Upstream / Downstream

Abstract

In my article for Cuaderno 48, “Veils and Velocities,” I explored relationships
between decorum and identity, their relation to the human predicament of “standing out”
and “fitting in,” and the capacity for ornament to convey stories across time and fuel the
imagination. Plentiful or spare, ornament equips the mind to interpret narratives, cultural
and personal, and close readings of our constructed environments help tune new works
to contemporary and future concerns. For the current issue, I sharpen focus on a subplot
introduced in “Veils and Velocities,” where I note: “while sustainable improvements often
focus on downstream byproducts of production, close readings can be performed upstream
in the manufacturing sequence, enhancing the wellbeing of fabricators and the poetics of
a product” (Kirkbride, 2013, p. 185). This paper considers several scales and modes of
upstreaming, from the tectonics of a watershed and site management, to the awareness of
history and one’s own position in it, and the reconceptualization of a product by the flows
of its supply chain and lifecycle. I’ll retrace the origins of this notion –a walk upstream
through a troubled watershed during a torrential rainstorm– and follow its influences on
several object lessons and project-based exercises at Parsons The New School for Design.