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DUTCH DESIGN?

The first surprise of the week came just few hours after landing, on a dinner hosted by the Dutch consul in Riga, and who expected the ‘dutch designers’ from the Design Academy and got visibly surprised when noticing that none of the participants was dutch. But the implications of this went further than the surprise, for it made us think about what did it mean to represent dutch design without being dutch and how could this collaboration work evidence that mark.

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NO TIME TO THINK… JUST TO MAKE!

On this short-time-format workshops, there is no much time to think or analyze about the question, but to experiment in the making to find the answers in an empirical way. This was the case of the workshop, for there was no time for stopping to think, or if you did, then you would be left behind. Some may argue that I am treating the thinking and the making as separate entities, while we should consider the making as a way of thinking (and the thinking as a way of making), and I would agree; the practical way of research we applied in the workshop, reflects the idea of the thinking and the making as an integrated entity in the process of design, rather than individual issues that require different contexts. (Rick Poynor said that making is a form of thinking and Heidegger that thinking is a craft, so there is a relevant background on design theory and philosophy around it).

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THE IMPORTANCE OF COLLABORATION

Another fact that got highly reinforced in the workshop, was the importance of collaboration with different stakeholders. Working, both with the students from the Academy of Art from Latvia, the craftsman and the different groups of students and tutors, gave intense feedback to every project, permitting them to grow exponentially from the state where they were at the beginning of the week. In my case, I had some vague ideas of what I wanted to do, also with some presumptions of what Riga and Latvia were; but it made a huge difference when I started to understand the reality of the locals by guidance of my Latvian team mates, and evolved the project (which passed from being my project, to beingour project). But the collaboration with the craftsman was also crucial, specially in my case, in which I was working with the proactive Vilnis Vincevics, who participated in every stage of the process of our project, from the thinking to the sketching and making.

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So, bottom line, if I had been said at the beginning of the year that I was going to Riga at the end of the year I would have not believed it (and also would have asked, where is Riga? -sorry Latvian friends, now I know much more than that!); but probably that is the most amazing part of all the experience, for you do not know what to expect of something that you do not know much about, and you usually get surprised. In this case I did got gladly surprised, specially by the human beings that where around the whole workshop and did not let us feel us cold as the thermometer said. Many thanks to all.

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COMPLETE PHOTO GALLERIES:

Saruna ar mākslas un dizaina kritiķi, kuratoru un pedagogu Janu Bulenu (Jan Boelen, Beļģija, 1967), kurš Rīgā viesojās novembrī projekta Make Design! Dutch Design Made in Latvia ietvaros un arī uzstājās ar lekciju par jaunām dizaina definīcijām. Jans Bulens ir Eindhovenas Dizaina akadēmijas Sociālā dizaina nodaļas vadītājs, kopš 2002. gada viņš vada laikmetīgās mākslas centru Kunstcentrum Z33 Hasletas pilsētā Limburgas reģionā, kas kļuvis par nozīmīgu Beļģijas mākslas un arhitektūras norišu centru. 2012. gadā tas uzņems Eiropas laikmetīgās mākslas biennāli Manifesta.

Read the interview.

Dienu pirms radošo darbnīcu noslēdzošās pop-up izstādes atklāšanas, Rianne Makinka tikās ar Arterritory.com un sarunā atklāja savu šodienas un rītdienas dizaina vīziju. Saruna notika Latvijas Mākslas akadēmijas telpās pēc īsas, iepazīstinošas ekskursijas LMA nodaļu darbnīcās. Patīkami pārsteigta par koktēlniecības darba telpā redzēto, viņa cieši piesaka glabāt līdz ar akadēmijas dibināšanu uzstādīto – jau 90 gadus veco, koktēlniecības nodaļas mašinēriju, savukārt sarunā viņa atklāj, ka latviešu salmu puzuru trauslumā viņa saskata nākotnes dizaina aprises.

Read the interview.

Victor is a master of wicker weaving and his working experience is more than 20 years. This profession he learned from his wife and now it’s not only a soul job but income source. He has made different objects, starting from weaving traditional baskets, furniture to light objects. He has worked with designers helping them to realize their ideas. There are full of different kinds of wicker, working tools, weaving objects and wonderful atmosphere in his workplace.

