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Symposia #6 Reflection
1. Find an object at home that is aesthetically pleasing but turned out not to be very functional. Discuss why it didn't work properly and how this relates to the designer understanding material and craft.

The purchase/item I will focus on was bought here in Kobehavn during Fashion Weeks beautiful sales. While I am well aware that my Aldo wedges are not Danish designed they are the only disappointment I've had thus far. Nothing let's you down like a beautiful pair of shoes that creates monstrous blisters every-time you wear them. I prefer comfort to aesthetic pleasure like a Dane function to form. I don't buy that pain is beauty crap.However I could not pass up the wicked 200 kr sale on my beautiful Aldo Prez leather pair.

Aldo is a mainstream international shoe company that focuses mainly and woman's and men's dress shoes. They are well known and quite successful. I think it is safe to assume that my made in Taiwan shoes were not crafted by the original designer and that the un-comfort-ability of this shoe is an exact result of the major disconnection between crafter and shoe designer. This disconnect is quite common in today's design production market. While the person who designed my shoe probably has studied fashion, he or she probably hasn't had to psychically craft shoes. While a books and classes are able to educate to a certain degree they certainly do not gift the same education that a traditional cobbler apprenticeship may have once offered. Today's modern shoe designer probably knows as much about materiality as and eight year old knows paint after a paint by number kit is completed. Because students aren't educated with practical hands on lessons we miss a very important understanding of the materials we work with. As a result of such mishap I ended up with 6,000 blisters on my little feet post my first Festivahn party. Too much dancing in poorly designed shoes is a catastrophe that perhaps could be avoided by opting to groove barefoot or buying hand crafted heels. I now chose to cut the rug all natural.

2. Looking towards the future: Do you believe there are no recent designs (all old from at least 70's) or do you think there are new eco-friendly and innovative Danish designs that help the world? Give examples


Designers today are faced with the challenge of re-thinking the way we make things. While the need to invent new technology may not being strong main stream design is taking a turn to adapting new material choices. While in the past the quickest and easiest material construction methods were chosen designers must now think of the future of their products. Rather then creating cradle to grave we must now design cradle to cradle. While designers and manufacturers adapt this school of thought we can expect to see huge changes in materialization of products rather then brand new inventions. This will challenge designers to understand the materials of choice much better and also understand the consequences of using such materials. Perhaps eco-heels of the future will also benefit Festivahn dancing queens.