ENGA GE MENT ... for another efficienty
— Making things is seeing things — Togetherness; tangible and intangible — Projects; Enable engagement
— Making things is seeing things Concept of engagement in craftwork /Masterproject Design for the social craftsman /Masterthesis A hypothetical investigation about engagement
— Togetherness; tangible and intangible The Need / Medium / Result of togetherness
— Projects; Enable engagement Selected portfolio projects aiming engagement for a specific benefit
“ Invisible design. Today that means: conventional design that does not take note of its social function. However, it could also mean: a design of tomorrow, which is able to consciously consider invisible systems of objects and human relations.“ Lucius Burckhardt
This magazine addresses how design can initiate and encourage human interaction. What can design contribute to get people to interact with each other and what are the conditions for the design to serve this purpose. What can design do to increase the intangible value of joy and well-being? With design being the invitation for interaction with people and materials. How to energise people through engagement and while doing so tackling the issue of material- and social alienation. Social interaction and engagement aiming for a joyful and rewarding day- and work-life instead of a capitalistic driven efficient way of dealing with the surroundings. Openness and engagement are key to conscious consumption and are challenging the global status quo.
ENGA GE MENT ... for another efficienty
“Making things is seeing things.“ “Making things is seeing things”—said Mike Child the 72 year old English Potter, sharing his skills in pottery by teaching his attendees of his class in Broadstairs, south of England. He encourages his attendees to discover ways of expressing themselves in a rewarding and challenging way. This leads to the question, how we can bring together degrees of individual human capacities with degrees of methodical processes in order to guide recipients in understanding and experiencing the quality of the material, the work and also the quality of life. Automatization, digitalization, efficiency, accuracy and the deluded urgency of economic growth are shifting the vocational world and the notion of work and product value, at the cost of joy and the sense of work. Re-humanizing systems of production by questioning human engagement is of utmost importance. Processes of making need to be designed with the goal of openness and inclusion. Project “Making Things is Seeing Things” stresses how to provide tools and projects which guide openness, enabling participants and leaders with capacities to engage; to extend and re-discover capabilities in woodworking. In this case, elderly participants actively engage in a process of constructing with basics, such as marking, sawing, and drilling. These skills can be practiced with guiding templates, enabling the development of a group project which brings value to their surroundings. A weekly activity with the group of participants allowed for better understanding of their capacities and a pathway of experimentation in tool development. Unexpectedly, the participants strong desire to be useful in their society was also revealed. Utilizing the concepts of openness and engagement presented the importance of creating a construction system which is scalable and transferrable to various dimensions, to continue the idea of openness and engagement also into the outcome and use.
...stresses the influ of participants in th craftwork process. as an integrative pr allows for rethinkin perfection, particip cooperation, consu and the joy of work
This exercise proves the crucial importance of making engagement possible in order to see unexpected values and understand material, processes and human coexistence. We have developed a system of making, open to adapt conscious consumption and challenge the global status quo, using local resources in terms of material, people and companies. This approach can be adapted in different professions outside woodwork, challenging capitalistic ideas and prevent the loss of sensual working activities and the exclusion of people.
uence he . Making raxis ng pation, uming k.
Mike Child
Automation, digitisation and efficiency alienate people from manufacturing processes, product value and the joy of work. Re-humanizing production systems by designing open and inclusive processes of making is of utmost importance.
Empowerment and self-determination for fulfilling individual responsibility
offered to us by Victor Papanek, “All man are designers”. All that we do, almost all the time, is design, for design is basic to all human activity—4. Both of these creative minds are shifting social responsibility towards “everybody”. Each individual has to take part in daily life and has the need to receive respect. Picking up the idea of responsibility through experiencing being involved and encouraged to be able to contribute to the crafting process. Considering the social and cultural importance of craft and how the practical working process is facilitated opens up the possibility to re-consider its Empowerment and self-determinism contribute to tools, spaces, rituals, and clothes. inclusion of people into a social environment by It is important to make them fit the “new social shifting responsibility and trust towards the craftsman work process” and provide a concept of individual person. The word individual by definition engagement which considers the various capabilities expresses that people and interests are different, and fosters expanding knowledge. Otherwise, limited and therefore also differently empowered and selfcapabilities are being expressed as expanded discovered. Personal capacities need to be explored capabilities, showcased in objects. and extended in order to contribute ones skills and Diversity and inclusiveness are our only hope. It is responsibility towards society in a rewarding and not possible to plaster everything over with clean pleasant way. elegance. Dirty architecture, fuzzy theory, and dirty design must also be out there.—5 Values like poetry, The artist Joseph Beuys argues that people need morality, memories and the beauty of imperfection to adopt an approach to in order to feel selfare being forgotten by the introduction of the determined by being asked to think, receiving machines which are playing with imperfect critique and taking action through making perfection. The IKEA series “INDUSTRIELL” is something which can be discussed.—3. showing designed chairs and tables which are promoted as “something different, something new. Beuys is empowering people and says that Furniture which has a unique and hand-made everybody is an artist; everybody is a creative feeling”—6. The hand-made feeling is faked by individual. machines in order to reach imperfection. This shows Everybody has to realize that they are a free and that imperfection is accepted and valued but not self-determined human being. One should not be honestly realized. Traces of a process makes an object dictated by higher authorities and politics. Human unique, honest and alive; if the traces are real. beings are a social species which are dependent and responsible for his fellow being—3. The same idea is
“All human are artists“
Joseph Beuys
“All men are designers“
Victor Papanek
3— Joseph Beuys — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VLsaY4KGYs 4—Victor Papanek. Design for the real world. 1978. Chicago 5—Sheila Levrant de Bretteville— Alice Rawsthorn – Design as an attitude ringier kunstverlag ag 2018 6— IKEA promotion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp9on4GWIeY
Pathway of experience 15 weekly workshops elderly home +- 8 man in the age of 75-90
- Inspiration / motivation - Test / make - Subject / project - Impact Partner Vitalis Wissehaege Marjan Jonker Wendy
Target +-8 eldery men 80-90 years old
TimE 10.30am-12am 1.5 hour each March 2019 - on going
Location Eindhoven Vitalis Wissehaege
Project Making things is seeing things
The old people‘s home Vitalis Wissehaege in the south of Eindhoven is also part of the actual investigation about concepts of engagement as a pathway of learning through experiencing, exploring and experimenting.
The collaboration started on the 28th of February with the first meeting and contact with Marjan Jonkers. She is the leader of the activity group in the old people‘s home, a group which is meant to make the residents‘ daily life more meaningful and fun. On Wednesday morning from 10.30am-12am is a craft session with around 12 elderly men. “The men want to do what they still can and even want to discover capacities they are not aware of ”, said Marjan during the first meeting in February. Also, heavy tools are not possible and traveling to another workplace requires too much effort. One and a half hours is quite tight, even though the participants would like to do more work with their hands. The information that it is not possible doesn’t mean that it is not worthy to consider. The role of a designer in this unusual environment is also to challenge structures and inspire to extend imagination in order to discover abilities and possibilities.
