The Importance of Object

there is a danger that in all this new thinking we could throw the culturally distinctive baby out with the bathwater as we strive for economic and social progress.

My Great Grandfather was a blacksmith in Penzance, or 'down Penzance' as we’d say around here, and his wife was a bal maiden. Bal is the Cornish word for ‘mine’, and a bal maiden would’ve had a hammer and worked above ground, smashing up the Cassiterite ore, to turn it into small enough bits that they could be pummelled down and kind of smelted into tin.

So they were both concerned with the production of stuff, and in the context of this discussion about ‘dottification’ and social innovation and design as a process of social change, I want to plea to not forget the importance of object.

There are still thousands of old fashioned designers producing things, whether there through collaborative processes or conventional design processes, and whether those things are 2 dimensional graphics or 3 dimensional, 4 dimensional stuff, they all infuse and infect and colour the lives of people in a very profound way and shape their environment.

If we imagine a display case at the Royal Cornwall Museum, with a title over it that’s something to do with design, what would be put in the case? And what would we call the display?

Would it be ‘Cornish Design’ and have things about tin mines in it, would it be a design in Cornwall and maybe have the Eden Project in it, or might it be say 'Designed from Cornwall' and be a Ginster's pasty wrapper? Either way what criteria would we bring to bear, could we bring to bear, on the production of object and artifact, in such a way that it’s culturally rich and culturally interesting?

If you’re familiar with the Objective One investment in Cornwall and the ongoing convergence investment in Cornwall, you'll know there were two criteria for those European investments for Cornwall. One was because we’re all very poor down here, because of the post-industrial thing, less than 60 or 70 percent of the national average income. But the other was that Cornwall managed to convince Europe that it was a region. How did they convince Europe that Cornwall was a region? Because we were culturally distinctive, and there is a danger that in all this new thinking we could throw the culturally distinctive baby out with the bathwater as we strive for economic and social progress.

Phil is an independent branding, design and communication consultant. He works with ambitious and innovative businesses and organisations to help them to grow, and to achieve economic, environmental and social sustainability. He has worked closely with both the private and public sectors on projects focusing on issues to do with health, regeneration, education, technology, marine industries, food and drink, the environment, heritage and tourism. Phil is also an educationalist and mentor in further and higher education and he writes and lectures about design, branding and innovation.