Lost in softness, rethink design through soft aesthetics
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School of Arts, Design and Architecture |
Master's thesis
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Date
2024
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Master’s Programme in Design
Language
en
Pages
103
Series
Abstract
Softness is inherent to our lives but also our bodies and human condition. In our surroundings, we can find softness in the intimate sphere like the house but it isn’t so common to experience it outside of this bubble. This research explores contemporary society from a critical perspective. Current society is always pushing for more efficiency and therefore leaving softness, relaxation, and slowness to the side. This run for effectiveness is creating a uniformization of design. Because of softness’s shapeless materiality, often flabby and unpractical, it is pushed out of consideration when designing artifacts. The thesis invites us to re-explore the aesthetics of softness through novel materialities and textures. Softness isn’t commonly thought of as an aesthetic, although this angle can help us rethink the contemporary and give a new vision of design. Adopting an auto-ethnographic approach sustained by a theoretical framework from philosophy and literature, this thesis questions the position of soft aesthetics and its impact in the contemporary design field. Working on this aesthetic with hard materials means taking a step aside from classic design and raising curiosity while pushing towards originality. This exploration emphasizes the recurrent invisibility of soft aesthetics. Through the research, I unravel the power and the impact of these aesthetics via sculptural and conceptual design. Leaving on the side the softness unpracticality to the benefit only of its look, the object can be apprehended in new contexts and different ways. Using the uncanniness of soft aesthetics as a tool, I share my vision of a new contemporaneity. The artifacts become conveyors of thoughts, statements, and feelings. This approach to design opens up the possibilities of the object’s use thanks to its shapelessness. To conclude, articulating design and softness enables us to reconsider contemporary design with a fresh vision. The generous shapes of the artifacts leave functionality on the side to exhort interaction, exchange, and conversation. The disruptive looks are an invitation to slow down and rethink our surroundings. The object isn’t a passive gizmo anymore but a catalyzer of thoughts and a tool to rethink society.Description
Supervisor
Lohmann, JuliaThesis advisor
Puintila, SimoKeywords
softness, conceptual design, art, contemporary, sculpture, aesthetics, daydream, slack