One, two, many: making and materials

Kyoto Design Lab, Platform for design innovation at the Kyoto Institute of Technology. Design prototyping and experimentation workshop. When all decisions from idea to fabrication were taken by craftspeople, their knowledge of customers, materials and making directly influenced the results. What to make and how to make it were all part of the process. In an industrial age of mass production, low-cost products have improved the quality of life for many but have resulted in the growth of dramatic distances between designers, users and how things are made. Many designers have an unprecedented knowledge of digital tools but are unfamiliar with materials orlac k making or craft skills. It is now a matter of urgency for professionals to reconnect with the knowledge and experience of making ‟ONE,TWO, MANY” is about the role of making in the design process and, in particular, the importance of craft to manufacturing. The participants, a mix of students and professional non-students, were directed to experience thinking through making. Learn and practice methods of idea generation and critically selecting creative ideas. THe experience was set as both a personal and collaborative design process. The brief was to design new ideas and consider appropriate fabrication methods. To realise concepts that are integrally connected to who they are for and how they are made.