What is ‘design’ exactly? Or more to the point, what is good design?
Certainly it has to be useful, to fulfil a purpose. Perhaps good design could be described as a process that turns an everyday item into a thing of beauty, something that is ‘just right’, something to take pleasure in, to treasure?
Paola Antonelli, Director of R&D at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and recently rated as one of the one hundred most powerful people in the world of art, differentiates design from style: “People think that design is styling. Design is not style. It’s not about giving shape to the shell and not giving a damn about the guts. Good design is a renaissance attitude that combines technology, cognitive science, human need, and beauty to produce something that the world didn’t know it was missing.”
& Of Other Things caught up with The Lab, Fashion 4 Freedom, Nguyễn Thị Thùy Linh, and group8asia – amongst the most interesting designers working in Vietnam at the moment – to get their take on this question and to find out about the process involved. All four designers are showcasing work at upcoming event Hanoi Design.Now and each represent one of the categories displayed there: Interior Design, Product Design, Interior Design and Architecture
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Hanoi Design.Now will open at Work Room Four (Packexim Building, Tower 1, 24th Floor, An Duong Vuong, Tay ho) on 22 March 2015 3 – 6 pm and stay open to the public until 9 April. Opening hours are 10 am – 5 pm daily (Thursday until 9 pm). Design works from creatives based in Vietnam will be showcased in four categories: Product Design, Graphic Design, Interior Design and Architecture.
Images courtsey of Workroom Four & Designers
