The Home as an Object: Material Culture in the Age of IKEA

The curiosity of everyday objects looms large in every human’s life. And naturally, these objects are almost as diverse in character as the person who bought them. This variation can be in style, period, shape, origin but also in the arrangement it is given in relation to other objects or persons in a space. On one level, the objects we surround ourselves with are meaningless, purely functional, utilitarian and banal. Especially on a budget, one may not consider aesthetic or design issues at all and purely buy a toaster because they want toast. Why would one buy a SMEG+Dolce and Gabbana toaster when they could just get one from Home Depot that works exactly the same? How does a chair that costs $3.7 million stack up next to a$30 Ivar IKEA chair? Such is the daunting, age old question that collectors, designers, journalists, connoisseurs and gallerists alike have been discussing in cycles for decades. The 1851 Great Exhibition broke down the assumption that goods did not need to be starkly divided into everyday objects and fine art and since then, through our progressive obsession with Japanese and Danish ideals, the West has steady moved towards a sense of artificial simplicity. Through my thesis, I plan to further address this by analyzing new trends in furniture and object design in terms of fashionability, historical references and prejudices attached to the medium of craft. In sum, by analyzing this contemporary canon of design as an art historian, ultimately a new dialogue will emerge on everyday objects and their agency

Design revolutions: IASDR 2019 Conference Proceedings. Volume 2: Living, Making, Value

In September 2019 Manchester School of Art at Manchester Metropolitan University was honoured to host the bi-annual conference of the International Association of Societies of Design Research (IASDR) under the unifying theme of DESIGN REVOLUTIONS. This was the first time the conference had been held in the UK. Through key research themes across nine conference tracks – Change, Learning, Living, Making, People, Technology, Thinking, Value and Voices – the conference opened up compelling, meaningful and radical dialogue of the role of design in addressing societal and organisational challenges. This Volume 2 includes papers from Living, Making and Value tracks of the conference

The trajectory of modern ceramic scholarship: Okuda Seiichi's ceramic appreciation in the Taishō period, 1912 – 1926

My dissertation investigates the connection between hobby (shumi), aesthetic appreciation (kanshō), and the imagining of Japan-centered “oriental ceramics” (tōyō tōji) in Okuda Seiichi’s thought during the period of rapid modernization and aesthetic nationalism that accompanied Japanese imperialist expansion. The main task of this study is to highlight and analyze the role of Okuda Seiichi (1883-1955) in presiding over modern ceramic scholarship. It seeks to understand the peculiarities of Taishō-period society (1912 – 1926) that catalyzed the emergence of ceramic hobby and appreciation, especially among a circle of Japanese business, intellectual, and cultural leaders. This cultural climate encouraged the gradual formation of the study of ceramic history as an academic discipline and ceramic hobby began to reconfigure and merge with scholarly activities through groups such as Tōjiki kenkyūkai (Ceramic Studies Society, founded 1914), the Saikokai (Colored Jar Society, 1916), and Tōyō tōji kenkyūjo (The Institute of Oriental Ceramics, 1924). Okuda played an instrumental role in the establishment of professionalism in ceramic study and cultivated the notion of ceramic appreciation by claiming superiority for Japanese aesthetic discrimination. My dissertation illuminates the ways in which the notions advanced by Okuda to define ceramic hobby and appreciation indicate Japan’s acceptance of Western “fine arts” and aesthetic canons, which privileged painting and sculpture. While the complexity of Okuda’s ideas can be understood as part of the broader intellectual concern of Japan’s art history, his most significant efforts can be found in highlighting not only artistic qualities but also the conceptual and technical supremacy of ceramics. The dissertation also investigates how Okuda established an historical narrative for Asian ceramics in which Japan could compare its tradition with the West and assert its unique role in a unitary Asian civilization. In rivalry with the West’s advancement of Asian ceramic studies, Okuda stressed his unique, historically conditioned role as a leader in the field, while involving his works in a dialogue with Western scholars. By contextualizing Okuda’s evolving thoughts within the intellectual currents of his time, this dissertation sheds new light on the origin of the study of ceramic history in the Taishō period, when the idea of ceramic appreciation underwent a pivotal redefinition

