sense of belonging, to protect us from being sifted out by the seive (Chora) of Plato's City matrix. We work alongside our peers' internalized design studios in which Parametric, Bio-‐mimetic and many other concepts are being explored but we feel closer kinship with the provocative design-‐thinking of Chaos theorists, cognitive-‐ embodied models, Silicon Valley or IDEO/ d. School, with their emphasis on externalizing community interactive experiences of life. Designers are trained to use the tools of the city, aware of the geometry of place -‐making and the metrics of development and commercial interests, which should qualify us to act on behalf of our people in developing plans alongside the government, philanthropic organizations, behaviourists, technologists, developers and archaeologists, to create beauty out of chaos. The New Paradigm -‐ Case Study -‐ Picton Hill, Laventille \"Possession is becoming progressively burdensome and wasteful and therefore obsolete\" -‐ Buckminister Fuller, 1969\" The formula is no longer 'less is more', but 'more from less': emergence. We will now briefly review one of our own embodied design proposals for urban acceleration for Trinidad & Tobago. Our Picton Hill affordable housing urban model for Laventille (proposed in the late 90's) was designed as a very specific yet comprehensive eco-‐village within a profoundly neglected neighbourhood of Port of Spain with dangerous challenges of equity. The programmatic requirements included affordable housing, micro-‐enterprise, cottage 136
DRAWING TOGETHER Reshaping our world through Design in the 21st century industry, recreational, self-‐included reflection, training and education/special research spaces, interlinked with an economically sustainable market and shopping precinct. As a unique co-‐operative model it was proposed that the shareholders of the community would own, operate and share in the benefits and profits in a PPP relationship with the GOTT for the total empowerment of the community and city. The model therefore combined free-‐market entrepreneurial and socialist concepts and would have benefitted from the TTMF and NHA Structures at the time along with the internal logic of PPP principles. It was further proposed that an active total environment be developed as opposed to a reactive dormitory housing project which would incorporate a special density of shop-‐houses or rental units for commercial enterprise and Tourism. Systems of construction proposed were tunnel and wall form modular in-‐situ housing technologies for economies of scale. Macro-‐planning and bio-‐integration srategies proposed that the Beetham landfill be detoxified and transformed from waste-‐to-‐energy into Parks, forming an eco-‐ city gate and a beautiful new nexus for artistic creativity, sporting and entertainment. Strategies for Picton Hill shareholders included reductions of individual monthly bills and community leasing as opposed to individual purchasing and ownership for empowerment, storage space for bulk ordering of basic food items (based on agglomeration economies). Shared mobility, radical concepts of education, village style entertainment . Sustainable economic concepts included Scrap tyre, recycling and sorting environmental services, agriculture, gender empowerment, income growth and urban acceleration through micro-‐enterprise and live-‐work cottage industry elements. Additionally, it should be noted that the housing community was designed to draw 'hot-‐spot' communities together to form new collective secure management and maintenance while emphasizing community centers and amphitheaters to create spaces to enhance feelings of inclusion, to embrace life and our culture fully. Community strategies for 'de-‐criminalizing the criminal' based on certain African tribal rituals and the radical work of Michel Foucault, were also explored in our pilot kinship model. The macro-‐plan also envisaged future linkages with mass-‐transit systems (buses in this case) which would link up with the East-‐West corridor and Chaguaramas through Trams, Ferries, Buses, Light rail and future transit villages... This model is an expression of defiant sustainable action embracing complexity and connectivity for empowerment to combat disparity, historical dysfunctional policies and methodologies, whilst alleviating poverty by strengthening the lower income groups in Trinidad and Tobago with designs that work alongside the Sou Sou 'Land for the landless' concept for example. We envisaged the housing co-‐operative inhabitants fully empowered and in charge of the growth and diversification of their agricultural production, handicrafts and other community created products. The Carnival becomes the living model of innovative new designs in an artistic culture thus transforming a cyclical festival. 137
NIGEL THOMAS Urban models of this kind are an example of the type of embodied designs that would allow us to draw together real world concepts while enhancing interactive communication between the public and private realms for the enhancement of life, while seeking innovative ways to provide leasing alternatives, upward mobility and empowerment.. By redesigning a neglected but special City neighbourhood with a Dionysian willingness to engage complexity we believe that it is possible to transform culture. CONCLUSION A (Person's) Character is their destiny -‐ Heraclitus Revolutionary Design for the 21st Century 'zeitgeist' requires an intense personal and collective investment from all stakeholders. In this essay I have presented a case for the need for a new paradigm based upon principles of immanence and emergence in a multiplicity of global contexts. Through