Inspiration / motivation
work
Bringing in tools and workpieces from a previous resesrch ...
Video: Vitalis elderly home Session 1-8 bit.ly/2ONGzLT
Test / make
Video: Investigation Vitalis elderly home Session 9-14 bit.ly/32j93RM
“[...] Artist receive almost equal standing in his account of shifting aesthetic practice from the creation of work to setting out a provisional framework and calling for the active collaboration of the user in order to capture the unfolding process of life ifself. It was not aesthetic qualities as attentiveness and interaction: The combination of spontaneous elements with conscious artistic activity ought to prepare the way for an, art of environmentally conditioned acts. [...]“
17—Oskar Hansen, Opening Modernism: (Warschau, The Museum unter construction book series, 2014)
Design for the social craftsman Craft is not simply the production of a product. A framework of tools, clothes, rituals, and space provide a process of making with important social and material interactions, essential in a time where automatization and mass production is changing our relationship towards all aspects of work. “Making things seeing things” stresses the influence of participants in the craftwork process. Making as an integrative praxis allows for rethinking perfection,
participation, cooperation, consuming and the joy of work. Trying to fit people into this process results in a population of people with the desire to make, but not the environment to do so. This thesis proposes to create a person-environment fit through reconsidering tools, spaces, clothes, rituals and the profession of the cabinet maker to enable access to craftwork via engagement, resulting in extension and re-discovery of capacities in woodworking. Finally, this is exemplified with elderly people realizing a group project focused on the process of making, human interaction and personal fulfillment, bringing value to their surroundings.
Craft; it's social and c Besides the sense of productiveness, perfection and efficiency which are well covered and applied within big furniture factories and production lines, there are also valuable social and cultural aspects which add another layer of importance to craft. “A drastic technical- and machining development turns the craftsman more into a “machineworker”. It is a danger to become a technocrat. “Craft is a sensual act of doing which stays alive through the direct contact of the maker and the user”, was the journalist Hans Fink’s saying.—11 This results in the need to consider the social importance of craft in order to experience the coexistence of professional craftsman and un-professional user, who is learning in a subtle way through interaction. By collaboration in planning and allowing the user to gain insights into the processes of making, they can begin to understand the craftsman’s various ways of thinking and behaving. Seeing and experiencing by making contributions with various degrees of impact. Handcraft and cabinet making are responsible for social values that comes with the actual produced object. Evidence can be found through the Stool of Ulm, which provides a range of social values in terms of education and collective use while studying. Examples are group dynamics through
mutual skills, social interactions enabled through objects, ability to define and communicate social status, access to and enabling own objects, education through making, and voice for critique. On the one hand, a handcrafted wooden object can be seen from an aesthetic perspective. Besides that, the process of crafting a chair can be a process of ´sense-making´. Furthermore, the product provides space for social interaction, both in a private and public environment, by giving people space to sit and talk to each other or have a meal together. What can we learn from the social value in handcraft from the past and from the present? Having in mind that 95% of our resources are turning into waste, the population has to rethink its consumer habit. Maybe this fact and what we learned from past and present concepts of handcraft can influence our future concepts, combining object and material appreciation, as well as personal fulfillment. —12 Indra Kagis McEwen is a modern historian who thinks that the importance of craft is not only related to the object itself, but also to the act of making and using. He explains that craft brought people out of their isolated position. What craft meant to the cave-dwelling cyclopes, is similar
11— Written Interview Heinz Fink Journalist at the craftsman Journal BM 12—Tradition Zukunft Master thesis Moritz Schmitt/ Timo Röhrig 13— Indra Kagis McEwen, Socrates’ Ancestor: An Essay on Architectural Beginnings (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1997), 119. 14—Christian Zander: Vom Hobel zum Schreiner. Leinfelden-Echterdingen 2008 page 65 1–Mike Child
cultural importance to the meaning of craft and community for the early Greeks: indissociable - which means that they are inseparably linked.—13 A similar social mechanism happened in the early beginnings of the German history of craftsmanship and the work with wood. The German history of cabinet making began in 1350. After some disputes and legitimations with town lords, artisans finally established the cabinet making guild, which was emerging out of the carpenter section, because there was a need for more elaborate furniture with a higher claim. As Christian Zander said, the social status of the cabinet making guild is nowadays still similar; it is elitist, with a strong selfconception in the economic process. This status remains separated to other social classes, a group unaffected by higher authorities and town lords. Cabinet makers are a group of skilled people who have defined their own system of values, which on the one hand binds them as a group, but on the other hand, isolates them from higher or lower social classes too. —14 This group dynamic has such strength due to the exchanging of knowledge. Collaboration empowers the individuals within the guild. While working together, members have strongly defined roles and licenses, this makes them unique in their abilities and tasks. As soon as these guilds obtained economic freedom, they got into tremendous trouble, because from one day to the other everyone was able to work without being in a guild.
Nowadays there are organizations such as the Chamber of Crafts, which ensures that the quality of the cabinet makers education and health is guaranteed. Within these associations, there is a mechanism and a service, which strengthens members of the group, and provides a support network. This helps to appreciate the colleges, their work, as the individual’s own work. Using craft as a medium for getting people involved in an organization is a great value. The result not only gives people skills and independence but also provides them with security within their social structure. Craft is a way to turn interaction within society into a social network because people become interested in what you make. People often want to buy what you make if it‘s good enough and if it fits into their life.—1
craftsmen’s education. On this point, Nob Ruijgrok explains his insights from his work as a cabinet maker in Eindhoven. He has opened up his woodshop for courses and lessons in order to teach children and adults. He gives an insight into his work by saying “with the making process I could react to the abilities/ages/skills of the kids. It’s also important to react on where they are in their lives and also in physical conditions.”—20 This Craft is changing. Tools, material, and products idea of educational degrees can be paired with an are experiencing a constant transition. —19 Even alternative education system which is integrated and craft, specifically cabinet making, which has a long provides people with special needs, special interests, tradition, is able to transform in order to react to social or technological developments. Steam engine special physical or mental conditions access to technology brought a totally new sense of efficiency grow and collect degrees to advance. Educational into cabinet making as machines were designed for degrees in the shape of a self-made product and also a written paper for manifesting experiences making manufacturing processes less manual and and knowledge. During our life’s journey valuable instead more automated. Efficiency became abilities are also getting lost through growing up. measured by pieces produced per hour. Human impact is decreasing, therefore, the sense of working The ability of happiness and playfulness is even easier realized by kids. But now even adults are and being as well. Using a hand planer required skills in handling and maintaining the tool, knowing seeking for playfulness in their daily life. this makes a skilled worker skilled and special; different from other people. After the technological Through improvements in healthcare and working development these skills turned into button pressing conditions, life expectancies are constantly increasing. By 2060 it is estimated that the number and computer programming. CNC (Computer of people above the age of 65 is going to increase to Numerical Control) is the way how modern more than double of that of today. Thus far, society woodworking center* (machine which combines has not to react to these developments. After their many working processes in one center) gets working lives, elderlies tend to live among a circle controlled by a computer program. This showcases of their own generation, risking to lose touch with the shift of control and an increased distance younger groups of society and becoming between maker and material. disconnected. This development requires another type of skill which is based on brain capacity, not on manual Therefore it‘s of utmost importance to rethink how skills anymore. This shift of manual work towards automated work not only appears in woodwork, but the values which come among with handiwork and craft can be transferred to elderlies who are also in other professions. This comes with a loss of experiencing less intellectual and also physical work for people who don’t have their strength in capacity anymore. How can the workspace, tools, intellectual capacity, therefore rituals, and clothes be changed in order for our craft excluding a significant number of people. to be a way to bring people into work. Capacities are different from the beginning of Challenging activities around the age of 65 can life and also change during the period of life. By allow for a cognitive leap forward, making it nature-driven facts like physical conditions, which possible for older people to stay independent for are determined by nature. A person grows up and longer.—21 This is proved by a study from gains muscles and a person grows older and loses muscles. These fluctuations can hardly be influenced longliveart.eu. Providing a target group, where craft and design can play a role to interfere and by oneself. But this degeneration can be prevented by considering this in the process of making, in the redesign elements for providing a craft process working environment such as location and tools, in which is engaging also for people in a higher age. A challenging activity accommodates those having the construction of the products and in the
Elements providing the process of social-craft”
unique capabilities such as patience and capacity for enthusiasm. Skills and needs of people need to be understood in order to influence design into a new method of craftwork. The collaboration of professional craftsman and non-professional clients is providing the potential for knowledge exchange. Also including the layman or the patient into the process of making gives an opportunity for increasing appreciation of material and work. It’s a reflective experience and method should create financial and skill equity. Philosophers until now have only interpreted the world in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.—22
tools, i.e. holding a wooden stick in the correct length and the saw in the correct angle. Lost capacities are getting filled up by templates and tools to learn how to use the saw or the drilling machine in the right angle. Also, the sitting position of the people needs to be considered in the design for new templates. Table extensions and adjustments in the height are certainly needed.
