Designing for and with communities

Abstract

This investigation is part of the research “From Anthropology To Design, A Heritage Management Project In The New Silk Road”, funded by Nanyang Technological University’s New Silk Road initiative. The aim of this project is to create holistic models for design partnerships with non-profit craft-based communities in South-east Asia. By working closely with local artisans, this project aspires to promote the crafts in South-east Asia by creating products that preserves cultural integrity, improve the quality of the craftsmanship that will consequently lead to better livelihoods for the communities.

Together with our alumni, I have created “design for" a non-profit organization that provides an open platform for collaborations on social design projects. Utilising scholarly research, we advocate cultural understanding and preservation by using design as a dialogue. Through this dialogue, we aim to translate, re-interpret, adapt, innovate ideas and forms in traditional crafts for contemporary living.By sharing cultural information we aim to promote ethical consumerism and sustainable living with the communities we partner with.

"design for" takes after models of Asian apprenticeships, based on the methods of traditional craftsmanship, and the adoption of a hands-on, process- driven method. By visiting craft villages and learning from the original artisans themselves, we understand their philosophy to life, learn from their techniques and derive a wealth of knowledge that is slowly being forgotten today. This translates to a model of research into meaning, design by making, and embracing human relationships through sharing.

Historically, there is a strong link between craft, design and meaning as the basis to the sense of cultural identity in the Asian cultures where the people live with a respect for nature and an appreciation of tradition. "design for" sees the value in this perspective, and seeks to apply it to our South-east Asian region, rich in heritage, culture and craftsmanship.

Laos was chosen to be site for the pilot project because of its invaluable hand woven textiles. The research in Laos began with ethnographic documentation of its material culture, in order to understand and re-interpret the living culture in present-day Laotian communities through its most important symbol, the Cosmic Serpent (depending on the context, Naak or Ngueak in Laotian, Naga in Pali).

The cultural and visual investigation on the Cosmic Serpent as a symbol has been chosen as an entry point to the project. Believed to be a central animistic figure that predates Buddhism, the Cosmic Serpent was a symbol used in many Shamanistic ritual textiles. Today, it continues to be significant to the cultural identity of the Laotians as witnessed in its material culture. However, interviews conducted during fieldtrips showed that a deeper understanding about this symbol has been gradually lost. Despite of that, the weaver’s still produces wonderful textiles, most of them featuring the Cosmic Serpents, without understanding it’s meanings.

The aim of this paper is to present the work developed in the last 3 years, working with weaving communities in Laos, on research, design and community work surrounding the weaving motif of the Cosmic Serpent.