drawing together it is possible to retrace the marks of how we have become what we are and to sketch the new conditions for possible advancement. Drawing is the oldest form of human expression, from cave scratchings and hieroglyphics, we hold in our hands great potential for connectivity with our communities and the 'global village' (McLuhan's term now viral on the internet). Communicative sketches produced in prehistoric times became stylized and simplified, leading to the development of writing, reading and speaking. Inherent in drawing is an internal dialogue with fellow designers, along with the accompanying creative, expressive and radical new educational possibilities. We have also drawn together a few historical and contemporary prototypes that are generative to our new approach. All new paradigms encourage originality and imagination and we believe that our exploration of KIN with philosophy, new cognitive science, mindful-‐awareness and cybernetics, provides a natural counterpart to traditional neuro-‐scientific conceptions of creativity. Emergent possibilities. It is envisaged that \"Drawing Together\" will truly encompass the problems of the earth (Immanence) and include a more comprehensive historical and anthropological excursion in which KIN studios can be developed locally, regionally and globally. In the Caribbean there are infinite opportunities to engage the sustainable housing, educational, infrastructural, and agricultural needs of Trinidad and Tobago and Haiti for example. Many of our designers have worked on PPP projects with organizations such as Unesco and Habitat in the past and have established global linkages with other potential kin in Africa, Europe, Latin-‐America, North America and Asia, and therefore have a comprehensive understanding of the economic sustainability of development. There are many strategists who believe that China's economic miracle is as a result of macro-‐planning of the rural revolution in agriculture that began in the 1980's through 138
DRAWING TOGETHER Reshaping our world through Design in the 21st century the creation of township and village enterprises (TVE's) for example. This is a powerful example that we can learn a great deal from. Other emerging models include crime prevention in African tribes. When someone does something harmful to the community they are surrounded by the entire village and for two days reminded of the good things that they have done and their responsibility to their ancestors and the community. It is now time to escape the agonistic conception of transcendental being which is so deeply entrenched in 21st Century institutional structures: social, judicial and political -‐ of Western culture and therefore susceptible to collective extremism and the will to nothingness, as we are experiencing globally. Our simple formula for overcoming is that personal transcendence must be separate from collective immanence to allow emergence for the transformation of our species and the conservation of our Biosphere. Drawing together, reading, writing, speaking and moving the wheelbarrow as in primitive times, will allow us to advance to the heights and not condemn ourselves to the suffering of life in the manner of Socrates seeking galaxies out there in the cosmos. We propose drawing and embodiment, as a means to empowerment and by extension engaging reading, writing and memory cycles for a new collective belief in the world. Trinidad and Tobago must rise to the challenge to redefine itself as a dignified artistic culture and as a design education nexus. Design holds great opportunities for synthesis and can become the powerful vital force for new generative possibilities. Marx exposed the economic forces and surplus value behind all cultural activity, Freud our unconscious desires, but Nietzsche's comprehensive models of art and genealogy; the will to power, amor fati and Dionysian affirmation, provides us with the artillery to reshape ourselves and our complex world by designing and drawing together for the love of our Kin. end ( part one). NOTE ON REFERENCES -‐ KIN 1. \"Genealogy of Morals\", Friedrich Nietzsche, Walter Kaufman. This text is offered as the primary Kinship model along with Nietzsche's entire oeuvre. GM will be referenced throughout our KIN handbook for design. Nietzsche's project of redeeming nature targets metaphysical indifference or projections of \"mind-‐ morality\" on nature. Embodied design embraces the tension of an over anthropomorphic approach to nature and counters with eco-‐mimesis, designing with nature. 2. Gilles Deleuze. \"Pure Immanence -‐ Essays on a Life\". Translated by Anne Boyman, Zone Books. Deleuze and Guattari's nomadic approach to philosophy, schizo-‐analysis, anthropology, literature, cinema and linguistics is another important kinship model. 139
NIGEL THOMAS 3. The Collected Dialogues of Plato -‐ (Bollingen Series) -‐ Edith Hamilton & Huntington Cairns -‐ The specific Dialogues referred to in part 1 of the Handbook include,\" The Republic\", \"Phaedo\", \"Laws\" and \"Timaeus\". 4. \"The Dialectic of Enlightenment\", \"The Culture Industry -‐ Adorno and Horkheimer. A high point of cultural critique. 5. The New Harvest: Agricultural Innovation in Africa -‐ Harvard. Many of the case studies and innovations referred to are being evaluated continually by our KIN. 6. The Culture of Design, University of Brighton series, Guy Julier. 7. Change by Design, Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO -‐ The importance of design-‐thinking for economic sustainability and interaction are emphasized. 8. Happy City, Transforming our Lives Through Urban Design-‐ Charles Montgomery -‐ Farrar, Straus and Giroux-‐New York. 9. \"The Timeless Way of Building\", Christopher Alexander. 