Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The Future of Design (ers)

I was combing through the Energy Bulletin's newly redesigned Drupal site and I came across a link to a really interesting New York Times blog about fashion and design post peak-oil (the new york times mentioned peak oil! Imagine that!)

Anyways the blog is Called the moment, and its not specifically about design post-peak but this blog entry was done by a European correspondent.

The post itself is kind of short and talks about 3 designs from the past that seem interesting or useful...but the concept caught my attention, its always amazing how many facets there are to the peaking of energy supplies, but also to the myriad ways that humanity has responded to low-energy conditions in the past and what hints and clues that will give us to any future response.

If perhaps art and design seem to have lost their primacy due to the multitudes of diversions in the modern world, I expect the hand-made to take a much larger role in our lives even in the next 3-5 years. Already the DIY (Do-it Yourself) culture is in the middle of a bloom and gasoline is only 4 dollars a gallon.

Imagine the beautiful things 10-dollar-a-gallon gasoline will necessitate. But not just beautiful, because at the moment I feel we are surrounded by so much visual clutter that beauty has a difficult time breaking through. Of course much of that has to do with the spaces that we cultivate in our own lives, giving ourselves time and space to appreciate whats truly amazing...

The peak oil movement needs to continue to incorporate artists, designers, writers...these people will realize a primacy in our culture that has been missing for at 50 years.

1 comment:

Sal Costello said...

That is what I was thinking.