Design as a mediator of languages and activator of virtuous processes.

Abstract

Globalisation's homogenising pressures have put local craft traditions and regional identities in jeopardy worldwide. Amidst these critical scenarios, new design paradigms have arisen as mediators of knowledge and processes. These new design approaches are able to bridge traditional knowledge and technological innovation, past and future, local identities and global developments. The evolution we observe in the epistemology of the design practice is the direct consequence of a paradigm shift in the contemporary global ecosystem marked by increased interconnection between peripheries and their cultures and in a global-scale process of decolonisation of cultures and identities. This study starts from the need to examine and clarify the complexity deriving from the decolonization of design practices and the emphasization of culturally varied and locally relevant solutions that results in new hybrid approaches to design and product development. As such, the term "new craft" refers to a hybrid approach in which designers and craftspeople actively conduct ongoing research on sustainability and apply its principles to the creation of new materials, processes, and products. This multidisciplinary dialogue serves as the foundation of the virtuous activation and empowerment of local communities whose agency is restored by design (Franzato et al., 2013). This research maps out instances of hybrid design on a European scale to systemically curate an abacus of new models and processes. It suggests the need for a redefinition of design as a mediator of cultural languages able to optimise processes that - through the empowerment of local communities - promote the creation of more just and sustainable futures. The core tenets of this cultural mediation are the decolonisation of design methods and languages, the rejection of the imposition of Western industrial models, and the promotion of locally relevant, culturally diverse solutions.