Diálogos acerca de la permanencia y de la transformación de los objetos diseñados

Abstract

Based on the understanding that design is intentional action which is responding to a problem or need within specific human or cultural contexts, this article analyzes some of the factors in intervening in the permanence and transformation of objects that result from the action of designing. This encompasses their different spheres of functionality, as well as their ability to influence, define, and modify people — thus provoking a variety of actions and social processes. This web of interactions then presents us with a double path of transformation that affects objects and their users alike, through their various modalities of production, use, consumption, appropriation and re-signification. We approach this reflection through dialogue with and among the authors Zimmerman, Williams, Papanek, Baudrillard, Giménez and Acha. From design, creativity and tradition — understood respectively as the generation of new orders and meanings on the basis of existing elements in a systems model (Csikszentmihalyi), as well as the perfecting of the production of those objects (Gombrich) — will be considered as factors inherent to the processes of creation, and will be illustrated by means of collaborative experiences of designers working with traditional artisan communities in Mexico. Finally, for an analysis of the link between the human sphere and the sphere of objects, we consider both the anthropological view (Martín) and the recognition of the human body as a cognitive entity that generates consciousness (Pallasmaa).