Starting by Sharing Questions
The thoughts of one person spreading and affecting others, bringing them together to sit and talk – the Takikawa Conference initiated by Takenobu Igarashi was a natural and voluntary meeting, like the one in Aspen. Tarokichi-Gura was an ideal venue for such an event. The dialogue between nine panelists did not result in a final statement, but sowed seed for further discussions in each of us. It got the stone rolling, and most important of all, it triggered many questions, allowing us to share valuable ideas. From this point of view, I believe that we were able to achieve meaningful results.
Design, based on the modern idea of individual self-fulfillment, has gone hand in hand with the economy, shaping and taking control of the world without our notice. What is the role and responsibility of design when 90% of the world’s population live in poverty? Design was an idea originally conceived to balance the world. How do we nurture and share the brilliant wisdom of design with each and every one of us trying to survive in this hostile world? These are our future themes to work on. Through our discussion, I became keenly aware of the role of design in social education in a broad sense.
On the other hand, design is an act of contributing to culture, and the essence of culture is in its locality. The concept of globalism, where economically superior countries spread out their activities into the whole world, is not compatible with culture, which is essentially local. However, when economy declines, cultural activity also loses its drive. Japan, Tokyo and Takikawa are all local places and face the same problems. Independence and pride are important factors in raising culture. How do we deal with the overwhelming economy and support cultural development? The answer to this question cannot be found easily, but I believe that by facing and sharing the problem we have made a start.