Kansei Intelligence’s Contributions to Psychological Safety in Online Workplaces

This research aims to examine how Kansei Intelligence contributes to psychological safety in remote workplaces and suggests ways to create pedagogical workshops for workers by applying Kansei Intelligence. Based on the literature, three concepts associated with Kansei Intelligence are identified: 1. Kansei’s meaning changes according to time, people, and space, 2. Kansei involves the capacity to sense one’s own surroundings, have environmental perceptions, and cultivate a sense of belonging to nature, and 3. It is important to be aware of one’s own Kansei status, as well as that of others. Applied qualitative research was conducted in this study; data were ultimately gathered from six interviews and four workshops in various settings, either in Finland or Japan. Applying Kansei Intelligence, four workshops were designed with collaborators. This thesis addresses the two research questions through thematic analysis. The interview data describe different approaches to studying how Kansei Intelligence contributes to the fostering of psychological safety in workplaces. The workshop data indicate how Kansei Intelligence works in online workshops and result in suggestions for subsequent workshops. This thesis indicates that Kansei Intelligence can contribute to psychological safety in online work-places, foster interpersonal relationships through emotional reflection exercises. This also suggests that Kansei Intelligence can create a sense of togetherness and non-verbal communication that normally cannot be created merely with ordinary communication among participants in an online environment

Japan’s Book Donation to the University of Louvain

Companion to the exhibition “Japan’s Book Donation to the University of Louvain”, KU Leuven University Library, 28 October 2022 - 15 January 2023 With more than 3,000 titles in almost 14,000 volumes, the 1920s Japanese book donation to the University of Leuven/Louvain constitutes an invaluable time capsule of Japan’s pre-modern culture in all its diversity and richness. A century on, the time is right to take a new look at its contents, as well as its history and the political, social and cultural context surrounding the donation. To commemorate its centenary, the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven) and the Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain) have joined forces to set up a special exhibition under the title “Japan’s Book Donation to the University of Louvain. Japanese Cultural Identity and Modernity in the 1920s” (October 2022–January 2023), at the University Library of KU Leuven. The present book has been compiled for the occasion of the exhibition, to serve as a durable guide to the magnificent book donation and its historical background, and as a reference for further research in the future. In five essays by historians of politics, media, culture, and arts of Japan, it offers a richly illustrated overview of the history of the donation and its wider historical context, providing illuminating insights into the vibrant 1920s in Japan, its politics, society, and popular culture. The reader is further invited to explore a sample of 65 remarkable and rare items from the donation, which were carefully selected for inclusion in the exhibition and are provided here with a detailed description. Moreover, the reader is introduced to 41 representative items, including visually captivating commercial and political posters related to Japan’s modernity in the 1920s, which represent mass culture, progress, and tensions, and highlight both imperial ambitions and a willingness to contribute to international cooperation

Dynamics of Industrial Revolution 4.0: Digital Technology Transformation and Cultural Evolution

Dynamics of Industrial Revolution 4.0: Digital Technology Transformation and Cultural Evolution – Wulandari et al (eds) © 2021 The Author(s), ISBN 978-1-032-04451-4 Preface The 7th Bandung Creative Movement (BCM) held on 12 November 2020, live from Telkom Univer- sity in Bandung, gathered people from creative sectors dealing with creative industries and digital technology. Under the theme Dynamics of Industrial Revolution 4.0: Digital Technology Transformation and cultural evolution, 7th BCM discussed how the digital world and connectivity transformed in accordance with human needs and social culture. It also underlined how technology and community influence each other to continuous innovation by integrating aesthetic, emotional aspects, and culture with the latest technology. The conference examined issues on: • Aesthetic evolution in digital era. • How and to what extent does the digital technology influence environmental transformation? • What is the relation between Digital Technology and cultural evolution? How digital technology changes people behaviour and culture, and vice versa? • What is the importance of Creative Technology and data in the creative industry? • Discussion on innovation of Products, Creative industries management and marketing • Digital education for creative industries In response to the pandemic, issues related to covid-19 and digital technology were also discussed. How the creative world & digital technology respond and answer to the pandemic. The keynote speakers, that came from various backgrounds and from different countries, are: 1. Vichaya Mukdamanee, BFA, MFA, PhD, Silpakorn Thailand 2. Mumtaz Mokhtar (Assoc. Prof. Dr.) PhD, UiTM Malaysia 3. Florian Heinzelmann, PhD, Dipl.-Ing. (FH), M. Arch., SBA, SHAU Architecture and Urbanism, The Netherlands 4. Dr. Ira Wirasari, Telkom University, Indonesia The parallel session presented 64 papers coming from collaborative and individual works. All papers are divided into 7 sub themes as offered in this open access proceeding. We believe and hope that readers will find 7th BCM an enriching overview on digital creative world worth sharin

