Nature has its benefits – one of which is design exclusivity!
BY DR MICHELINA ANDREUCCI
Design is the nerve centre of Zimbabwe’s cultural, philosophical and spiritual magnitude. The circle, square and chevrons in our material culture and design are more than just shapes; they are design entities that cut across material, physical and spiritual cultures.
When seen in isolation, they are just geometric shapes. However, in our conceptualisation of design principles they are linked to organic shapes found in nature and most importantly, to the philosophy of being African. In Zimbabwe, everyone’s human relationship (to each other) is interlinked and perceived as a circle; hence, the all-embracing concept of the “Dare”/Dariro – translated in English as The Round Table or circle of democracy.
As many developing countries struggle to compete in the traditional Western manufacturing markets, design in Zimbabwe and other African cultures have a competitive edge since there exists in our cultural material a huge body of untapped indigenous cultural knowledge that can be useful for the purposes of ergonomic and culturally relevant industrial design prototype products.
Worldwide, design is part of the creative and cultural industries which shape the creative economy of nations.
These encompass art and crafts, performing arts, architecture, advertising, fashion, film, music and publishing industries. The sector plays a crucial role in fostering innovation and the storage and transmission of cultural heritage, which today can also include Software design, games and video games, toys, radio and TV, as well as research and development.
Design philosophers, artists and designers in Italy initially brought about many “revolutions” (industrial and otherwise), that were grounded in their culture and conceived in their language. From Leonardo da Vinci’s flying machine, army tank, parachute and Vitruvius Man which defines the human body inscribed in the fundamental geometric patterns of the cosmic order – the circle and the square to the modern industrial design industry of Italy.
Similarly, some modes of basket fabrication in Zimbabwe show an acute understanding of geometry, fractal mathematics, ergonomic design systems, functional and botanical knowledge of the BaTonga, Ndebele and Shona indigenous crafts people of Zimbabwe. Most of the baskets were woven specifically in an anti-clockwise direction, which deconstructed patternation and allowed for various new
permutations of pattern and design to be created, based on the specific use of the basket.
Such technological feats have survived for decades in oral form amongst the older generations and were transmitted by apprenticeship practice, thus giving the basket maker both cultural wisdom and technical skills.
It is apt to say that traditional industrial design was stored in human patents specific to the Zimbabwean clan group.
Today human creativity is seen as “the industries of the 21 st Century” which increasingly depend on the generation of knowledge via innovation and creativity.
Among the later-day famous Italian contributors to the history of Italy’s cultural and creative richness was Luciano Pavarotti, whose singing in his mother tongue was buoyed in the operatic heritage of his culture.
Similarly Andrea Bochelli’s famous baritone resonates internationally and has its substance in its Italian character. The richness of a culture and its various languages can be employed to augment other areas of development such as history, technology, industrial design, computation, etc.
Hence in the Zimbabwean context, design should be aligned with our knowledge economy, cultural proficiencies and questions of intellectual property ownership rights of today.
The traditional crafts of Zimbabwe reveal a notable continuity in the material culture and ontological beliefs of the people and are therefore of significant ethnographic and pedagogical importance.
Many examples of Zimbabwean craft are to be found in international ethnographic collections; but are we aware of the aesthetic and functional potential and how its guiding philosophies can be used in modern day industrial design?
Unlike the West, the language of design in Zimbabwe is not divorced from the culture and the people.
Most industrially progressive nations have had to look introspectively into their own cultures to produce ergonomic design and new inventions and technologies, based on their conceptualization and indigenous world view of life.
In comparison, Zimbabwe’s creative genius and indigenous philosophies were disrupted by Colonial incursions, not only on the land, but in the minds and belief systems of the people. As a result there is need to recoup and resuscitate indigenous languages, knowledge and thought processes in order to facilitate creative thought, education and progress.
A good example can be seen in the contemporary Zimbabwean sculptors who were able to freeze indigenous beliefs, religion, postures, mannerisms, ornament, trappings, symbolism and visual cultural philosophies in stone; a trait which no doubt, had its roots in the heraldry preserved in the Zimbabwean Bird and architecture of Great Zimbabwe.