Welcome!
Kate, Līga

Last wednesday the Social Design group had the first meeting with Rianne Makkink, of Studio Makkink & Bey, and one of the mentors of the programme; after a very interesting talk with her about our excursion of the trimester to Riga, capital of Latvia, and a preparation for this to the Zuiderzeemuseum in Enkhuizen, she gave us a small assignment: think of your personal interest on design and crafts. She gave an example of this relation, speaking about a project Gijs Bakker led with Taiwanese designers and craftsman, called Yii, in which the designers worked hand-by-hand with the craftsman in order to represent the ‘street-life’ of Taiwan.

My first thought when getting the assignment was that I didn’t what to get to much into the topic and, in fact, thought of it as really burnt theme. Thursday I decided to work at home, but at the beginning of the afternoon then decided to pass by school some time; great choice I made, for I found the power of conversation in design (for me, in the real action, off course -I know it’s nothing new).  Spontaneously a discussion with other 4 classmates started around the topic, and I stated my point: the problem (for me) of the relation of design and crafts is that is a one-way relationship, in which only design is benefited and crafts don’t get much from design (even though designers always think they are ‘helping’ craftsmen with their knowledge -pfff). I thought of the relation as some kind of patronizing relationship, or of the type of a colony with its colonizer, but didn’t see a real dialogue between people and disciplines. After an hour or so of very interesting conversation, and I questioning what does design (or designers) really contribute to crafts, I received the most beautiful answer: conversation… discussion. It suddenly became a bit clear to me: it was all about conversationbetween different actors (stakeholders, if you like); but for this conversation to be really interesting, the designer should have clear that he cannot patronize the craftsman, nor any other stakeholder, but he may even learn more than he can teach.

But there was another interesting insight on the conversation about design and crafts: the usual conversations between designers and craftsmen where  in the craftsmen own environment, reason why, maybe, there is a given one-way relationship. What would happen if we took a series of craftsmen and got them to work in conversation with designers in the context of the designer? Now, some may ask, which is the context of the designer? Well, as well as we cannot generalize on the context of the craftsmen (it could be a wood workshop, a house, the street itself), it’s the same with the designer (it could be a studio, an office space, a room). This may be an interesting experiment to try, always bearing in mind the position of the designer, who mustn’t approach with judgements about the people to whom he will communicate with, but understand that it will always be a horizontal relationship.

Article by Pablo Calderon Salazar, student at the Social Design master at the DAE.

The master blacksmith Vilnis Vincēvičs started to learn the craft as a teenager out of curiosity. He met old masters who had practiced blacksmithing since Tsarist Russia times, and became an apprentice. Since then, his whole life is devoted to iron.

When we met Vilnis, he was working on a crucifix for St John´s Church, while his apprentice was forging a nail. Restoration of historical artefacts and making decorative and practical household items go hand in hand.

Although the traditions and canons of folk blacksmithing are very strict and prescriptive, Vilnis is fascinated by iron´s plasticity, form and materiality. Transmitting the craft to the next generation of blacksmiths is his great concern, to which he dedicates his spare time and money.

Simona, Tatjana

Peteris Zvirbulis started to learn working with birch bark 30 years ago. He traveled to Karelia to learn the craft. Peteris makes various items from birch bark, such as salt containers, baskets, bowls, slippers and the traditional bark shoes. Good quality weaving is so tight that there are no holes. Producing a pair of weaved birch bark shoes requires 10 working hours. But once they are ready, one can walk about 30 miles with them on.

Indra, Gita

Knitting and other handcrafts will be studied and explored together with Ina. She is familiar with handcraft almost all of her life, she started to knit when she was only 3 years old. Handicraft was taught by her mother and granny. Ina is also familiar with wool preparing processing and Latvian sign meaning, effect on person and magical abilities.

Her favorite works is Latgale wedding gloves (Latgale is one of 5 districts in Latvia), most interesting design, in her opinion, comes from Kurzeme, but most “lazy” design – from Zemgale. Here are some of her favorite works:

As Ina told about herself: “I am addicted to needles! I’m wooladdict!”

So, be prepared for wool, needles and experiments, after this week you also will be addicted to wool and needles!

Raitis, Sarmīte and Ina