he design industry has lost touch with its social and cultural values and is producing “too much shit design”, according toHella Jongerius.
Speaking at the Design Indaba conference in Cape Town this morning, the Dutch industrial designer urged the profession to adopt a more ethical approach to its work.
“There’s too much shit design, there’s too much shopping without thought,” she said. “Designers have a responsibility here.”
“I am calling for a new holistic approach to design,” she added.
Design companies have abandoned quality and instead are too focused on generating quick profits, Jongerius argued.
“If you look at the original values of industrial design, the important values were to connect cultural awareness and social responsibility with practical economics,” she said. “This is how the Bauhaus started.”