Culture Based Design -- For Sustainable Economy

The continuing Global Economic meltdown and Japan's nuclear mishap are clearly man made disasters that caused lot of pain and agony to humanity as a whole.

How are we to come out of this crisis? Do we find a new way to survive? How do we stop environmental degradation? How do we build sustainable societies?

These important questions are not new. Even Neil Bohr expressed concerns on such issues back in 1950. Of course people did not care to listen then. They could afford not to listen. However, such questions were vigorously followed up by many activists and serious champions for the past 30 years or so.

Most predicted doom for the earth and humanity. Some thought that nothing might possibly be done unless individual consciousness or the way we think and act change for the better.

Nothing happened. Perhaps there was no need to. Critics were harsh when they sneered by saying that more than 95% of humanity suffers the 'boiled frog' syndrome. Others were frustrated and almost gave up. Still some wanted to find the culprits and punish them. 

But there are new signs of change. Harsh economic reality has rudely shaken us up from our deep slumber. It is like pouring ice cold water on our face on a winter morning.

What are these signs? More visible of these that catch our attention is the dramatic and swift wave of revolt sweeping over Middle East. People can't go hungry for sure.

However, there is another vital sign that is virtually going unnoticed -- sort of happening very quietly away from the glare of the media. And that is Culture Based Design (CBD) as I would like to call it.

In essence it is simple indeed. Look around what is unique in the culture of the land. Build up the economy through products and services based on the uniqueness of such culture. This is indeed a far cry from the standardized offerings being pushed around the globe by fairly large corporations who have no other business but to grow and keep growing richer at the expense of everything (champions of the old Industrial age thinking) only to flatten the earth.

Now this small but vital sign of Culture Based Design (CBD) might be a clue to greater unfolding possibilities to answer those serious unresolved questions humanity has been asking for the past 60 years.

Some examples might be in order:

1. Chinese are deeply studying the culture of India to design products that match the cultural traditions of India and her sensitivity. Recently during Holi (a spring festival in India) they did care to provide the accessories needed for the event -- designed and manufactured in China and sold in India at affordable prices. A win win situation for both countries.

2. Iceland whose economy was virtually wiped off by the Great Recession in a matter of days is hobbling back on its feet through intense design activity. They have tapped into the country's Nordic/Viking cultural heritage for their economic revival. As of now Iceland occupies the number 1 slot as the innovation champion displacing the mighty USA (as per ISEAD)

3. India is yet to leverage this idea as Chinese and Icelanders have done. But a new generation of entrepreneurs, mostly trained in the West, is successfully exploiting traditional culture and techniques coupled with narrative marketing (good old storytelling) in areas like jewelry and ornaments. 

What possibilities might unfold from this new phenomenon?

1. A paradigm shift from globally imported cultural criteria to more local home grown products and services based on traditional culture.

2. A sustainable economy that would look more distributed than unified and based on local needs and aspirations.

3. More job creation. People would have a choice to either work as laborers in dark and damp factories or in more exciting fields touched by the glow of human creativity. Education and knowledge gained through the traditional environment would be enough to create most jobs -- a far cry from Obama's urgent plea of 'go to college again or starve'. 

4. Solve the nagging problems of environmental crisis since such efforts are not energy intensive and have been around for centuries when issues of global warming were nonexistent. 

5. Cultural preservation is also ensured.

Hence Culture Based Design would need more serious attention and development if it were to become a part of the integral solution to sustainable livelihood and economy. New internet based social learning technologies would surely come to great help in this endeavor.This would be closely coupled to the Observation Based Learning (OBL) as proposed in my earlier posts. My guess is that CBD along with OBL would be evident in every sphere of a local economy even worming its way into traditional brick and motar companies barring major infrastructural activities.

A seriously inward looking world is unfolding its still rough and jagged edges poised to draw in lots of creative energy to throw up possibilities that would impact the way we live and think.

We shall live by design -- by the people, of the people and for the people!

I may be totally wrong or am I missing something?

 

Ref:

1. http://davidreport.com/the-report/design-culture-time-cultural-fundamentalism/

Igniting the Spark through Social Media.

We can ignite the necessary spark of an welding electrode in two ways:

a) Scratch and lift -- go along for a short time and let go
b) Touch and lift - just touch for a fraction of a second and let go

We do the same thing while developing people.

For some, we would have to go along with them for sometime and then let go.

For others, one interaction would be enough to create the spark to a fire that keeps burning for life.

However, creating that vital spark is important.

With traditional education we neither 'scratch and lift' nor 'touch and lift'. We go drumming year after year till the person would have had enough of it and is bored to death. That is why after some years we remember only a few teachers and professors who have made an impact in our lives. The majority goes into oblivion.