Whilst Colonial education whose remnants we have inherited and cling on to in our later-day education systems in post-Colonial South-Central Africa, may have some merit as a theoretic education system; the functional aspects and design matrixes will lie in our adoption of indigenous language and thought processes in order for us to articulate, cultivate and create new thoughts, concepts, and ideas that are functional in our societies.
There is need for a practical component to design education located in the specific regions of the craft practice.
There is no reason why this craft cannot be absorbed into the school curricular of the particular area’s school. Zim-assets’ industrial and commercial zoning should filter down to include education and research and documentation in design.
Language is a vector of design. It carries with it more than simply syllables, but embraces complex indigenous concepts of geometry, mathematics, religion, social psychology, culture and beliefs.
Through language and the identity-cultural matrix, Zimbabwe can place design in its pedagogical, socio- economic and cultural context which in the greater world would be a uniquely Zimbabwean concept, product and industry. Additionally young students would be more inclined and attuned to using their natural creativity unfettered, unimpeded by Western language and its conceptual limitations and philosophies.
For example, an English tea cup, which was originally stolen from China, (hence its name – ‘fine china’), is not designed to be shared by another. The Zimbabwean “Mikombe” on the other hand, are designed to share communally; even the handle is long enough to scoop, and long enough to pass around without spilling.
Recognising these early, historic creative innovations derived from organic sources will give Zimbabwean educational philosophies a framework from which to extract and inculcate notions of cultural design modernity.
As a design consultant, I am particularly impressed by the concept of “nhava” – the hunter’s bag, as a receptacle of good tidings being used by a telecommunication company to represent their mobile phone service. Having its name and trademark grounded in our culture and language endows it with an indigenous connectivity and illustrates its multi-purpose functions.
Zimbabwean artefacts and cultural industrial designs had three main characteristics: innovation, cultural knowledge and inclusivity without sacrificing exclusivity, but at the same time they were open to the adaptation of change when required.
Original Zimbabwean domestic utensils such as Mugwako, mugwati, musiki, (Chipunu, zipunu, kapunu), all indicate the sizes and shapes of specific spoons and their uses. The pronoun tells you how hierarchy, size, and scale are incorporated in the language of creative manufacture. Each implement is governed by age, sex and inter-personal exchange, even the carrying and presentation of a pot or basket had a certain protocol attached to it, depending whether one was the mother, muro’ra, grandchild or muzukuru.
These design specifications and manifestations captured in our material culture and way of life can inform our later-day industrial design prospective.
The colonial system of divide and rule -spilled over into design, dance, music and other cultural
manifestations. Zimbabweans now need to re-conceptualise, re-think, re-create, and reinvent, in their mother tongue in order to re-discover ourselves. Our design heritage, language and needs should be the first port of call before we disperse knowledge to our children. It is in Zimbabwean cultural industrial design that we understand and appreciate the interconnectivity of a product, the environment and its people.
This is why it is important to conceive and articulate an educational curriculum which addresses a Zimbabwean understanding.
Design is essential in reviving industry, creating self-sufficient young scholars, thinkers, designers, trade and marketing personnel by tapping into our inherent, innate design intelligence.
To instill in our students’ indigenous sensibilities, design must go beyond Western practicability’s and must demonstrate a connection with the cultural languages of the people. There is no sense in concocting, compiling and introducing a Western-derived design syllabi that has little or no relevance and practicality in Africa and more so in Zimbabwe.
The danger is that culture will be a) subsumed and b) if heritage is not preserved, we stand to lose the original template of our cultural (dances, music, design, art, etc)
Industrial design is an important part of the new industrialisation of Africa. However, we will miss the point if we do not acknowledge and use our indigenous psychological, material and cultural dictates and orientations to produce new products. The introduction of industrial design education into the Zimbabwean curriculum will provide a platform for an active economic interventionist strategy that would resolve the industrial lethargy and unemployment crisis that we currently face in Zimbabwean industry.
To Conclude I wish to put forward a progressive thought that would contribute to developing design education in the country; a Zimbabwe School of Design must be included in all the universities of each of the provinces, with the resource people from the various areas instructing. Design is a medium for message and memory with content and relevance for the communities in which the designer belongs, it has no borders; and grows through cross-fertilisation. However it must be grounded on an indigenous African foundation to be relevant.
Dr.Michelina Rudo Andreucci is a Zimbabwean-Italian Researcher and a published author in her field. For Comments E-mail linamanucci@gmail.com
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