Poetic·design: Revealing the tacit aesthetic frameworks in a furniture design practice

This research is an examination into the aesthetic values of a furniture design practice. In particular, I look at how my Chinese inheritance, my cultural and personal memory, and my assimilated tacit aesthetic values, find agency and expression through practice. I arrived at this research by being immersed in the actual processes of creative design making. Through hands-on experience and application, I found the expressions and feelings I wanted to communicate. This manifested through a series of practices which included: lighting, material explorations, handcrafting, and my personal stories via varied methods and processes of design. Moreover, I gave myself space and time, critically, for self reflection. This manner of thinking about design is derived from my personal background — I am driven by my personal journey towards becoming a more authentic version of myself as a furniture designer. I chose to do this through real discernment and detailed understanding of the aesthetics of material. Through the design of interior objects, materials that possess aesthetic agency provide me with the ability to transcribe a particular value in my work — I call this ‘the poetic’. The poetic design in my research has two aspects: 1) the respect of nature and self in everyday aesthetics and 2) design rooted in a Xiuxing, or spiritually informed and embodied making practice. It is about furniture design. It is about the home. It is about relating emotionally with the materials. It is about telling a story. It is about a journey. The character of design has been transformed into a method that assists me in building the conversation. I hope the journey that I have experienced, filtered through the lens of a poetic design method, can inspire or resonate with other designers or crafters who have similar cultural affiliations. Coming from a maker's perspective, I see the integration of utilitarianism and aesthetics, representing the ecology of self and the ecology of a maker. Moreover, I aim to break the geometric brick of utilitarian design works, breaking formalities in the process. I actively seek asperity, irregularity, and imperfections within art, craft, and design, inspired in part by Wabi Sabi, the ancient Japanese tradition of slow life. In my research, I use a series of methods to explore a way of challenging perfection, machine manufacturing, and, ultimately, enjoying the moments of engagement with the materials. Through these tactics, the objective is to build an emotional connection between self and nature and use this design practice to come closer to myself. I experience the physical pleasures in sound, feeling, and movement, and enjoy seeing the irregularities of natural forms that correspond with the human body. The living form takes on its own breath, gaining freedom from the material substances. Keywords: Poetic Design, Aesthetics, Material Practice, Furniture Design, Oriental Design, Xiuxing