Autoprogettazione? (SELF-DESIGN?) / FABRICATION
CONCEPT
This project is an extension of my In Other Words thesis.
What are these words to do with us?
Every text appears differently to everyone who reads it. A book read by a thousand different people is a thousand different books. Things are always changing. Nothing is—everything just has been, or will be. A tree for example has a nothingness (no-thingness) about it because it can turn into a nearly infinite amount of other things by a skilled carpenter. One possible thing a tree can turn into is a chair.
In 1972, Italian designer Enzo Mari published a small text called “Autoprogettazione?”, it was filled with DIY furniture projects that could be realized by anyone through wooden boards and a few simple tools, basically a hammer and some nails.
It is not easy to translate into English the Italian word autoprogettazione. Literally it means auto = self and progettazione = design.
Words have a weird way of changing the way we relate to the world. There is a realm through which language throws open. From a phenomenological perspective the "self" is not a fixed thing, like a tree—it emerges through lived experience. The self is nothing but a process of relating.
Design depends on many things: time, money, technology, materials, constraints, and most importantly, the lives, attention, and experiences of other people. As designer’s we participate in and often orchestrate a process that’s bigger than we are. If we look closely, we can see that people are at the heart of everything we make.
For Mari, design is only design if it communicates knowledge. This project helped me understand my own process of relating to design. I'm interested in words and the way words communicate typographically and semantically. I am always relating to the world through and with words, by making design choices and actions I am putting those words in action. Which is the best way to prevent being designed yourself.
In the end, I’m left with an object, although usable, the object is only important because of its educational value.
This project is an extension of my In Other Words thesis.
What are these words to do with us?
Every text appears differently to everyone who reads it. A book read by a thousand different people is a thousand different books. Things are always changing. Nothing is—everything just has been, or will be. A tree for example has a nothingness (no-thingness) about it because it can turn into a nearly infinite amount of other things by a skilled carpenter. One possible thing a tree can turn into is a chair.
In 1972, Italian designer Enzo Mari published a small text called “Autoprogettazione?”, it was filled with DIY furniture projects that could be realized by anyone through wooden boards and a few simple tools, basically a hammer and some nails.
It is not easy to translate into English the Italian word autoprogettazione. Literally it means auto = self and progettazione = design.
Words have a weird way of changing the way we relate to the world. There is a realm through which language throws open. From a phenomenological perspective the "self" is not a fixed thing, like a tree—it emerges through lived experience. The self is nothing but a process of relating.
Design depends on many things: time, money, technology, materials, constraints, and most importantly, the lives, attention, and experiences of other people. As designer’s we participate in and often orchestrate a process that’s bigger than we are. If we look closely, we can see that people are at the heart of everything we make.
For Mari, design is only design if it communicates knowledge. This project helped me understand my own process of relating to design. I'm interested in words and the way words communicate typographically and semantically. I am always relating to the world through and with words, by making design choices and actions I am putting those words in action. Which is the best way to prevent being designed yourself.
In the end, I’m left with an object, although usable, the object is only important because of its educational value.
SERVICES
Creative Direction
Type Design Fabrication
Painting
Creative Direction
Type Design Fabrication
Painting
YEAR
2023
2023
We gain ideas by
researching and make them truly our own by reproducing them.
What are these words to do with us?
Words shape our ideas, how we see the world, and how we relate to one another. As design teacher and researcher Anne Galloway says:
“Language doesn’t just make things—it assembles, cobbles together, entire worlds and all the relations within.”
There is a realm through which language throws open.
Language makes it possible for us to navigate places and relationships; to express needs and requirements; to name and categorize things; and to understand our place in the universe.
“Language is the material of intent… Language is how we tell other people what we want, what we expect of them, and what we hope to accomplish together. Without language, we can’t collaborate.”
Without words, we wouldn’t be able to plan or effect change.
As a technology, writing has many merits. It complements verbal and visual communication. It’s sturdy and can stay put. It’s cheap. It’s easy to change or reproduce. And it moves faster than ships or airplanes. Writing makes it possible to propel knowledge and intent forward through time.
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