Undeniably, the traditional approach has its use in the initial years of making of a person. The mistake is that we extend the thought and the process right into the professional period of a person's life. People don't like it. More than 80% of the people I meet want to quit their jobs even in this time of recession. Why? They simply feel that they are no longer learning anything new or exciting in their jobs to keep their vital spirit alive. At the end of the day they go home with a heavy heart and an empty mind. It sucks; killing the spirit to be curious, to be innovative, to discover, to search for mentors, to take responsibility to be awake and learn and fend for life.

However, Learning through Social media is quite different. It can ignite the fire in the belly in both ways - 'scratch' and 'touch'. Since it is more dependent on what we search and want in life. We take what we need and not what is thrust upon us. It gives us time to reflect and create meaning. It creates a democratic, egalitarian and perhaps more prosperous societies.

Therefore, it is important to ignite the spark that keeps the fire burning for life.

So, it does not surprise me a bit as to why fire is so respected and revered amongst all civilizations across the globe.

It occupies a special place in our lives.

That is the energy when harnessed helps us to achieve anything worthwhile and lasting and build better societies. 

Social Media is the right means to achieve the end.

Posted via email from dibyendu's posterous

DESERT STORM

Like most people in Rajasthan, Hiralal Maheswari also holds the “lota” up in the air, tilts his head a little and drinks water without putting the utensil in his mouth. The hot, dry wind flowing across the Thar Desert in the middle of the Indian summer makes Hiralal uncomfortable. But he still carried on. He was instructing the group of middlemen in his business of hand embroidery. These middlemen also known as “Thekedars” are usually responsible for smooth running of the business. Hiralal’s business turnover was a little over 32 crores rupee.

He was seven years old when he came with his father to India from Umarkot (Pakistan). His father, Brijlal Maheswari acted as a “guide” for the Indian Forces in the India - Pakistan war in 1971. They along with other Hindu refugees   crossed the border and settled in Gadra Road. The small hamlet of Gadra Road in Barmer district of Rajasthan is located almost on the Indo-Pak border. It has a population of nearly 1000 and consists mainly of migrant Hindus. Gadra Road is roughly 92 Kms from district headquarters, Barmer.

 After Hiralal’s secondary examination Brijlal egged his eldest son to join the embroidery business he started in 1971. Hiralal joined the business otherwise he had to leave his home for higher studies in either Jodhpur or Jaipur.  Hand embroidery became a livelihood provider for the Hindu migrants who otherwise had nothing worthwhile to do except for the three and half months of agriculture which also depended on scanty rainfall. Traditionally confined to their respective households and communities, embroidered products of remote rural Rajasthan found places in the international market.

This hand embroidery cluster has its genesis in the migration of Hindu refugees to Rajasthan, India during the 1971 India-Pakistan War. The amalgamation of the necessity of refugees to eke a living, of foreigners to take advantage of the exotic and ethnic tradition, and the entrepreneurship of the trading community, gave birth to this sector. Today, with an annual turnover of approximately 130-150 cores rupees, it provides livelihood opportunities to roughly 60,000 women in rural western Rajasthan.

The sector is controlled by around 180-200 manufacturing units concentrated around the Barmer district wherein 70-75 percent of the sector’s production takes place at  Gadra Road, Dhanau, Binjiasar, Chohtan, and Barmer city are some of the prominent clusters around which the sector is organized. Chohtan, another bordering hamlet   is the biggest centre and have 50 percent of the production units concentrated there, followed by Barmer which harbors 23 percent of such units. These manufacturing units are a misnomer in fact, as the entire production of the sector is highly decentralized and takes place in individual households in remote hamlets and villages. In terms of size, micro firms whose annual turnover is less than 10 lakh rupees dominate the production landscape with 53 percent of firms belonging to this category. However they contribute only 8 percent of the volume of the sector. On the other hand 7-10 large firms, which account for only 4 percent of the total firms, capture 51 percent of the market share.

Caste based kinships networks are the most powerful governors of the sub-sector. 70 percent of the manufacturers belong to Maheswari community while 20 percent to the Jain community, both are trading communities according to the traditional caste hierarchy. Thekedars (Agents/ middlemen) are from other communities such as Meghwals, Rajputs, Brahmins, and Baniyas. Woman embroiders especially belonging to a lower caste Meghwals community are the best in this trade.

Hiralal’s younger brother lives in Jaipur and looks after their export division. All handicrafts and embroidery items are sent to the European market especially to Germany. Hiralal still lives in that remote desert hamlet where electricity is only available for 12 -15 hours in a day. He still attends the evening “aarti” in the local Ram temple. He still mixes with the government officials and often sits for a drink after he closes his “embroidery manufacturing unit” after dusk. He still roams in a 4 x 4 jeep among the sandy terrain. He still watches soft pornography films. He still hasn’t prepared himself for a passport. He still gets intoxicated during Holi. He still has his benevolent nature.   But he has admitted his two sons and daughter in an English medium school in Jaipur.

Posted via email from dibyendu's posterous