Abstract - The Human object

The Human object design research project is an attempt to unfold and understand what it means to be a designer in our time. The world is changing fast and consequently design also needs to change fast. 

There is a danger of being paralysed by “eco-depression” when really acknowledging the immense planetary challenges we are experiencing and how little time we have left to change things around. In this project, I seek a balance between being critical towards the status quo and suggesting alternatives that build on the things that are good today — good in this context meaning things that are part of a sustainable ecosystem including choice of material, resources, production, use, reuse, and so on. I want The Human object design project to become an example of what role design can play, and to demonstrate that designers must be brave enough to take part in change, and cannot keep designing as usual while turning their backs on the world situation and pretend everything is alright.

The project relates to the planetary climate change crisis caused by the human made systems and things by exploring human relationships in the designed world. It questions how we live, and how we interact with  our surroundings (in patterns and routines we often take for granted), and it suggests alternatives. This I will do  through the design of three-dimensional objects that move mind and body, and are experienced through more than just sense — they are experienced through the senses. My ability as a designer to materialize the not-yet-existing will make possible alternative realities more imaginable and tangible.