What? Why? How? If? - Proforma Take 3

MA Design Studies applying your imagination

What? Why? How? If? - Proforma

Name: Annahita Mackee

Date: 11/01/11

Tutor: Richard Reynolds

WHAT

What is your main personal ambition?

To feel joy, love and passion. Expand and discover more about myself. Undo my conditioning, clearing personal and generational history and transforming myself.

What is your main professional ambition?

To find a profession that utilizes the best and most creative parts of myself; and affords me the opportunity to grow. To work for myself in an environment that attracts like-minded souls.

What is your main area of research interest?

Craftsmen, artisans, lost skills and the possible creative collaborations, collusions and collisions with new manufacturing techniques and materials. The values related to these traditional past-times, and what contemporary society can learn from them. Communication, storytelling and the importance of community.

What is your question? (Your question needs to ask, “how can” and must indicate the means as well as the end that you hope to achieve)


How can traditional practices and culture be maintained with the use of crafting in contemporary society?


WHY

Why do you think that this question will enable you to achieve your main personal ambition?

I believe my question will allow me to meet a wide range of people with a variety of skills that I can learn, it will allow me to create, and help me find my passion. I hope these new skills and my new found understanding of lost crafts will allow me to develop my creativity and myself. Through meeting other people that have taken less conventional career routes I hope to undo my conditioning.

Why do you think that this question will enable you to achieve your main professional ambition?

I hope to meet like-minded souls through this project and see how they make a living using their creativity, which will help me reverse my conditioning and allow me to fulfil my true potential. I hope to build up a portfolio of work throughout the project and exhibit my work online and physically, allowing me to build a network of useful contacts, and grow in confidence allowing me to take on freelance work.

HOW

How has your research informed your question so far?

My research so far has allowed me to search out lost crafting skills. Look at combinations of old and new techniques, allowing me to compare labour-intensive quality items that are locally sourced, low energy, recycled or recyclable with mass-produced high energy, high waste, high toxin items. I have been able to focus in on the key elements that interest me. I have also carried out an extensive survey (of 253 people) on their crafting, social and consumer habts, their family lives and interests.

How will desk research inform your outcome?

Desk research will allow me to investigate lost crafts and skills as well as new manufacturing techniques and materials. To find craftsmen to visit, courses to attend, centres and groups to get involved with. Investigate product innovations and creative collaborations. I have also completed a variety of market research on what consumers are really demanding from designers, new products, and services; this will allow me to investigate ways of utilizing forgotten skills to satisfy these needs. During my research at the Craft Council Research Centre I drew up 3 key areas of research focus:

- lost techniques

- new materials

- the relationship between crafting and contemporary society and what can be learnt from combining crafting and contemporary society.

How will field research inform your outcome?

I will need to meet a lot of artisans and craftsmen to understand their artistry and hope that I can reach a level of proficiency in a number of new disciplines. I will also need to meet designers that currently use old methods with a contemporary twist. I also hope to see first hand various new manufacturing techniques. So far I have meet a wide range of designer makers and crafting enthusiasts, talking to them has really informed my question and my research. I have spoken to members of staff and interns at Craft Central, designer makers at Craft Central, Cockpit Arts, Great Western Studios, I have also attended and observed workshops at these places and at The Make Lounge; all of this has directed my research further.

How has your artefact extended your understanding of the potential of your question?

By looking at artefacts created using ancient techniques or artefacts that combine modern technology/thinking with traditional ideas I can see that there is a real depth to my question and a real opportunity to develop this further. My first iterations of artefact have helped me develop the potential of my question so that I am now thinking more about the values, and societal aspects of my project. My first few artefacts were looking at how you could combine traditional techniques with LED strips to create a portable, flexible and waterproof light for group occasions, festivals, parties, BBQs etc.

How do you intend to develop the next stages of artefact iterations?

With the development of my skills and ideas I hope do produce a variety of artefacts throughout my journey. The conclusion of this project will be the production of an artefact that fully integrates the modern and the traditional, involves groups of people in an activity they enjoy and would not normally participate in and leaves them with their own artefact to be proud of. I have already developed from the initial idea of a kit, to a part kit, part scavenger hunt for the components, and then iterated again to the possibility of the final artefact that participants create being a game they can then play together.

How do you intend to ensure that your feedback will challenge as well as support your preconceptions?

I hope to get feedback from a variety of sources, designers, craftsmen, consumers and businesses. I would like to test my artefact in the crafting community I have now been involved in, and am hoping to complete ethnographic research of the process which I would like to show in video format. With this footage I would then like to discuss with the participants there feedback to really pull out the key learnings.

How do you know that the individuals and organization/s that you need to inform your research are prepared to co-operate?

I understand that there will always be some difficulty getting access to the appropriate gate-keepers, however so far I have not had that experience. I have spoken to a number of people who specialise in traditional handicrafts who have all been very interesting in passing on their techniques. I have also visited the studios of a number of Creatives and spoken to them about the possibility of combining new and old techniques. So far about 80% of the people I have met have been extrememly happy to help and support me, a number have been very busy, but have still been happy to have telephone conversations and complete online questionnaires.

How does theory play a role in the methods you are using to define, gather and analyze your research question?

I have initially used qualitative research techniques to look at, describe and understand the crafting skills and ideas, as well as the new technologies available. There has also been a level of qualitative research into the beliefs and values of consumers about new and old technologies, which will allowed me to form the questions, and identify the sample group for the quantitative research. I have already completed a lot of my quantitive research with my extensive questionaires. I will also be using video ethnography to provide close-up, intimate portraits of people's experiences, to help understand the cultural and social factors influencing and shaping people's behaviours.

How important is time planning to the achievement of your outcome and how have you worked out your strategy for using time?

Time planning is essential to ensure I schedule in the time needed for the desk research as well as the very time consuming visits to specialists to observe and learn new techniques. Without this I will not have the skills or the time to create and develop my artefact. I have developed a detailed timeplan, which I will need to update and follow as closely as possible. A lot of my artefact iteration will involve input from others, so I will need to achieve reach certain milestones to ensure I have things ready for these meetings, and for the video ethnography. I have however allowed flexiblilty as I do not feel you can schedule in creativity.

How are you going to be able to manage the resource implications of your research strategy?

My research project has already had a variety of costs from visiting craftsmen and producing artefacts to postcards for the exhibition. I have created a budget for this.

How do you intend to balance your research project with your commitment to the exhibition team (answer this with clarification of your role responsibilities and time allocation)?

I am fully aware of the time and responsibility planning an exhibition will take, and am really looking forward to applying the skills I use in my job or past roles (project management/PR/event planning) to help the exhibition team; this is included in my time plan. We have alerady created a facebook group and have begun discussions about our sponsorship possibilities which I have already taken advice on from an external source. I am currently collecting things that inspire me as ideas or themes for the exhibition in my MADS Journey blog, which I can pull out when needed. I have spoken to a recent exhibition and gallery design graduate, who has said he is happy to help with ideas, planning, designing, space layouts etc. I am also seeking help from my friends in Consumer and technology PR about creating an outline PR plan and gain contacts for the exhibition team.

IF


If all goes well where do you hope your mastery of your subject will position you at the end of the Course?

I look forward to completing this process as I feel it will allow me to grow personally and professionally and lead me to some creative and productive answers as well as new questions! I would then like to develop these new questions after my course, one outcome I would like to achieve would be to produce a model/template of how to combine the old and the new to create sustainable designs for the future. I would like to also investigate the use of design thinking and tools in ethnographic research.