“What’s he doing?”
May 17, 2007 - David Hedden
ìOkay, I need a corkscrew, some fishing line, a billiard ball, and two dryer sheets. Iíve done more with less.î That is roughly what you might hear if you were watching an episode of the hit 1980ís American adventure television series, MacGyver. But wait, has MacGyver been reincarnated, or has the idea of ìMacGyverismî spawned a new popular culture of design. Bricolage, a term borrowed from the French word bricolage meaning ìto fiddle, tinker,î is the design approach for the unrefined designer in all of us. A bricoleur is a creative and resourceful person who creates things from whatever materials are at hand (without regard for their original purpose).
In line with the latest big trend of eco-friendly/green design, ìMacGyver-style designî has given new life to discarded objects destined for the landfill. Not only does this trend promote sustainability, but it also brings the user personal customization that is often a secondary thought within larger mass-produced designs. Of course the quality of the craftsmanship depends on the skill level of the bricoleur, there is a much higher sense of satisfaction when the user gets what he needs by his own two hands and doesnít have the buyerís remorse of cost hanging over his head.
Less superficial than mainstream design, ìMacGyver-style designî is still a glorified portrayal of what goes on everyday in third-world and disaster ridden countries whose people must create with limited resources to go about daily life. Taking these less fortunate people into consideration can, in turn, create very powerful mainstream designs. Take for example the 1950ís design for stackable beer bottles that was the brainchild of Alfred Heineken, of beer fame. The story as Iíve heard goes; when Heineken was walking along the beach in Jamaica he was appalled at the number of beer bottles littering the beach. At the same time he was considering the lack of cheap building materials and the poor living conditions for the locals. Putting it all together, he conceived a brick-like ìWorld Bottleî with basic interlocking features that would be imported for drinking but kept for construction. By approaching the design process with a larger picture in mind, mass-produced objects can become the building blocks for sustainability and create added value to products by giving them lives that can continue outside of the landfill.
Upcoming event along the same theme: inhabitat.com