People are different in psychological and physical dimensions. These dimensions increase or decrease again through human life. This also means people feel included or excluded in our daily environment and these conditions change by man-driven facts like education, experience, apprenticeships, networks, friends, and also by nature-driven facts such as physical conditions determined by nature.
Space
The project therefore is to showcase different developmental processes for the target group of elderly participants. They experience fourteen workshop days within two projects, and collaboration between attendees from two different elderly homes in Eindhoven.
Tools Sociality is a tool that keeps the responsibility and the cultural connection between the maker and the material alive and is able to fit different degrees of the maker‘s capacities. The semi-automated process guided by specially designed templates allows this balance and keep the agency and a connection from material and maker, managed by the tool. The maker‘s impact is visible and can be experienced. However, through an overly intense and quick cutting or drilling process, the result can be rough and incorrect. Referring to Enzo Mari‘s, “Design is always education”, the tools for a social craftsman are designed for filling a gap in the maker‘s skills and enable him to (re-)discover skills by using these
The tool becomes a manager of the relationship between maker and material.
Social craftsman‘s space is not oriented to the workflow, but rather on the group and makers flow. The working groups can change in numbers of people and in skill capacities. Arranging the space in order to observe each other and speak to each other fulfills requirements which are based on communication rather than process. Workbenches have the possibility to be adjusted in height and angle. The furniture almost becomes a tool also. Focusing on elderly people, the working environment needs to cover different levels of body agility because in the age of 65 and older attendees can be in the space with a rollator, wheelchair, crutches or simply walking. Therefore the building needs to be easily accessible with the wheelchair. Steps and staircases are not possible to mount. People in their wheelchair bring obviously already their own chair and don’t need a chair. But the fact that most of the clients can‘t stand means that all the working steps need to be designed to fit on the table. Chairs are having an armrest because standing up without an armrest is for many people not possible. For many working processes such as sawing, the worktable height may not be adjusted because of the wheelchair and the armrests of the chairs. Therefore, an add-on element for tables was designed in order to bring the workpiece closer to the person who might sit in a wheelchair. This additional table can be adjusted in height and in the angle. Elderly people might need regular medical treatments and medications which can require a room with privacy where a caretaker and the older person can be in together without being observed
by other people. This can be a specially designed toilet with a daybed to give treatments or have a rest. If the workplace is located in the elderly home itself this is not a problem, as elderly people can leave to their rooms whenever they want. This is not possible if the group is at an external area, such as a woodshop or a pop-up workshop in the city. Tools are have a fixed location on a cart or a wall that makes it easier to find the tool and return it after the work session. Areas of the workshop are structured depending on the skills level of machine use. That is, the learning and capacity level is understandable and the social craftsman is able to control and guide his participants. Learning steps are manifested in the room set up for the aim of understanding and clarity of the permitted use. Enzio Manzini further argues that it depends on the environment which may be more or less favorable to his using his own personal capabilities and to allow their application to achieve positive results.—18
Space becomes a manager of capacities and a communicator of rules detected to environment and skills. Rituals The break time is one of the highlights of the session where experiences are exchanged. The lunch, provided in a lunchbox with the group logo, makes the connection towards the project closer and even outside of the working session there is a daily reminder of it if someone sees this box during the week in his home. Break time is a great time to rest and keep rhythm and structure as a support to define and structure a day a life.
Clothes Clothes that were brought by the social craftsman are elderly participants the maker‘s body. The maker‘s body can be really different in terms of physical conditions and in terms of abilities and making skills. Similar to the tools, the clothes are emphasizing capabilities of the maker and have various protection levels, as well as different points of adaptation regarding templates and supports. This means that older people with limited strength in arms and fingers need to work in a lower position or even on their thighs. Also, all the gear needs to be easy to wear because many attendees are not flexible to dress or are dependent on their wheelchair. Full colored working clothes in the color beige represent an experienced cabinet maker, because beige is the color code for woodworking. Semi-colored clothes are should represent the degree of capacity, in order to communicate the degrees of experience and capacity to the leader and to the person itself. The color code of the worker‘s clothes is in line with the percentage of the workers capacity. Group identification and group binding are a big value that the social craftsman wants to achieve. Therefore a unique pattern, color combination and a name with logo is needed. Some working steps require different elements on the clothes in order to carry tools or fix templates on the body.
Clothes become a manager of group affiliation and a personal body tool.
The rituals become a manager of the status and a role in a system of people and human environments structure and value of structures.
