[Reader-list] Jhoola Post No.3 - Jhoola as an artefact

[Avinash Kumar]

SARAI POST 3

 

STUDYING THE JHOOLA AS AN ARTEFACT

 

Each artifact operates at several levels, and the Jhoola is no different. In its everyday runabout through neighborhoods, it makes connections with people, ideas and objects, and it is these connections that give the Jhoola its existential purpose (so to speak).

 

Some of these connections can be elaborated based on a remarkable text by Charlotte & Peter Fiell in their book �1000 Chairs�. These are�

1)             Physical & Psychological (with the individual through form and material)

2)             Intellectual / Emotional / Aesthetic / Cultural / Spiritual (with the inner collective senses of meaning and value)

3)             Contextual Connections (with the environment through visual / functional cues)

4)             Structural Connections (within itself through joineries & structure)

5)             Societal Connections (with society & its best interests)

 

This framework of �Connections� seems an appropriate canvas onto which the story of the Jhoola as an artifact can be painted. 

 

One of the critical issues that does come about while thinking about designing Jhoolas is that of the footprint of the designer. There are conflicting forces at play � one on hand we appreciate the Jhoola and its maker for its honesty, novelty and quaintness; while simultaneously �correcting� it from the point of view of modern (if myopic) views on quality and design. 

 

Wouldn�t Good Design cease to be �Good�, if it erased the marks of the maker? Perhaps it is a question of taking a stand, or of ethics, or maybe of striking a sensitive balance�

 

It seems like the natural recourse in a situation like this today is simply to �upmarket� the product and service... so we go from the roadside chaiwala to chai-bars, and from buttawala to Uncle�s Butter Corn. Is it all good? Not really. But it is inevitable in a crowded market with much money to be made.  Is there an alternative? That�s what we are trying do.

 

For me, that is the greater design issue here at play � the place of the designed object in the original context. It is a natural, but big leap to then start thinking about redesigning (or atleast relooking) the design context itself. As if to say that if a new Jhoola were to be introduced into the old system, then the Jhoolewala, the children, the parents and the city must change too. Is it unrealistic to adopt this systems view of the design process? Perhaps not, especially given the exciting possibility to design a newer way of play, of leisure, or of livelihood. So not only are we designing the product / artifact, we are also going to design the processes then. More simply, we will think about designing the verbs (playing, pushing, paying, etc.) in addition to the nouns (jhoola, garment, money etc.).

 

Avinash Kumar


		
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