David Pye
muses on the abilities of designers in creating. Written in 1964, Pye discusses
that limitations in design com from our inability, finances, and not of
technique. We have grown since our cavemen days of finding pieces of wood that
are the size and shape we need, we have techniques to process, waste, form, and
connect a piece together almost anything. We have shortcoming in our abilities,
its hard for us to handle extremely small or massively large materials, but we
have come a long way in our creation of synthetic materials. Our ability to
create flat surfaces and attach them together is underappreciated; our
construction techniques allow us to connect with the world around us.
Pye switches
gears and discusses art, he states that what we find beautiful in nature
connects us to it, art connects us with the artist whether or not they are
living, and that art connects generations to future generations. Design is a
force in which to improve human happiness, by physical comfort, aesthetic
beauty, or otherwise. The beauty in design, according to Pye, is essentially
art. He goes into a more philosophical rumination over human purpose and
ability, in regards to art he states that it is a birthright and generations
need to cultivate art for their children. For example, the wars throughout
history have been emotionally documented by artists and give us a piece,
feeling and sharing of emotion that conveys the tragedies for generations. Pye
gives us wisdom, “… so long as there is hope there will be art…”, and a feeling
of importance for what we create in art and design.
I
think this reading had two main ideas. The first part revolved around wood
working and creating by hand, the second a more philosophical essay on the
importance of art in society for its ability to connect generations and pass a
story infinitely through time. I really enjoyed his ideas on art and design,
and will be able to justify the importance of design in a new way.
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