Events

events Research through design is a notion that gained presence in design discussions in the mid-aughts after a few influential papers by Jodi Forlizzi and John Zimmerman of Carnegie Mellon University and Erik Stolterman of Indiana University. The notion had been introduced by Christopher Frayling of the Royal College of Art in 1993 as a remark in a small paper that suggested it as a way to conduct research in a way that would be interesting to designers. It had its virtues. Above all, helped to make research interesting to designers, and it gave them a way to understand how design can create knowledge. Yet, it was confusing and hard to understand, as this presentation will illustrate. This was the case with other suggestions too, including British and Dutch notions like funology and doing research by doing design, and Donald Schon’s notion of the reflective practitioner that lacked precision, In the context of these debates, I wanted to clarify to my students how designers can create knowledge. I wrapped up my work in Design Research through Practice, a book I published in 2011 with Stephan Wensveen, Johan Redström, Thomas Binder and John Zimmerman. This book contextualized the debate and suggested that there were three main ways in which design can contribute to knowledge. The first we called “the lab,” akin to experimental scientific methods with roots mostly in design engineering. The second we called “the field,” akin to ethnography but with roots mostly in participatory design, Silicon Valley, and IT industry. The third we called “the showroom,” with roots mostly in Italian radical design of the sixties, but also in critical design of Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby. Each one of these three approaches has led to research programs that have expanded the field of design. It is fair to say that this book and the debates it was a part of have shaped discussions about design research across the globe, and probably in a positive way – they have given designers tools to articulate their approach to design. These tools are more nuanced than the notions that preceded it, and they have so far avoided the pitfalls of previous efforts to introduce research into the design world. Research never sleeps, however. This talk returns to the debate that gave rise to this book, currently under revision, and recontextualizes it to our current design (research) environment characterized by introspective approaches to design, systemic design, design fiction, critique of humanism, and most recently by GenAI – among other things. I believe the debates of the nineties and the aughts provide us with tools to see these discussions as useful extensions rather than as alternatives or challenges, and I will conclude with a positive note: in less than 30 years, the design community has found ways for conduct design research in ways that feel right to designers. Research, in turn, has also learned to contribute to design practice by giving it tools for expansion and for understanding better its contribution to society and increasingly to nature. 2025-06-05 18:00:00 +0200 CEST

events Cette intervention s’attache à rendre compte d’une pratique de terrain dans le cadre d’une recherche en design menée durant 3 ans au sein d’une industrie de la métallurgie (menée au sein d’une thèse CIFRE). Elle détaille les manières d’entrer en correspondances avec un terrain considéré comme « peu propice au design » et comment ces manières ont nourrit directement les contributions de cette thèse sur les modalités de collaborations entre design et ingénierie. En filigrane, il s’agit de montrer l’importance de construire des méthodologies situées et adaptées pour nourrir une pratique de design inscrit dans une volonté de recherche. 2025-05-15 18:00:00 +0200 CEST

