Shenzhen China, Steven Holl

The March issue of Metropolis digs deep into how the creative process happens for a number of designers. From Steven Holl’s watercolors that structurally ideate—and ultimately become—homes, to John Pawson’s travel photographs that inform the museum he’s building, and Matali Crasset’s modern vessel inspired by age-old dishes. These stories not only show how designers navigate the tricky spaces between design concept and final product but also reveal how art is integral to the design process. Indeed, in each of the pieces—the watercolors, the photographs, the African bowls—art is firmly in timeline of the design project it’s attached to.

Is there, then, a line between what is art and what is design? What is the fundamental difference?

Typographer and designer Roberto De Vincq de Cumptich, author of Men of Letters and People of Substance, defines the difference as being about the economics of consumption: Design demands and expects a consumer, art hopes for one but is not dependent upon it. He writes:

“Design is not Art, since Art exists as an answer to a question posed by an individual artist, while Design exists as an answer to a question posed by the marketplace. Design must have an audience to come into being, while Art seeks an audience, sometimes, luckily, finding it, sometimes not. Art pushes the limit of human experience and language for its own sake, while Design might do this but only to humanize and integrate people’s lives in the context of an economy. Design needs an economic system, while Art does not. Art may become a product, but it’s not the reason why it was created, but how our society transforms it into a commodity.” Read more…

John Pawson’s “Ribbon for Japan.” Image courtesy dezeen.

The catastrophe that ripped through Japan on March 11 seems like the worst amalgam of every disaster we have ever seen – earthquake, tsunami, fire, and to top it all, nuclear radiation. 2010 and 2011 are undoubtedly the Design for Disaster years: architects and designers are still rising to the challenges of Haiti and Pakistan. But we have a deep emotional connection with Japan, a country that has always been a design powerhouse. The challenges are greater this time, the stakes are higher, and the responses – some more sensible than others, in this age of web 2.0 – have been faster than ever before.

The first line of action seems to be fundraising, and the number of things being sold “for Japan” is astounding. A quick Google search even turned up an “Unquake Japan” iPhone case. It has barely been two weeks since the disaster struck, and T-shirt maker Threadless has already closed their competition to design an inspirational t-shirt for Japan. (All proceeds from the sales will go to the American Red Cross’s Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami fund.) A more poetic gesture comes from the architect John Pawson, who spent many formative years in Tokyo. His website offers a Ribbon for Japan (above) for download, and suggests that you make a £1 donation to the Red Cross.

The Internet is clogged with what must be hundreds of posters: anyone with a computer and design software is competing to find new ways to bung a red circle onto white paper. Read more…