Design begins and ends with its relation to persons: the ethical core of design lies in the relation of reciprocity established in any act of human making. A perception about the frailty, resilience, and dependence upon things of persons is projected into an artifact that can reciprocally answer these needs (as the pain of standing is relieved by constructing a chair). Design - in no matter what form - is nothing more (or less) than the self-conscious elaboration and exploration of this fundamental relationship. The problem with this exploration is that, turned into a quasi-autonomous activity( or worse, into a profession), design forgets its ontological roots. The work of design ethics is to bring back design to these origins - and to think about the consequences of so doing.
— Clive Dilnot on Ethics in Design (via tenthousandthingstodo)
Posted October 27, 2011 at 8:26am in design ethics clive dilnot quote relationship form art furniture
