Design & Theory: + 22.05.2014

SLOW DESIGN

What is Slow Design?

Wikipedia:

Slow design is a branch of the Slow Movement, which began with the concept of Slow Food, a term coined in contrast to fast food. As with every branch of the Slow Movement, the overarching goal of Slow Design is to promote well being for individuals, society, and the natural environment. Slow Design seeks a holistic approach to designing that takes into consideration a wide range of material and social factors as well as the short and long term impacts of the design.

Slow Design refers to the goals and approach of the designer, rather than the object of the design. In this way a Slow Design approach can be used within any design field. The term was probably first coined by Alistair Fuad-Luke in his 2002 paper "Slow Design - a paradigm for living sustainably?", in which Slow Design is seen as the next step in the developement of sustainable design, balancing individual, sociocultural, and environmental needs.

While Fuad-Luke focused on the design of physical products, the concept can be applied to the design of non-material things such as experiences, processes, services, and organizations. In fact, Slow Design may be seen as a path toward the dematerialization required for long-term sustainability as it takes into account the non-material nature of human well being and happiness.

Summary by Beth Meredith and Eric Storm:

"Slow Design is a democratic and holistic design approach from creating appropriately tailored solutions for the long-term well being of people and the planet. To this end, Slow Design seeks out positive synergies between the elements in a system, celebrates diversity and regionalism, and cultivates meaningful relationships that add richness to life."

Common qualities of Slow Design:

Holistic - taking into account as many relevant short and long term factors as possible.
Sustainable - considering the cradle-to-cradle impacts and reducing harm as much as possible including the precautionary principle.
Elegant - finding the simplest and most concise solutions that provide the desired results.
Tailored - creating specific solutions that fir a particular situation.
Democratic - keeping the process and results accessible to those using and impacted by the design and to non-professionals.
Adaptable - developing solutions that will continue to work over time or that can be modified as needed.
Durable - making sure solutions can be maintained over the time while minimizing the need for repairs and replacement.
Non-toxic - eliminating substances and processes that pollute or are toxic.
Efficient - minimizing waste of time, labor, energy, and physical resources.
Distinctive - promoting cultural, social, and environmental uniqueness and diversity.

Slow design is still a relatively new concept of design thinking, and its implications are yet to be fully developed and defined. It could encolce in the following ways:

Longer design processes with more time for research, contemplation, real life impact tests, and fine tuning.
Design for manufacturing with local or regional materials and technologies or design that supports local industries, workshops, and craftspeople.
Design that takes into account local or regional culture both as a source of inspiration and as an important consideration for the design outcome.
Design that studies the concept of natural time cycles and incorporates them into design and manufacturing processes.
Design that looks at longer cycles of human behaviour and sustainability.
Design that takes into account deeper well being and the findings of positive psychology.

Slow Movement

The Sow Movement advocates a cultural shift toward slowing down life's pace. It began with Carlo Petrini's protest against the opening of a McDonal's restaurant in Piazza di Spanga, Rome in 1986 that sparked the creation of the Slow Food organization. Over time, this developed into a subculture in other areas, such as Cittaslow (Slow Cities), Slow living, Slow Travel, and Slow Design.

Geir Berthelsen and his creation of The World institute of Slowness presented a vision in 1999 for an entire "Slow Planet" and a need to teach the world the way to Slow. Carl Honoré's 2004 book, "In Praise of Slowness", first explored how the Slow philosophy might be applied in every field of human endeavour and coined the phrase "Slow Movement". The Financial Times said that the book is "to the Slow Movement what Das Kapital is to communism". Honoré describes the Slow Movement thus:

" It is a cultural revolution against the notion that faster is always better. The Slow philosophy is not about doing everything at a snail's pace. It's about seeking to do everything at the right speed. Savoring the hours and minutes rather than just counting them. Doing everything as well as possible, instead of as fast as possible. It's about quality over quantity in everything from work to food to parenting."

Professor Guttorm Fløistad summarizes the philosophy, stating:

"The only thing for certain is that everything changes. The rate of change increases. if you want to hang on you better speed up. That is the message of today. It could however be useful to remind everyone that our basic needs never change. The need to be seen and appreciated! It is the need to belong. The need for nearness and care, and for a little love! This is given only through slowness in human relations. In order to master changes, we have to recover slowness, reflection and togetherness. There we will find real renewal."

The Slow Movement is not organized and controlled by a single organization. A fundamental characteristics of the Slow Movement is that it is propounded, and its momentum maintained, by individuals who constitute the expanding global community of Slow. Its popularity has grown considerably since the rise of Slow Food and Cittaslow in Europe, with Slow initiatives spreading as far as Australia and Japan.

Some branches of Slow Movement:

Cittaslow - movement against homogenization and globalization in cities
Slow ageing - positive, successful aging; non-medical intervention for potential natural life extension.
Slow counceling - understands that many clients are seeking ways to reduce stress and cultivate a more balanced approach to life.
Slow education - reaction to the overly compacted course content requirements, which many educators find students cannot cover in a single year with sufficient depth; qualitative measures showing the success of student and teacher.
Slow fashion - alternative to mass-produced clothing; a unified representation of all the "sustainable", "eco", "green", and "ethical" fashion movements.
Slow food - seeks to encourage the enjoyment of regional produce, traditional foods, which are often grown organically and to enjoy these foods in the company of others.
Slow goods - focuses on low production runs, usage of craftspeople within the process and on-shore manufacturing; proponents of this philosophy seek and collaborate with smaller, local supply and service partners.
Slow photography - artists and photographers retake manual techniques and working methods to work slower, manually and in constant dialogue with the physical materials of the images.
Slow Travel - suggests that travellers should engage more fully with communities along their route and favouring visits to spots enjoyed by local residents rather than merely following guidebooks. Its advocates and devotees generally look for low-impact travel styles.
More concepts: Slow art, Slow church, Slow gardening, Slow parenting, Slow science, Slow media, Slow money, Slow technology

Slow Design examples from Estonia

I believe Estonia is a very good country for Slow Design, Slow Fashion and also Slow Goods. The country is so small it's close to impossible to compete with mainstream products in big markets - they will be cheaper or have better quality. So the way to get to people is to become more personal, satisfying the need to be original and distinctive. Limited editions, originality, individual projects - the country has to commit more on design and quality than aim for quantity.

Here are a few examples that popped into my mind right away, but there are tens and maybe even hundreds more, many popping from the moss like mushrooms after light rain at current moment.

Stella Soomlais leather bags