Stuart Walker Editorial

Stuart Walker Article, 09 12 2007
Stuart Walker began our interview with a brief discussion of his new work
with Imagination @ Lancaster, a new initiative in the UK which concentrates
on interdisciplinary studies. It consists of PHD programs that conduct
research with other faculties, institutions and with industry.
In discussion of his new book, Sustainable by Design, he spoke about the
environmental and energy problems that our current systems propogate.
He posits that we currently live within a material culture where electronic
products have no value because they are immediately replaceable. The
book suggests ways to address this problem, including the creation of
objects that, after use, can be easily redistributed back into the built
environment. In this way, it becomes possible to reconsider existing
products as a material resource.
Walker focuses on electronic goods because there are virtually none
produced at a small scale, or on a local level. This is in contrast to more
craft-oriented products, such as furniture. However, it’s at the local level
that the electronics are discarded. It is on this part of the product lifecycle
that his work is focused.
The work shown in his book represents these ideas. He stresses that his
projects are only studies about the nature of functional objects, asking
questions about how we look at our built environment. As an academic,
he is able to work on a level removed from immediate consumer culture,
spreading his ideas through exhibitions and publications instead.
Last, Walker describes the myth of the “new.” He describes how newness
is immediately gone the moment you open the box, and this creates a
constant dissatisfaction with products, and an unending desire to buy more.
However, he notes that if we are able to build “elegant aging” into an object,
we can address this problem.
As a group, we appreciate Stuart Walker’s approach, and his theory that
it is important to acknowledge the ephemerality of objects, and to design
accordingly. However, we were often disappointed with the final results of
the work. His ideas of “re-presentation” and “re-appreciation” only address
product design at a surface level and put a new name to the age-old idea
of reuse. Furthermore, though the work can function very well as art, this
approach is very limited.