18—Enzio Manzini, Politics of the everyday: (New York, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2019) 19—Christian Zander: Das Tischlerhandwerk in Deutschland (1350–1870). Hamburg 2013 page 203/204 20—Nob Ruijgrok (Cabinetmaker) Recorded interview 21—http://www.longlivearts.eu/upload/files/Article%20Mark%20Mieras%20 2014(1).pdf 22— POLITICAL THEORY - Karl Marx; 2014;https://youtu.be/fSQgCy_ iIcc?t=459s 23—Enzo Mari
Job description social craftsman The social craftsman is a person who manages and leads the correlation between Questioning, Making and Using in the process of using craftwork to materialize and tackle needs. These needs can be practical in the sense that there is specific furniture or a device to be produced and the client wants to understand and support the social craftsman in the process of making. The hidden reasoning of the client is mental and psychological, as users want to be active and seeing, discovering and extending their capacities. Or just have fun. The social craftsman is prepared for this need with a specially designed environment, workspace or even a movable setup of workbenches and tools for setting a working environment at the client‘s location, if clients cannot easily travel to an external workshop. Tools and furniture fit to the capacities of the clients in order to not exclude clients. The idea of tools is expanded also to guidance and templates for helping to use existing tools. Tools are thus seen as educative elements. The social craftsman understands the importance of rituals such as a brought and understandable planning and communicating in the workshops with the clients. This can be with single persons or groups. The social craftsman sees his clients as living and thinking subjects and an active part of the process. The social craftsman is acknowledging the breaks as important moments of the work day to communicate, recover and rest. Breaks are for keeping the joy and the fun, and even music is important. The social craftsman considers that efficiency and success are not measured in the accuracy and the number of the produced object rather in the pleasure and the interaction that happens while questioning, reflecting and shaping the daily environment where people live in.
The social craftsman is always reconsidering the way of implementing new methodologies, tools, materials, and people. Through including social scientists and therapist in this profession, the way of working is seen as a continuing pathway of development and experimenting. Techniques, tools, and constructions are improved, influenced by the process of making.
—Making engagement possible in order to seeing unexpected values and understand material and processes. Finding the role in a social environment —Making a mistake and see the responsibility and the notion of failing —Making a effort and seeing a rewarding and useful result —Making a contribution towards the local environment is seeing to be needed as a person —Make a re-considering of the actual living and behavior conditions through material protest or improvement
A modular system to create templates for sawing and drilling meant to guide people with different skill levels in woodworking workshops.
Video The tool as guidance bit.ly/2OUkTO2
Tool-kit CNC Milling
from–o-shop.com
Knowledge and relationship The mass-production and reduced price of this new kind of furniture have also impacted on the appreciation of work and material. The process becomes more and more difficult to understand. Gilbert Ryle divides two different kinds of knowledge/states. The “knowing that”, which is understood as ‘factual’ or ‘propositional’ knowledge, and the “knowing how” which represents ‘practical’ knowledge. The “knowing how” is responsible for a worthy relationship between the human and the object that is weakened if the process of making becomes less understandable. This question was asked by Thomas Thwaites by building a working toaster from scratch, extracting raw materials and processing them himself in an attempt to replicate a mass-produced toaster he bought in a shop for less than £5.00.—7 How able are we to understand and produce our own toaster and how much do we need to cheat in the process to really make it happen. With an overload of products in the western world, there is a need to learn more to relate to a product and generate a closer relationship to tackle the throwaway society, as well as to develop a fun way of changing our lifestyle towards a “less but better”—8 approach. Dieter Rams already proposed this in his thesis, “The era of the bodacious use of resources is done. We need our resources for even more important tasks.”—8 This seems to be true after
seeing the numbers of “The Worlds Counts”, which postulates that we extract 27.4 kilos of resources per person/day. Furthermore, the population of the world grows by 200,000 people per day. This problem requires a radical change of consciousness towards the material and work and therefore products and their use. Combining the idea of Ryle and the potential of a shift from “knowing that” towards “knowing how” plus the quote from the English potter, “making things is seeing things”, is proving to have the potential of giving a person agency through product making.
We extract 27.4 kilos of resources per person/day —10
The very concept of ‘agent’ and ‘agency’ involve people having the ability to transform the world around them through their actions, as well as being able to reproduce it Anthony Giddens—9
7— Toaster project http://www.thomasthwaites.com/the-toasterproject/ 8—Dieter Rams 9—Anthony Giddens 10—worldcounts.org
Based on basic craft processes suggested animals can be made and modified in various dimensions and encouage to start. Different work pieces created after undestanding the basics.
Tools and example work pieces for facilitating workshops for engaging in craftwork are collected at the web and instagram page. www.from-o-shop.com @from_0_shop
from-0-shop.com
Creatures-Set
18 x 8x 1x 17 x
14 x 15 x 1x 1x 18 x
from-0-shop.com
10 x 2x 3x 3x 14 x
6x 1x 2x 2x 8x
This construction game is part of the concept of engagement “from-0-shop“ and comes out of the Master project. “Making things is seeing things” which stresses the influence of participants in the craftwork process. Based on basic craft processes this suggested animals can be made and modified in various dimensions and encouage to start.
Making as an integrative praxis. for rethinking perfection, participation, cooperation and the joy of work. 300 (mm) 15 (mm) 120 (mm) 15 (mm)
The creativity needed to foster a change to grow in the individual person. In creativity is freedom including the freedom of an individual person. Production equals provocation — I’m asking humans to be productive in the way of thinking and being active with their mind and brain. Human beings are a social species which is depended on his human brother.
Joseph Beuys
The group activity revealed the participants’ strong desire to be useful in society. The approach can be adapted to different professions outside woodwork, challenging capitalistic ideas and preventing the loss of sensory working activities and the exclusion of people.
Circle of needs and value
Diversity: People treated individually;acknowledgement of their dissimilarities; oppositions to the modernist striving towards standardization and schematization. –22b The social craftsman is providing a system of connectors and material which allow a process or making which balances a the openness and closeness of a construction… Different abled people get treated with their individual needs and the outcome is guided on a limited way and details.
The circle of needs and value is connects Questioning and Reflection + Create, Make and understand + see the use/reflect/understand. This circle is processed within one group from the beginning until the end. Afterwards, there is an understanding for the next question and observation of the environment. Open ears and eyes Transformability: flexibility, processsuality: the human environment should be transformable for need to detect and fullfil and answer. depending on its user. Activity and evolving needs and preferences. –22b The social craftsman is A person is described as an active subject capable of listening to the user and inspire with products seeking well-being by setting his own capabilities in ans construction in a way that the user is getting motion. In other words, by looking at things in this involved and the user can influence his human environment. way people are seen not only as carriers of needs but also of capabilities. Thus, they are not only part of the problem they find themselves facing but also Partizipation: the user’s „co-authoring“ of the spatial arrangement by adapting it to evolving needs. –22b actors in their solution. —18 The Social craftsman is using the strength of making one-off pieces, and provide a good way for the A project circle for an internal and independent users participation. Knowing that different ages workshop within a micro-environment is and backgrounds are having different needs and showcasing the circle. A project gives a change to longings which wanted to be fulfilled. project something and someone into the future and see a role in the future, guided by tools, people, Communication: spatial composition as the environment, and a background for interpersonal relations, and as an social craftsman. A system of limited and easy instrument of visual influence. –22b The social connections and a set of tools and material is craftsman is seeing the work piece and the process opening the possibility to actively engage into a of making as medium for social interaction and fun. system. Therefore the connection of making and The tangible outcome is secondary seeing is becoming visible and experienceable.