Traces of emergence: an ontological unification of perception, artefact, and process

Objects are part of a complex matrix that contain emergent experiences and meanings. Ernesto Rogers once claimed that if a spoon was examined carefully enough, one could establish how the maker would design a city. While this observation from the great Italian architect may be an over-generalisation, it draws upon an important point – the objects that humans create are reflections of ourselves, our beliefs, our feelings, motivations, and drives. In short, our whole material and emotional culture. The study of design revolves around the dynamics between form, the processes of making and the diverse experiences of object interaction and use – ontologies of artefact emergence that articulate with the complex patterning structures and practices that produce all of material culture. There are two dominant narratives we must consider when examining design as a practice of making. One, as a narrative of form evolution derived principally from a hylomorphic designer-agent ontology1 and the other, as a narrative of making and manufacturing understood through ontologies of matter manipulation. The relationship between the two narratives, this work will argue, presents deep and poorly understood problems with respect to the current taxonomies and ontologies describing advanced manufacturing, limiting the conceptual evolution of design thinking and processes of making and manufacturing. Moreover, this work will argue that pattern and patterning motions is a key meta-concept for understanding design practice that has until this point, received a limited amount of attention. While there are emerging paradigms of research including Industry 4.0 and ‘new materialism’, these have not comprehensively addressed the core disconnect between understanding process and understanding perception. The new materialism mostly explores the making processes of ‘craft’ - which have an important relation to and are indeed antecedents of advanced industrial processes – that do not include the conceptual innovations of advanced process control, CAM for instance. Industry 4.0, while offering interesting insights and innovations in terms of process control does not tend to examine the assumptions that go into forming its conceptual landscape – process ‘optimization’ or defect minimization are for instance seen as by definition, good.Objects are part of a complex matrix that contain emergent experiences and meanings. Ernesto Rogers once claimed that if a spoon was examined carefully enough, one could establish how the maker would design a city. While this observation from the great Italian architect may be an over-generalisation, it draws upon an important point – the objects that humans create are reflections of ourselves, our beliefs, our feelings, motivations, and drives. In short, our whole material and emotional culture. The study of design revolves around the dynamics between form, the processes of making and the diverse experiences of object interaction and use – ontologies of artefact emergence that articulate with the complex patterning structures and practices that produce all of material culture. There are two dominant narratives we must consider when examining design as a practice of making. One, as a narrative of form evolution derived principally from a hylomorphic designer-agent ontology1 and the other, as a narrative of making and manufacturing understood through ontologies of matter manipulation. The relationship between the two narratives, this work will argue, presents deep and poorly understood problems with respect to the current taxonomies and ontologies describing advanced manufacturing, limiting the conceptual evolution of design thinking and processes of making and manufacturing. Moreover, this work will argue that pattern and patterning motions is a key meta-concept for understanding design practice that has until this point, received a limited amount of attention. While there are emerging paradigms of research including Industry 4.0 and ‘new materialism’, these have not comprehensively addressed the core disconnect between understanding process and understanding perception. The new materialism mostly explores the making processes of ‘craft’ - which have an important relation to and are indeed antecedents of advanced industrial processes – that do not include the conceptual innovations of advanced process control, CAM for instance. Industry 4.0, while offering interesting insights and innovations in terms of process control does not tend to examine the assumptions that go into forming its conceptual landscape – process ‘optimization’ or defect minimization are for instance seen as by definition, good