10. \"Creative Confidence\", Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All, Tom Kelley & David Kelley. 11. \"The Embodied Mind\", Varela, Thompson and Rosch-‐We are actively engaging these emerging fringe developments that derive from phenomenology in the work of Merleau-‐Ponty, Heidegger and Comparative-‐Continental philosophy. 12. \"The Design Activist's Handbook\", Noah Scalin & Michelle Taute. 13. \"The Feeling Body\" -‐ Affective Science Meets the Enactive Mind -‐ Giovanna Colombetti. 14. \"Design For the Real World\" -‐ Papanek. 15. \"Design with Nature\" -‐ Ian Mc Harg. 16. Theories of 'Chaos', 'Complexity', 'Emergence', ' Eco-‐mimesis' and 'Econo-‐mimesis' as models for profound engagement of our contemporary era, are all embraced within the ambit of the Nietzschean Dionysian state for the purposes of this paper. 17. The Third World Tomorrow, Paul Harrison-‐\" The third world war will start in the Third World. It will be a war of desperation by peoples forced into a position where they have nothing to lose\". The inexorably mounting debt of the third world echoes the early warning by Nietzsche concerning guilt and debt(schuld)-‐ Nietzsche's immanent state would be freed of debtors and creditors; 'we stand before a problem of Economics'( WP 864). 140
DRAWING TOGETHER Reshaping our world through Design in the 21st century 18. Discipline and Punish, Michel Foucault. The passion and commitment of Foucault to experience profoundly in the fields the subject of his writings opens new intense portals of kinship for us in the 21st Century. 141
Ministry of Design -‐ From Cottage Industry to State Enterprise University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad & Tobago May 28 – 29th, 2015 DDD – DESIGN DIGNITY DESTINY Cosimo DI MAGGIO * [email protected] Abstract: There is an essential and indissoluble relationship between design and dignity in our life. DIGNITY is the most important value that humanity has, but somehow, is trampled upon every day, everywhere. Design is an international language of freedom that speaks in all forms, to no specific period or place and the concept of design cannot be enclosed. Unfortunately, it is used as well for being the useless answer when we do not have an answer.
DDD – DESIGN DIGNITY DESTINY There is an essential and indissoluble relationship between design and dignity in our life. DIGNITY is the most important value that humanity has, but somehow, is trampled upon every day, everywhere. Design is an international language of freedom that speaks in all forms, to no specific period or place and the concept of design cannot be enclosed. Unfortunately, it is used as well for being the useless answer when we do not have an answer. The BELLY OF A PREGNANT WOMAN is for me, the origin of the relationship between Design, Dignity and Destiny. This place, designed by the Mighty Master Designer, contains a space with an amazing interior architecture -‐ designed, decorated and furnished with full-‐set technology, never outdated but simply present, expandable, flexible and more than anything, a space where a human being can grow for a period of time and experience the original feeling of what the respect for the human dignity is about and meant to be in his future life. The philosophy behind the design is to achieve human dignity. Regardless of what we are doing in this world, DESIGN is CRITICAL. As a DESIGNER: This is our PHILOSOPHY This is our SENSIBILITY This is our CONTRIBUTION This is what we STAND FOR The source of design is a divinely inspired gift of freedom that dignifies the human being and connects one to the essence, as God intended. In its application, design is a transformational force that seeks to improve and enhance the human endeavour. Design Is the ability to transform the things we do every day into things that we love to do every day, the ability to make something simple into something elegant, the reason to transform a normal day into a special day, creating spaces and objects of which we fall in love with. We are all designers when we modify our surroundings and environment. Our surroundings are directly impacted by how we feel, aspire and engage. Spaces of hope, dignity and comfort are foundations for nurturing the growth and success of every human being. DESIGNERS, CLIENTS AND BUILDERS -‐ we must consider the concept -‐ “RESPECT of HUMAN DIGNITY” as a primary requirement in the “list of accommodation” to not completely lose the right approach to design which is considered as THE history OF GENETIC HERITAGE. 143
COSIMO DI MAGGIO Humans we were born with a natural knowledge and we have the extreme potentiality to increase our senses and emotions, developing one of the most powerful gifts we have received from GOD -‐ CURIOSITY, which is the base of the creativity which is the essence of design. The Society needs to show, as before, the right respect for the dignity of the Designer. The Society needs to understand again, the importance of the Designer that has dedicated his life to building his INTELLECTUAL COMPONENTS to apply into design. The Society needs to recognize that the DESIGNER doesn’t WORK, but that, endorsing IDEALISM & THE PRINCIPLE of RESPECT, EMOTION and DURABILITY, he simply EXPRESSES his CREATIVITY for the benefit of the Society. The Society needs to definitely accept that the DESIGNER doesn’t GET PAID but deserves the right COMPENSATION. The primary benefactor of design is humanity while design is about the people. The relationship between design and dignity is the genesis of human destiny. 144
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