Involvement following the idea of Oskar Hansens idea of “open from” which he attached to architectural and city planing approaches adopted to making and using of daily life products. And how an active involvement can help to integrate people through making. How can this theses materialize and uses the idea of Oskar Hansens “Open Form”
Connected to other people and the society, getting respect and seeing a value in the oneself are parameters that help to gain self-satisfaction. Work can be one of the sources of our greatest joys. In order to be fulfilled at work, Marx wrote that workers need to see themselves in the objects they have created. Labor offers us a chance to externalize what‘s good inside us. But this is increasingly rare in the modern world.—22 The sociologist C. Wright Mills writes: “The labor with a sense of craft becomes engaged in the work in and for itself; the satisfaction of working are their own reward; the detail of daily labor is connected in the worker’s mind to the end product; the worker can control his or her own actions at work; skill develops within the work process; work is connected to the freedom to Integration: of spatial elements, disciplines of art, art experiment; finally, family, community, and politics are measured by standards of inner satisfaction, and science, people, and also integration of people with nature through science and new technologies. coherence, and experiment in craft labor.”—9 Marx argued that modern work leads to alienation. In –22b The power of diversity is leading to the point that integration of different abled people is not only other words, a feeling of disconnection between what you do all day and who you feel you really are for at matter of social well being and connectivity and what you think you ideally be able to contribute also for the aim of innovation through valuable to existence. —22 insights.Social sciences eg. Sociology is much needed to be part of a team who want to effect any serious changes in socail behaviors. A craftsman and designer is able to realize and materialize. A perfect partner for a scientist who understand how people and society really work. Integration of the user into the craftsman space is similar than letting a designer in a process of scientific social research. The power of diversity if a great ground for innovation.The social craftsman ist convinced that hirachies needs to be flat and craft/design and social Workers need to see science a powerful task force can be. Scalability: the method, as well as it’s individual element, can be applied equally well to a model of reality, for example a sheet of paper, and to a physical space where the problems of the Great Number are present; Hansen discerned between micro scale (the interior, buildings), memo scale (the housing estate) and macro scale (the geographical region). –22b The social craftsman is able to use a system of connecting elements which is able to work in different scales such as in a doll house scale for kids, a construction game for various sizes and motor skills or also as a real world use scale for an actual use eg. a chair or a table. Play-world becomes realworld and real-world becomes play-world.
themselves in the objects they have created. Labor offers us a chance to externalise whats good inside us.
Karl Marxs 18—Enzio Manzini, Politics of the everyday: (New York, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2019) 22b–Michal Wolinski; Space, interaction, and the tradition of Oskar Hansen: (Berlin, Sternberg Press, 2014) 22— POLITICAL THEORY - Karl Marx; 2014;https://youtu.be/fSQgCy_iIcc?t=459s 24— C. Wright Mills
Hypothetical investigation about engagement This investigation is about various client entry points into a production and using processes shows a set of hypothetical tools and products which question the process of including the client into a system, and allows for comparison to see the client only as a consumer without any chance of influencing the outcome.
IKEA early approach Several states of the seeds/ tree/ wood are allowed to influence the growing and shaping of the material. The “material� is being sold together with the screws and the manual. The client is being challenged to find the way of processing the wood and finishing the stool, by using the local cabinet maker/ co-working spaces or the prepared hypothetical tools.
IKEA stool template These Hypothetical tools allow continuation of the process of manufacturing the Bekväm stool. Using a semiautomated double sided router for turning the round brunches into plane beams. After the beam is on the right dimension of thickness and width, another template helps the client mark and cut the length of the components. The same element but another slot and position is used to drill the holes for the screws. The screwdriver provided which is also in the plastic bag enables the user to tighten the screws. This is a manufacturing process which is dealing with the vacuum between automatization and manual work. The measurements of the cutting and drilling template is not changeable. The client don’t have impact in the measurements. But they do in the quality of cutting, drilling and the decision of what kind of wood and where the wood is from.The router works in two thickness settings, allowing only the two dimensions which are needed to complete constructing the Bekväm stool.
In order to make a production process understandable there is a need for rethinking the way how recipients can step into the making process of a product in more various degrees.
IKEA Bekväm appealing assembly How does it make the assembly process more fun? And how does it give the the client more agency and impact over a simple Ikea stool and therefore another relationship towards the stool.
The fingerprints of the making process, while assembling the stool the person had blue colored hands
A cracked stool re-glued with colored glue
The fingerprints of a directed assembling process; tracing the assembly
A binding game
The fingerprints of the Colored and still wet making process, elements are being while assembling the assembled stool the person had the same color than the wood on the hands
Coin-lock is managing the use
Package band as a connector
Colored gloves with pattern addition
Extension kit
Tandem-Tools These tools are helping to guide a person who is not yet or no longer able to process a certain work stage by themselves. The teacher can guide the client and the client can learn the movement through feeling and seeing what the teacher is doing. These special tandem tools balances lack of power and motoric disadvantages.
Semi-workpants These work pants communicate the degrees of work experience and skills. Attendees become more and more professional, but at the beginning of the transformation there are still parts of ordinary pant parts. The beige colored pants are typically used by cabinet makers. Color codes indicate skills and profession. This helps on a construction site to see who is responsible for which processes. Also, it contributes a feeling of in-group relations.
Shifting responsibility towards the recipient in order to open up in two directions: Designing not the object, rather invite to engage. The object itself loses importance.
Make
Use
Object
Before the object:
After the object:
-learning by doing
-using
-educate
-modifying
-understand
-interfere
-creating
-impact
-integration
-action -inspire
http://www.club-off-ulm.de/2017/12/11/ulmer-hocker-und-hfg-lehrautomat-in-dohakatar/ https://www.eguide.ch/en/objekt/ulmer-hocker/ Fotograf unbekannt, HfG-Archiv Ulm/Museum Ulm
Encourage and enable through tangible and intangible.approaches — togetherness Digitalization, automatisation and optimisation generats a
„Even if the corporate greed of many design offices makes this kind of design
lot of new possibilities which are changing the economy,
impossible, students should at least be encouraged to work in this manner.
ecology and also over social behavior.
For in showing students new areas of engagement, we may set up alternative patterns of thinking about design problems. We may help them to develop the
Social interaction and human behavior is most responsible
kind of social and moral responsibility that is needed.“
for our human well being and is independent or income
Design for the real world /page 69 /
and social classes. The improvement brings dangers
Victor Papanek
to forget how we focus towards empathy and our togetherness. Products in over urban environment can
It is critical to have a closer look into social interactions and what the role of
help as a product or as a byproduct to provoke human
design is and can be, as well as compare tangible elements and intangible
interactions and generate “social glue”. How we should
environments for generating togetherness. These reflections come from a
not design for a social interactions. Generating space for
designer’s perspective. Papanek mentions that this topic needs also to be
debates,arguments, teachings, … is related to tangible
explored in part by a social scientist or at least in collaboration with one.
space and reasons which enable encouragement.
