Design from Without

       At first I didn’t understand naming the blog, Design From Without. I did not know what the differences were to say whether someone’s design is from “without” or “within”. However, by watching Andy Goldsworthy’s films about how he makes art and the ways he gets inspired by nature and the environment, I started to understand what the concept “design from without” truly is. 

       Andy Goldsworthy is famous with his special ways of making art. Different from many other designers and artists, who make their design and artworks in studios, Goldsworthy prefers to expose himself to nature to look for inspiration. For instance, in the film, he went to a creek deep in the mountain. By seeing the water flowing in front of him, he was inspired by it and came up with the idea to use garlic leaves to make art. He used a stick and the water inside the leaves to paint curve ribbons on the leaves. And by placing many painted leaves in a line on the creekside stone, he made a ribbon that went across the leaves just to continue part of the creek under the stone. That is his concept of art, simple but deep.      

       At first, I just didn’t understand why Andy Goldsworthy even bothered making something that will not last, like placing leaves on the creekside stone, which has no purpose at all. Nevertheless, I kind of got what he was trying to express. Different from the regular design process which you already know what you want to make, how you’re going to make it and how you are going to achieve the idea that is preplanned in your mind. Designing from without is allowing yourself to immerse in the ideas around you, to open yourself to the “muse” around you; not just your own ideas and thoughts, but also thoughts from the environment, nature and people. 

       I found that most of the time when we judge a design, we look at its purpose and whether we think it is beautiful or brilliant. These standards are like views and beliefs we hold true. Even though these views can help us tell whether a design is good or bad, it can limit our ideas and thoughts and leave out many ideas in nature. I believe that to practice designing from without prevents us as designers from being limited in a particular frame of mind when looking for creativity and inspiration; and by opening our heart to the people and nature around us, we can sometimes find ideas we’ve never thought of before. 

 


image from: http://media.photobucket.com/