Copper in Tambat Ali: Design, Craft, and the Transformative Properties of a Material in Pune, India

This research is an examination of the materiality of copper in the context of a design and craft community in a place called tambat ali (which in the local language Marathi translates to coppersmith alley) located in the heart of the city of Pune in Western India. For centuries, several generations of coppersmiths (tambats) have been shaping this malleable, sensorial material into a variety of objects for domestic use. Copper (tamba), in an expression of transformational materiality, has in turn, shaped the tambats into who they are as persons. In addition, the materiality of copper has engendered a unique set of skills and techniques, and it has moulded their bodies and gestures. The tambats make a variety of objects that are described as vastu in Marathi, a word that also refers to narratives that arc over the life of the material, the people, and the things themselves. For the past few years, the tambats have been collaborating with architects and industrial designers to create a variety of new copper products that are sold nationally and internationally. While industrial design practice typically tends to focus on form, user needs, or the market, in tambat ali, it starts with an emphasis on the properties of the material. Here, design unfolds in a new social context created by the presence of copper. This thesis, with its focus on materiality, design, and craft, will attempt to show how copper has produced a materially inspired sociability, which has shaped the stories of objects, the nature of place, the practices of design and craft, and the lives of the people of tambat ali

Wicked Problems, Interdisciplinary Solutions

Horst Rittel argues that the problems design handles are wicked (as well as incorrigible and ill-behaved) and new methodologies are required to tame them (Rittel and Webber 1973). He lists some of the key characteristics of these problems: they are very difficult to formulate, they do not have right or wrong solutions, they do not have a logical end, and they are often symptoms of other problems. In such situations, the only way to devise comprehensive solutions to deal with them is through an intense and integrated collaboration among disciplines. Interdisciplinarity is one of the most promising strategies for dealing with and taming the wicked, ill-behaved and incorrigible problems of design. And while interdisciplinary collaboration offers the benefits of the possibility of more comprehensive solutions, shared resources and costs, better problem prediction, and so on, it also poses challenges. Dealing with diverse disciplinary philosophies and vocabularies, managing heterogeneous teams, managing project complexity, acquiring resources and other issues present considerable hurdles. In this presentation, the authors offer an analysis of interdisciplinary collaboration, explain its role in university pedagogy, and describe some of the benefits it offers as well as the challenges it poses. They discuss a number of undergraduate and graduate interdisciplinary curricular experiences that range from 10 days to two semesters, involving students and faculty from Fine Arts, Architecture, Biology, Business, Engineering, Industrial Design, and Visual Communication Design. These case studies serve as examples of interdisciplinarity that can help shape the future of education.Presentation starts at the 48:00' mark</p

Encountering things : design and theories of things

xv, 218 p. : col. ill. ; 25 cm

Wicked Problems, Interdisciplinary Solutions

Horst Rittel argues that the problems design handles are wicked (as well as incorrigible and ill-behaved) and new methodologies are required to tame them (Rittel and Webber 1973). He lists some of the key characteristics of these problems: they are very difficult to formulate, they do not have right or wrong solutions, they do not have a logical end, and they are often symptoms of other problems. In such situations, the only way to devise comprehensive solutions to deal with them is through an intense and integrated collaboration among disciplines. Interdisciplinarity is one of the most promising strategies for dealing with and taming the wicked, ill-behaved and incorrigible problems of design. And while interdisciplinary collaboration offers the benefits of the possibility of more comprehensive solutions, shared resources and costs, better problem prediction, and so on, it also poses challenges. Dealing with diverse disciplinary philosophies and vocabularies, managing heterogeneous teams, managing project complexity, acquiring resources and other issues present considerable hurdles. In this presentation, the authors offer an analysis of interdisciplinary collaboration, explain its role in university pedagogy, and describe some of the benefits it offers as well as the challenges it poses. They discuss a number of undergraduate and graduate interdisciplinary curricular experiences that range from 10 days to two semesters, involving students and faculty from Fine Arts, Architecture, Biology, Business, Engineering, Industrial Design, and Visual Communication Design. These case studies serve as examples of interdisciplinarity that can help shape the future of education