Developing a deeper understanding of how people live together and are
Is our contemporary communication sustainable?
encouraged and enabled to “move together” is a topic which requires an academic understanding of togetherness while working cooperatively with people from other disciplines.
The Head of the University of Art and Design in Vancouver
„The academic desperation toward speciality becomes worrisome when we
has stated that design is “everything we do every day”.
remember that the price a species pays for specialization usually turns out to
This statement demonstrates how the field of design is
be extinction. Ideally, of course, groups of concerned people of all ages would
intrinsically related to living and interacting with other
meet together to engage in design. This would mean to learn, study teach one
people. The purpose of design can be seen from different
another, experiment, engage in research and discussion, and interact with one
angles and designers are able to design for their particular
another and with people from disciplines not generally considered design. Such
viewpoint. But most designers are driven by industry;
a group would be small (thirty to fifty in number), and its members might stay
by bigger companies and businesses which sustain
together for weeks, month, or even years. Individual team members or small
their existence by feeding the market and increasing
groups might detach themselves from the group, traveling or working directly
consumption. These companies are driven by an economic
with other groups or with manufacturing systems.“ Design for the real world /
focus and the need to earn money. This creates a danger of forgetting to design for intention and attitude when following self-interested goals and opinions. Studying at a design school presents an opportunity to work on self-driven projects and develop an independent attitude while learning and experimenting in a safe and secure environment.
Victor Papanek
“Move together for Moving together” — can be the result of the “line of togetherness” To understand the term togetherness requires an analytical framework for the
word.
questions the relationships between strangers and neighbors. The reasons can
The “need of togetherness”: is there a problem which
be tangible or intangible and can be approached from different angles
needs to be solved in a novel way? The “medium of togetherness”: is an entity which is tangible as an object
The Reason
or intangible as an environment. And the “benefit of
Developing different mediums can take the form of a “product” itself and
togetherness”.If the words align there is the “line of
“Togetherness as a product”. The designer is focusing on bringing people
togetherness” that encompasses these three steps. “Need”
together, for example with digital dating apps or beaches in public spaces.
– “Medium” – “Result”
In the first instance of the “product” itself, the purpose isn‘t the togetherness,
The “need of togetherness” is closely linked to the
but rather “togetherness as a by-product”. The main purpose is to solve a
“result of togetherness”.If we witness an outcome that
problem and the means of reaching this goal is togetherness. An example of
is made possible by and encouraged by a “medium of
this is sharing rides in the car. The first goal is to get from A to B but the way
togetherness”, over time we realize that this indicates a
of doing this is driven by a positive approach and a positive way of providing a
need of togetherness. “Needs of togetherness” are mostly
safe togetherness and a collective empathy. Collective empathy can occur in
invisible and remain unrealized. The direct opposite of
a crisis during which there is a great need to help each other; in this case the
togetherness is loneliness, which is does not necessarily
need can be fulfilled by acting in a proper way together. But preventing crises
constitute a negative mood, but which over time can
and focusing on providing a attractive alternative to improve the status quo is a
turn into depression. Physical and mental loneliness are
reason to think about “Togetherness as a by-product” for a collective well being.
created by different situations. Even when someone is sitting in the train surrounded
The tangible “medium of togetherness” is seen as a physical object, or a
by many people they can feel lonely. If a pupil is sitting
physical interface that a person interacts with if the medium is online or a
in a class full of classmates, he can feel isolated if he is
software. The tangible medium is generating a space and a cause for
struggling with something. Like with many examples of
human interaction. It enables people to break the ice in conversations, or to
innovations, identifying the problem is often the biggest
help each other and share knowledge and viewpoint. The objects, their shape
challenge. Realizing that there is a large potential benefit
and color, their arrangement, brightness, warmness, the context in which they
of togetherness is often not clearly apparent.
are used can generate an approach for interaction and enable someone to join
There are many apparent reasons a person may use the
and interact. We must differentiate between products for individual use and
“togetherness medium” and online dating app Tinder. The
products for collective use; by understanding the reason for individual use and
first is that although the person may be well-connected in
collective use we can figure out what makes a product needs more collective
a strong social network, he or she is trying to get in touch
or more individual and transfer this to other cases of use to thereby rethink
with people who are not in his or her circle of friends.
collectivism and individualism. Currently a car is still more of an individual
Another reason is that a user may be socially disconnected
and private good, but is slowly shifting towards being a collective good. The
and work long hours, and have no idea how and when to
human relationships around the car have to shift if this good is no longer an
get in touch with people. To escape a social bubble and
individual good. People must interact together in a different way. For a designer
enter a new social bubble both require a lot of effort and
it is an interesting question to think about what is created first, a conception of
a method. Being bored and without an approach to meet
change by generating a speculative scenario and proposing a solution for it or
new people is also a reason to use this app. Working
a situation in which change is necessary because of a crisis or a limitation of
and studying in a good team requires a positive social
resources.
atmosphere between colleagues. A positive atmosphere occurs when people value good behavior and feel empathy
The intangible “medium of togetherness” is the social environment. Being part
for each other.
of a group or having a social network consists of people who share the same
The benefits of collectivism as compared to individualism
options, have the same problems, or believe in the same god or the same
are hard to imagine and the manner and conditions of its
soccer club. The social environment as an intangible medium of togetherness
practice are less accessible; it is hard to imagine shifting
is different in its access, either driven by one collective option or habit or just
from an individual use to an collective use. This is true
driven by the reason to be together. The goal, the way of thinking, the problem,
regarding the use of products but also in a broader sense
the school, the soccer club, etcetera, are the product and togetherness is the
of shifting from an individual being to a collective being.
by-product. The medium of connection occurs at a third point that is followed
“The medium of Togetherness” approaches and enables
by the group. This means of connection can be seen in scenarios where
the bridging of people, and gives them an idea of how and
the intangible “medium” is just the reason to be together and togetherness
why they should get along. This medium also critically
becomes the product. This can occur when you interact with a friend because
of the person they are and the relationship you have with
for separation is designing solution which makes a human interaction not
them without any third point of common connection.
necessary and enables individual to help themselves individually. Using the example of searching the right way in a city. The old fashion and low tech
Tangible and intangible media often occur together. A
version is ask a local person for the way, later many people where using a map
church encompasses a intangible belief system alongside
for finding the way and finally people are using their smartphone to “google” the
the tangible symbol of the cross and the physical building
shortest and easiest way the get to the destination without even have a look
of the church. The soccer club has jerseys, a logo,
what happens left and right beside the way or even make a mistake and using
fans songs, colors as well as the location which is the
an unintended route which might be including random experiences. The map
station or the fan pub after the game. But even without
in the hand of a person is more than just a map in his hand it is also a indicator
communication, tangible and visual objects can indicate
for telling the others “I’m not from here, I might need help.” The maps a hidden
the collective intangible belief in this soccer club. In over
way of searching for help, the smartphone a indicator which is communication
human history a fireplace has given us a reason to get
that the user of the phone can help themselves and is busy and in another
warm, make food and be together. The fireplace is the
work.
