Design With A Soul And Take Pride

There are many definitions available in various publications books and cyber media. I personally would like to define designing as something you do that comes from within your feelings. It is an expression that can only be expressed with a pencil and a paper to describe the feeling. This expression is done repeatedly over and over again with much variation before the final product is germinated. Until and unless that soul is satisfied, then the expression process stops.

Having plunged myself into the designing industry, I make every attempt for the last eight years to visit exhibitions related to the designing industry such as Malaysian International Furniture Fair, Archidex and Home Dec with the hope that I will be able to learn from the more experienced institutions and companies from the industry. Unfortunately I failed in being able to tap these experiences. Let me be clear what I am looking for is the secret of designing and not the marketability simply because marketability is relative to creating what the market wants which we really do not know.

 

I do not believe we are lacking in designers with capabilities but there is a hollow relationship between designers and the industry. We have many institutions that produce budding graduates in the field of designing but where have they gone. There is a need to transform our designing industry from a labour intensive trade to design excellence and high quality if we intend to be labelled as a developed nation. This does not mean we forget about what we have been doing over the years that have contributed to our economy. What we need to do is to run these programs in parallel. This is to ensure that we have more than one arena to play instead of being dependent on one. We have to remember there will always be developing nations with no shortage of labour and low cost producers which will catch up and be at par with us or better. We are already experiencing it.

My personal experience in visiting architectural, interior design or furniture fairs outside Malaysia is something for us to learn. It is amazing how these designers that design with a soul play prominent roles in these exhibitions and are able to sell their single or limited edition products at a premium price. These designers are placed in prominent parts of the exhibition and generally become a focal point for visitors at the exhibition. Within the exhibition, the organizers provide buyers with forwarding and shipping agents so that the process of exporting becomes simple. It is my hope that exhibition organizers, when they visit successful exhibitions outside Malaysia, pick up these salient ideas of how to make the country benefit from these shows and at the same time they benefit from their business perspective. It is no point having too many of these exhibitions that almost overlap each other in terms of what is being exhibited but lack in spirit. We must also move away from selling in a container of the same item but to allow for more than one product in a container.  

My take is that designers, industry player,  government and associations of this industry should play a well-coordinated role to ensure that assistance is being given to the right parties so that we are able to see the value for money of products being generated.  I have heard the cries by the government saying that the Malaysian government gives some of the best incentives to the industry so that we are able to compete in the world market. Unfortunately I am not able to see where have these incentives gone because we are still grouping in the dark trying to migrate from an OEM to an ODM player. Do not get me wrong, it is important that we continue to upgrade our OEM market through technology and reduce our labour intensive processes by developing a new breed of human resource that is both handy and technical savvy.

 

 

TYPICAL EXAMPLE OF DESIGN AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES

 



Initial inspiration - Cattleya Orchid



Initial concept - daybed.

Adaptation to Cattleya as the back rest.

Cut list proposal.

Detailing of back rest.

Final design from daybed to love seat.

Original back rest design in 3D rendering.

Final design of the Cattleya love seat.

It is not going to be an easy journey but unless we are prepared to make a start and remove the “self-centred” attitude and work together, we may not achieve this desire. Once we are able to address these issues, I am convinced that we will be able to produce products that are designed with a soul and establish ourselves at par if not better in the world market. This will come with a pride for the nation and something that we can take and be proud of.