Abstract
One way to map the area of design-related research is to adopt Christopher Frayling’s distinction between “research into design,” “research through design,” and “research for design.” My paper presents the work of Israeli industrial designer Yaacov Kaufman as a form of research through design, which produces a valuable and extensive body of knowledge. Kaufman is one of Israel’s most prominent industrial designers and a skilled craftsman. He systematically deconstructs the definitions of everyday objects, creating “research groups” composed of hundreds of prototypes that offer different interpretations of the same object. As I argue, Kaufman’s methodology gives rise to a dialogue between the designer’s preliminary knowledge and the users’ perceptions of the objects. By adding new signs to the conventional inventory of signs associated with an object, he enlarges the scope of its definition. Design scholarship, however, seldom defines such processes as “research through design.” The lecture will demonstrate how the rich body of works created by Kaufman contributes to definitions of both design and research, and attend to two types of research through design: the first type, which is more frequently addressed in the literature, is performed by designers who are themselves scholars, and who consciously combine their skills as designers with their research skills. The second type, which includes Kaufman’s work, is intuitive and associative, and is based on an exploration of matter and form, in the absence of professional, academic research skills.
Presenters
Adi Hamer YacobiPhD Candidate, Department of the Arts, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Research through design, Product Design, Semiotics, Typology, Design practice, Craft