medium which brings people together and provides a
The “result of togetherness“ can beside generating separation also generate a
space for social interaction, while having the purpose of
strong feeling of being part of people or part of the society which brings sense
preparing food and of social interaction.
and satisfaction into live. “Success is making the most number of people live
Generating coziness and a great atmosphere to talk in
better” Enabling people to help and got helped give success a change and
a calm and respectful with fire, light or music is way to
a stage. Often the person which is helping someone, is helping himself by
encourage intangible togetherness between friends, and
making themselves use- and successful in the really low and subtile way. Its not
also gives a reason for strangers to interact and works as
just about a practical and obvious help its also talking to each other and sharing
a tangible medium for generating togetherness.
time and knowledge which is just fun and generates a good feeling from being together. Confronting yourself while having a discussion with a stranger or a
The two sides of togetherness are taking place in many
friend is making someone think about his own person and in the same time
cases and if we are enabling togetherness in the one hand
stand for his attitude. A good result from togetherness in the surrounding
the is a danger to increasing separation on the other side.
of an academic filed is the break down barriers in between of universities
A medium which is separating people are in the most often
and departments. Learn and having benefits of bringen knowledge together
coming pared with another benefit or even another stage of
and understand how the other one is thinking and working to emphasis
togetherness at the other side. If a food delivering service
with an eventually work or live partner. Rethink the way of being together in
is serving someone with food this person don’t have to
different surroundings and institutions can be getting benifical, interesting
leave the house so there are many reasons for randomly
and challenging. Understand the value of togetherness by experience it and
meet people are not there anymore. The phoneme of
developing soft skill which are getting more and more imported especially if
cocooning in encouraged with this service. But at the
other skills are getting done from robots better in the future.
other hand the guy who‘s is working for the delivering service is doing a work which gives him partly a feeling of
Summary
togetherness. If there is a strong feeling of togetherness
Understand the way of using mediums for togetherness, rethink needs, benefits
happening within religions than there is also a big danger
and results is getting more important for dealing with a getting older society,
that groups are fighting each other because their own true
digitalization, a devision of rich and poor and also refugees for unimaginable
is strong that they dont except other options anymore.
reason in these days. Empathies and feel a sense of being together while
A strong opinion and a huge feeling of togetherness and
tackling issues with partners, colleagues, clients and also while living and
collectivism can be bind the group it self tide together but
celebrate human interaction more or less often. Design in a close collaboration
separate from other parts of the society. A borad game
with other professions are able to design social innovation driven different
which is for four participants are generation a separation
medium of togetherness which are tangible or intangible.
and an exclusion if there are five people are willing to play. This challenges are also imported to know how to deal with this issues. Structures, objects, graphics, logs, products and furniture which are designed for reaching a specific benefit though a medium of togetherness can be also challenge the society in therms of changing the conventions to provoke now ways of engaging and another sense of togetherness and collectivism. Design
Enable engagemnt and human interaction for a specific value and aim. — Authors previous projects
Projeto de moveis brazil Different culture, different work, different people This project is about the partnership of the Fachschule für Holztechnik and the Senai in Curitiba/Arapongas. The Senai ist responsible for occupational advice and further training in brazil.A multifunctional piece of furniture should be developed, that could be set up in hotel rooms. The main purpose of the project was not just to develop furniture, but also about convey a systematic approach to dealing with projects. This was the first time I realized how ingeniously an interdisciplinary team can interact. Everybody had a function and could display their skills. Victor Höpker, Mario Nolle, Markus Rusch, Ferdinand Fischer, robin weidner Seanai Curitiba Fachschule für Holztechnik Stuttgart 2011
Was ist menschlich Graphical intervention as a protest, protest by engaging After a fire attack on a refugee home in Schwäbisch Gmünd this action was taken place during the night. Poster which were shown many attitudes what “human” is where hanged over night in the city center. Also some poster with an empty space for leaven your own comment and answer the question with the own handwriting. The next step oft the campain is to use the hand written word and place them on a new a1 poster and bring the word back to public. The idea is to ask the public and bring these answers in a bigger scale literally back to public. 2015 www.wasistmenschlich.de
Empties-Gamble Another trash bin which works in two ways. — How to change the value of waste? hedgehog idea A method for opening new personal conversations, especially with strangers. A method for opening new personal conversations, especially with strangers. Different-coloured coffee sleeves should break the ice between strangers and help to start new conversations. A coffeehouse patron can decide if they would like to invite conversation or not. The green one means „Talk to me“ and the red one means „don‘t talk to me.“ Double-sided printing enables switching the inside out so one can change their mind in a spontaneous fashion. The logo and the name is inspired by the hedgehog which also has distinct ways of communicating a mood of openness versus feeling closed-off. The goal is to
The trash bin...Interface between social classes. Parallel universes clashing. The Empties-Gamble is a critical and at the same time comical presentation of this concept. We visualise what usually happens beyond our perception. Grabbing bottles from an object of desire – the gambling machine - rather than a trash bin gives new value to deposit bottles by putting them into a different context. The installation consists of a craw crane filled with empty PET bottles. The backside of the machine has a hole through which empty deposit bottles can be inserted at any time. In the front, empty bottles can be fished out of the machine. A game costs 5 cents. 2017 www.empties-gamble.com
transition to a talkative, interactive society; welcoming and open. Get offline and rediscover face-to-face interaction in real life. It is a system which brings people with the same wish through the fact of rasting together. The medium of togetherness is having a coffee and slow down in the location of a coffee house. 2015 www.hedgehog-idea.com
handmadeprint3.com A method for creating assistive devices for occupational
Radfahrbahn
therapists.
Visual Identity and modular furniture system for cyclehighways/ urban environment.
There is a need and a motivation to help the helpers and bring material, tools and processes together to create
This modular urban furniture system is related to bike lines
a new way of working as a therapist and collaborating
and give cyclist an approach to rast, also to place the bike,
really close with the client itself in order du increate the
repair the bike or get information about the environment.
relationship and the acceptance of the limbs and devises
The system is providing modules for different use cases.
a client need because of a psychical disability. A „Hand-
The blue pipe is connecting the modules. The module
made-print3-kit and a device-sharing-pool as platform
with the seats are giving the cyclist a space for social
gives space to share the modelt elements. The modeling
interaction and enables conversations.