Japan’s Book Donation to the University of Louvain

Companion to the exhibition “Japan’s Book Donation to the University of Louvain”, KU Leuven University Library, 28 October 2022 - 15 January 2023 With more than 3,000 titles in almost 14,000 volumes, the 1920s Japanese book donation to the University of Leuven/Louvain constitutes an invaluable time capsule of Japan’s pre-modern culture in all its diversity and richness. A century on, the time is right to take a new look at its contents, as well as its history and the political, social and cultural context surrounding the donation. To commemorate its centenary, the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven) and the Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain) have joined forces to set up a special exhibition under the title “Japan’s Book Donation to the University of Louvain. Japanese Cultural Identity and Modernity in the 1920s” (October 2022–January 2023), at the University Library of KU Leuven. The present book has been compiled for the occasion of the exhibition, to serve as a durable guide to the magnificent book donation and its historical background, and as a reference for further research in the future. In five essays by historians of politics, media, culture, and arts of Japan, it offers a richly illustrated overview of the history of the donation and its wider historical context, providing illuminating insights into the vibrant 1920s in Japan, its politics, society, and popular culture. The reader is further invited to explore a sample of 65 remarkable and rare items from the donation, which were carefully selected for inclusion in the exhibition and are provided here with a detailed description. Moreover, the reader is introduced to 41 representative items, including visually captivating commercial and political posters related to Japan’s modernity in the 1920s, which represent mass culture, progress, and tensions, and highlight both imperial ambitions and a willingness to contribute to international cooperation

Tomimoto Kenkichi and the discourse of modern Japanese ceramics

In Japan, ceramics has long been considered a medium associated with elevated aesthetic expression and high cultural capital. However, the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw transformations of its epistemological underpinnings. The collapse of the feudal system gave rise to the multivalenced concept of "art craft" (bijutsu kôgei) that included "art ceramics." For individual artists like Tomimoto Kenkichi (1886-1963), ceramics traversed a parallel path with other mediums of modern art that emphasized self-expression and hybridizations of multiple geo-historical sources. Ultimately, these ceramics became significant state-supported symbols of the nation. An analysis of the art, praxis, and theories of Tomimoto Kenkichi presents an ideal case study for illuminating the central mechanisms responsible for the emergence and development of modern Japanese art ceramics. With a wide angle yet critical perspective lacking in previous studies, this dissertation not only reveals Tomimoto's complex individual role in the history of modern ceramics, but also sheds light on the ontology of modern Japanese craft itself. By considering Tomimoto's entire oeuvre-- including calligraphy, ceramics, design goods, painting, and prints--we may track the development of his modernist embrace of the direct observation of nature, abstract form, and original expression. His praxis, synergistically modeled on William Morris and Ogata Kenzan, reveals a modernist stance towards Japanese literati culture in which ceramics became a medium negotiating between British Arts and Crafts design; modernist European sculpture; and Chinese, Korean, and Japanese historical ceramics. The dissertation's diachronic structure charts artistic concepts, ideologies, and creative works from the late Meiji to the mid-Shôwa eras, relying on formal analysis as well as organizational analysis of pedagogical systems, art organizations, and exhibition structures. Chapter One considers Tomimoto's lineal inheritances, university education, and self-study. Chapter Two explores Tomimoto's discourse of self-expression and the equivalency of artistic mediums. Chapter Three deconstructs the image of the ceramic vessel and Tomimoto's discourse of ceramic form according to respective engagements with Joseon porcelain and modernist sculpture. Chapter Four analyzes the sinophilic and modernist aspects of his overglaze enamel porcelain. Finally, Chapter Five surveys the role of exhibitions and preservation efforts in positioning ceramics as art and national tradition