The Contribution of Anonymous Artefacts to the Development of Portuguese Design

Abstract

This abstract describes an on-going PhD investigation in Design that postulates that the values of longevity and identity contained in Portuguese anonymous artefacts are essential to the differentiation of Portuguese products.

This investigation intends to activate the value of Portuguese anonymous artefacts towards the development of an integrated and sustainable design process. The starting point is the premise that the revaluation and renovation of daily life utensils are essential in the overall emerging social questions in contemporary design. It is intended to show the influence of objects in the users’ universe, to understand their mechanisms of attribution of meaning and feelings and to understand the processes of development and evolution of artefacts.

There are specific approaches in other countries, such as Italy, where there is a vast knowledge map about anonymous artefacts and their importance. There isn’t a scientific approach in Portugal, therefore it’s essential to understand the variables that will be useful to the portrayal of these anonymous artefacts. By collecting and analysing them throughout this investigation, their importance in daily life will become evident and their project values will prove they can be enhancers of new forms of contemporary construction of products or projects.

Starting from the previous platform of artefacts, the project will proceed with the development of a process of revaluation of the anonymous, a suggested model for object creation. Therefore, this research will draw conclusions on a series of workshops conducted in three different environments:

First, at the market level, it will take place as a personal approach, as a design professional, with a Portuguese company in the revaluation of an anonymous artefact, in order to determine a development model aiming the valorisation of these artefacts for the market.

Second, at the territory level, reflecting with other design professionals their point of view about this issue, envisioning approaches that gather cultures and allow social integration and the optimization of resources towards knowledge and sustainability.
And finally, at the design academies level, building and presenting a program of learning and training about the valorisation of anonymous design, as academia can have an important role in this approach of the interpretation of patrimony.

The results of these workshops will be documented and examined in order to draft a possible development model for the revaluation of anonymous Portuguese artefacts. It’s expected that the workshops will result in a set of projects with the purpose of reusing meaningful forms and materials in order to create new artefacts.

The objective is to prove that the values of longevity and identity contained in Portuguese anonymous artefacts are essential to the differentiation of Portuguese industry products through the designers’ approach to interdisciplinarity, identity
and sustainability.