happen with clay and other material. 3D scann and 3D
2017
print in combination allows to save, modify, print, share
www.radfahrbahn.de
and replicate in a easy way, 2015 www.handmadeprint3.com
FORM FOLLOWS HANDICAPS Nurturing talents. Form follows handicaps – when the design of products is guided towards the skills of people with mental disabilities. Designing consumer products that convince through form and function. The focus of this work is on the development of products that can be made by people with disabilities. The work is using togetherness as a medium for workers well being. The product is not the main focus. 2012 Binnersproject
http://robin-weidner.com/social.html#formfollows
The Binnersproject, a group of people which come together and discuss issues around binning, these people are binners (wastepickers) which sustain their livelihood with collecting cans and bottles from the garbage. The Binnersproject Vancouver gives the system of waste picking structure and a name. A visual identity which come out in ID-Cards, T-shirts and Caps is binding their participants together. The stigma around waste picking and bottle collecting is getting decreased. 2015 https://vimeo.com/138780103 www.binnerproject.org
Socialorlost – Bench/ Flow-T A special shapes bench for a spacial interaction in between of strangers. Sitting alone on the bench is possible and playful. But a bench is made for more people and the empty seats are inviting people to join. With two or more it‘s getting way more interesting and also more challenging to balance and care about each other. Through small impulses, one’s own
Openbridge
behavior has a direct influence on the counterpart. Balance
Shelfing system for offer goods for free
and consideration are prerequisites for a harmonious coexistence.How stagnate are we in terms of getting in
One mans trash another mans treasure – A space for
touch with strangers?How stretchy are we?
placing goos which are for the first owner trash. The
It is a furniture which brings people with the same wish
space is an alternative compare to through this good in
through the fact of rasting together. The medium of
the garbage. A person with another sense of value have
togetherness is rasting, relaxing and slowing down in the
a point for looking about values in a human way. It is a
public environment. This benches can made and modifyed
system which brings people with the same wish through
within a woodworking class/ workshop. The projects
the fact of exchanging goods together. The medium of
intents to bring the ojbect closer to the people by enaging
togetherness is used products and goods with value in
in the making and in a more free way of using.
from of a residence at the street.
www.socialorlost.com
www.open-bridge-com
www.flow-t.com
2015
2016
Jonas Voigt, robin weidner
2018 jonas voigt, robin weidner
impulse-tool If the heartbeat become a visual voice Visualizing the actual internal mood unfiltered to the outside and let your Mitfahrscheibe
counterpart see your personal inside. This devise is be
Take-a-ride Card aka ‘Mitfahrscheibe’
part of a social study about how we trigger experimental
— The intermedial infrastructure for car lifts
empathy and raising upcoming questions about the topic. Generation a sense of togetherness with a hypothetical
The take a ride card and liftstops with an distinct traffic
tool.
sign matches people together which have the similar
2017
destination while traveling on the road. A car driver with
www.impulse-tool.com
free seats have a chance to find people in a simple way and people without a car have the chance to communicate their wish of traveling. It is a system which bringt people with the same wish through the fact of traveling together. The medium of togetherness is mobility in the urban environment. 2014 www.mitfahrscheibe.de
“Vonderboys - back to work” was a project initiated by Almar Sinte Maartensdijk for a group of 12 elderly men Mensch ärgern wir uns nicht
from the elderly home vitals Vonderhof in the center of Eindhoven. The aim was to use eight workshop sessions
The traditional game “mensch ärgere dich nicht” got a new
from 10:30 am till 12 and from 12.30 till 2 pm to give two
shape. The originally four party for the four participants
double-seat bikes a new style, shape, and a theme. Almar
got break into four separate pieces. Now each player
is a social designer based at the Temporary Art Center in
has his own figures and also his own part of the field.
Eindhoven; this is where the workshop
After breaking the layout of the field more and also less
sessions took place. The social design master student
then four player can join. Everybody is responsible for his
Robin Weidner assisted with the project and was led one
oven part to bring. The field can be become funny shapes
of the two groups. The working environment was equipped
and variations. Breaking conventions allows to add new
with a workbench, paper, pens, cardboard, hand tools and
roles and arrange you differently to your counterpart. The
many chairs to sit around the bikes. The provided special
arrangement of the field and the hight number of player
branded working coats and lunchboxes were responsible
is adding a new experiance and a new challenge to the
for the group recognition and
traditional game.
supported the feeling “back to work”, which was the
2017
subtitle of the project. 2018
After doing my apprenticeship as a cabinet maker and later on my further education as a mastercraftsmann in cabinet making I had a strong wish to study productdesign in Schwäbisch Gmünd. Gmünd because of the strong technical and social approach which makes fully sense to me. After doing some project in the direction of process design and especially while I was doing the critical design class in Vancouver at Emily Carr University of Art and Design I was thinking about my profession and my way of work. After finishing the bachelor degree I went for one year to the University for Art and Design Offenbach and studied on the interface of art and design. From September 2017 till Juli 2019 I was studying at the Socialdesign Masterprogram at the Design Academy Eindhoven and merge craftsmanship, product design for speculating, criticizing and tackling society related topics such as social alienation and consumtion. The hands-on approuch of making prototypes and testing them in social/ urban- and real world context is my core interest. Besides the thinking and developing through making. Documentation by film and photographycontribute my work.
I‘m seeing myself as a designer with a background in cabinate making and a strong interest in material, people, mechanisms and systems, The used medium is not the subject of work rather a medium to externalize what process I want to start. This can be a process of thinking, a process of human interaction or a process of empower and enable others. Experiencing and stepping outside of the box and think different is the core inspiration.
“A designer needs to knock at doors they never have opened before.“
Victor Papanek
was said by Victor Papanek which is inspiring to try other ways of acting. I like being close to the public and urban live. And really close to the people im working with and for. My used media are indicated by interfaces of... –Digital and anlag –Products and graphics –Art and design My reasons for realizing projects are observed needs which are coming out of daily experience and happening which come mostly unintended and out of a unsual way of being. Boxes and boundaries are giving structures and order which can help to define and classify. But makes us also lazy to develop and experience „new boxes“ or mix boxes.
“The mind is like an umbrella. Its most useful when open.“ Walter Gropius
Making others successful and empower systems and people in order to create a democratic reality.
Links Essay —Toghterness Book bit.ly/2q75mjF
Master thesis — Design for the social craftsmann bit.ly/2MHIDCr
Master project — Concept of engagement in craftwork Link und QR from-o-shop.com @from_0_shop / bit.ly/2MgSVus
Investigation Session Vitalis elderly home Session 1-8 bit.ly/2ONGzLT Session 9-14 bit.ly/32j93RM
The tool as guidance bit.ly/2OUkTO2
Impressum Author robin weidner +49179 8021247 hello@robin-weidner.com robin-weidner.com instagram.com/robin.weidner/ twitter.com/weidner_robin facebook.com/robin.weidner.182
Social Design Master Design Academy Eindhoven Head: Jan Boelen Tutors: Michael Kaethler, Fabrizia Vecchione, Dick van hoff, Stephane Barbier Bouvet, Henriette Waal, Jesse Howard
Print LINDEMANN GmbH & Co.KG Planiger Straße 91 55543 Bad Kreuznach
2019
This magazine addresses how design can initiate and encourage human interaction. What can design contribute to get people to interact with each other and what are the conditions for the design to serve this purpose.What can design do to increase the intangible value of joy and well-being? With design being the invitation for interaction with people and materials. How to energise people through engagement and while doing so tackling the issue of material- and social alienation. Social interaction and engagement aiming for a joyful and rewarding day- and work-life instead of a capitalistic driven efficient way of dealing with the surroundings. Openness and engagement are key to conscious consumption and are challenging the global status quo.
robin-weidner.com