Thirteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

The paper illustrates a research project carried out by the Department of Design, Politecnico di Milano, in the Design for Cultural Heritage field. The research studies the multicultural and transcultural elements of the Batik practice in the textile field, and it proposes a methodological tool in order to foster an intercultural communication and use. The paper will be divided into three parts. The first looks at the relationship between cultural design and art in the textile field; the second the role of the design discipline as a facilitator of innovation in transcultural processes; the third the methodology of the research project. The method is focused on four steps: the state of the art related to the transcultural routes of the Batik (Netherland, Africa, ect.) and cross-fertilization paths (from craftmenship to industry, from art to design); the collection of case studies where artists and designers esspress and re-interpret the Batik; the creation of a thematic tool: a sort of critical, dynamic and digital archive with which curators, designers, and artists can find data about the batik (in terms of patterns, techniques, ect) and use it in order to trigger new concepts and transcultural contaminations; the creative workshop (that involved artists and designers) where veryfing this tool that was used in order to develop some experimental interpretations of the Batik in different kinds of products.