In this blog, I will discuss the book, “Design Roots: Culturally Significant Designs, Products, and Practices”. The book states that material culture can give birth to a “sense of cultural particularity” that is associated with custom and tradition (9, Evans). Thus, material culture can contribute to “a local sense of identity” and render the cultural contribution artifacts to be of paramount importance (9, Evans). The further goes on to talk about the need for cultural artifacts and culturally significant products to be innovative and open to change for them to remain relevant.
The aim of my MA project is to address this above claim regarding how to “contemporarise” cultural craft. The book talks about “re-learnings, re-appreciations and revivals of culture-specific practices” taking place around the world (1, Walker). Chapter Four highlights an important worry that in many regions around the world, young people are not taking up traditional cultural practices. Given that traditional practices are not as much of interest to the young, it makes it even more important to bring a contemporary touch to culture to make it relatable, exciting, and accessible to the current generation. This study defines products as:
“Products are confined to those that are durable (i.e. not food and drink), portable (i.e. not buildings), tangible (i.e. not music, dance, language or religion), and visually creative (i.e. not books, scripts or texts);” (11-24, Walker).
This book gives me reason to believe that cultural products are powerful tool for representing and embracing local, regional, and national identities. I look forward to exploring this topic area further.
Works Cited
Walker, Stuart , Martyn Evans , Tom Cassidy , Jeyon Jung , and Amy Twigger Holroyd , ed. Design Roots: Culturally Significant Designs, Products, and Practices. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2018. Bloomsbury Design Library. Web. 4 Aug. 2022. <http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781474241823>.