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Design on a Darkling Plain: transcending utility through questions in form

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

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Design on a Darkling Plain: transcending utility through questions in form. / Walker, Stuart.
In: The Design Journal, Vol. 15, No. 3, 02.12.2012, p. 347-372.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

Walker, S 2012, 'Design on a Darkling Plain: transcending utility through questions in form', The Design Journal, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 347-372. https://doi.org/10.2752/175630612X13330186684196

APA

Walker, S. (2012). Design on a Darkling Plain: transcending utility through questions in form. The Design Journal, 15(3), 347-372. https://doi.org/10.2752/175630612X13330186684196

Vancouver

Walker S. Design on a Darkling Plain: transcending utility through questions in form. The Design Journal. 2012 Dec 2;15(3):347-372. doi: 10.2752/175630612X13330186684196

Author

Walker, Stuart. / Design on a Darkling Plain : transcending utility through questions in form. In: The Design Journal. 2012 ; Vol. 15, No. 3. pp. 347-372.

Bibtex

@article{6c094e33ffe34eeca655c5b452c099ad,
title = "Design on a Darkling Plain: transcending utility through questions in form",
abstract = "This practice-based design exploration considers the relationship of contemporary products to issues of sustainability and enduring meaning. The secondary or extrinsic value of products, which includes technological advancement and business development, is discussed. Instrumental value is also addressed, along with a product{\textquoteright}s intrinsic value – or lack of it. This yields a set of general propositions for countering triviality and waste and increasing intrinsic value, and some of these propositions fall under the remit of design. Against this backdrop, product meaning and intrinsic value are considered with reference to the philosophy of E. F. Schumacher as well as various critiques – from Arnold in the nineteenth century to Orr in the twenty-first – and a case is made for objects of design, rather than art, that have no practical utility but whose function is concerned with what might be referred to as {\textquoteleft}inner work{\textquoteright}. These arguments and ideas are then translated into a series of propositional objects – or questions in form – that ask how matters of ultimate concern, which are inherently ineffable, might be appropriately expressed as contemporary, contemplative artefacts.",
keywords = "Sustainability, spiritual meaning , E. F. Schumacher , symbolism , practice-based design , propositional objects , questions in form",
author = "Stuart Walker",
year = "2012",
month = dec,
day = "2",
doi = "10.2752/175630612X13330186684196",
language = "English",
volume = "15",
pages = "347--372",
journal = "The Design Journal",
issn = "1756-3062",
publisher = "ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD",
number = "3",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Design on a Darkling Plain

T2 - transcending utility through questions in form

AU - Walker, Stuart

PY - 2012/12/2

Y1 - 2012/12/2

N2 - This practice-based design exploration considers the relationship of contemporary products to issues of sustainability and enduring meaning. The secondary or extrinsic value of products, which includes technological advancement and business development, is discussed. Instrumental value is also addressed, along with a product’s intrinsic value – or lack of it. This yields a set of general propositions for countering triviality and waste and increasing intrinsic value, and some of these propositions fall under the remit of design. Against this backdrop, product meaning and intrinsic value are considered with reference to the philosophy of E. F. Schumacher as well as various critiques – from Arnold in the nineteenth century to Orr in the twenty-first – and a case is made for objects of design, rather than art, that have no practical utility but whose function is concerned with what might be referred to as ‘inner work’. These arguments and ideas are then translated into a series of propositional objects – or questions in form – that ask how matters of ultimate concern, which are inherently ineffable, might be appropriately expressed as contemporary, contemplative artefacts.

AB - This practice-based design exploration considers the relationship of contemporary products to issues of sustainability and enduring meaning. The secondary or extrinsic value of products, which includes technological advancement and business development, is discussed. Instrumental value is also addressed, along with a product’s intrinsic value – or lack of it. This yields a set of general propositions for countering triviality and waste and increasing intrinsic value, and some of these propositions fall under the remit of design. Against this backdrop, product meaning and intrinsic value are considered with reference to the philosophy of E. F. Schumacher as well as various critiques – from Arnold in the nineteenth century to Orr in the twenty-first – and a case is made for objects of design, rather than art, that have no practical utility but whose function is concerned with what might be referred to as ‘inner work’. These arguments and ideas are then translated into a series of propositional objects – or questions in form – that ask how matters of ultimate concern, which are inherently ineffable, might be appropriately expressed as contemporary, contemplative artefacts.

KW - Sustainability

KW - spiritual meaning

KW - E. F. Schumacher

KW - symbolism

KW - practice-based design

KW - propositional objects

KW - questions in form

U2 - 10.2752/175630612X13330186684196

DO - 10.2752/175630612X13330186684196

M3 - Journal article

VL - 15

SP - 347

EP - 372

JO - The Design Journal

JF - The Design Journal

SN - 1756-3062

IS - 3

ER -