events Aujourd’hui, la recherche-création est en plein essor, au point qu’elle dépasse même les frontières des arts et des arts appliqués. Mais comment la développer dans le champ académique, tout en garantissant sa qualité artistique et sa reconnaissance professionnelle, en premier lieu dans le monde de l’art et du design ? Elle doit permettre la création d’œuvres pertinentes tout en produisant de nouvelles connaissances qui n’auraient pu advenir autrement. Fondée sur la pratique, par et pour la pratique, cette recherche est construite autant par la réflexivité que par une volonté de partage, non seulement des résultats, mais surtout des moyens mis en œuvre : l’“instrumentarium” artistique ainsi expérimenté et développé. Cette approche, que l’on pourrait qualifier d’“organologique” ou même d’“organogénétique”, est, sans conteste, l’un des fondements de la recherche-création menée à EnsadLab, le plus souvent dans une dynamique pluridisciplinaire impliquant sciences expérimentales et sciences de l’ingénieur. La place de choix qui est donné aux moyens expérimentés et mis en œuvre, aux techniques, comme art de faire, implique des formes méthodologiques et organisationnelles permettant un équilibre pertinent entre dynamique collective et engagement d’une autorité individuelle. S’il est ainsi possible de poser les bases de la recherche artistique, il est également nécessaire de se demander comment l’évaluer et la partager afin de construire des communautés de pratique et, au-delà, de toucher les publics. Comment publier de telles recherches ? “Publier ou périr !” est l’adage dans le monde de la recherche académique. Mais “publier”, c’est d’abord rendre public. Si l’écriture peut poser problème aux artistes, ces derniers, contrairement aux scientifiques, disposent de puissants “médiums” pour faire connaître leur travail : expositions, performances vivantes, objets de design, diffusion de productions médiatiques, etc. La publication académique s’envisage principalement sous la forme d’écrits - souvent illustrés - dans des revues spécialisées. Entre ces formes académiques de publication et de rencontres artistiques avec le public, est-il possible d’ouvrir de nouvelles voies répondant à la fois aux exigences académiques et artistiques ? Ces formes hybrides de publication, en s’appuyant autant sur l’expérience sensible que sur la transmission des savoirs, pourraient-elles permettre de s’adresser à la fois aux experts et à un public beaucoup plus large ? Qui plus est, ces nouveaux formats pourraient-ils contribuer à mobiliser et impliquer leurs publics ? Pour tenter d’apporter des réponses concrètes à ces questions, il semble pertinent et productif d’explorer des voies alternatives, en hybridant formats académiques et formes artistiques. Pour présenter cette approche organologique de la recherche-création comme cette démarche de publicisation, Samuel Bianchini s’appuiera sur de nombreux exemples menés ces dix derniers années, avant de présenter brièvement la nouvelle revue .able qui participe de ce renouvellement des modes de publication à partir de la recherche-création. 2025-04-24 18:00:00 +0200 CEST

events Design practice always happens under a particular set of forces or conditions, commonly known as constraints. These constraints may be straightforward and indisputable, such as a physical or material quality—the force of gravity or the tensile strength of a structural beam. They can be the subject of discussion and compromise, such as a financial cost or a timeline. They can relate to aesthetic or cultural considerations, such as a fashion trend or social movement. Constraints of this basic type influence the design process by providing tangible limits that can be adhered to or challenged. But constraints also exist in more covert, abstract or oblique forms, such as national infrastructure systems like energy grids. These become so normalised that they force designers to simply design for or within the dominant paradigm. Myths of progress act to reduce the technological future to recycled utopian imaginaries that maintain the status quo and divert attention from its fundamental flaws, and constraints imposed by design’s economic relationship with the market encourage, among other things, questionable approaches to resources, labour, distribution and repair. This presentation will firstly explore some of the more dominant oblique constraints and the ways in which they negatively influence the role and purpose of design. The second part will describe the approach of Reconstrained Design, which takes the identified constraints and develops ways to reverse, work around or simply ignore them. This expands the potential of the design and the designer’s ability to radically rethink modes of practice. 2025-04-10 18:00:00 +0200 CEST

events Cette conférence explore la participation en architecture en analysant comment elle peut être intégrée dans le processus de conception . En nous appuyant sur un projet de rénovation de logements sociaux en difficulté, la véritable profondeur de cette participation sera examinée à l’aide d’un indice développé pour évaluer le rôle effectif des différents types d’acteurs dans ces processus. L’intervention mettra en évidence l’écart entre la participation prescrite et la participation expérientielle et discutera des questions méthodologiques pertinentes pour l’analyse des interactions entre les concepteurs et les usagers dans ces processus. 2025-04-03 18:00:00 +0200 CEST

events The ‘Research practices in design and creation’ methodology seminar is organised and run jointly by the Dicen-IDF laboratory and the Jean Prouvé Design Chair at the National Conservatory of Arts and Craft (Cnam). Primarily aimed at master’s students, young researchers, doctoral candidates and those aspiring to become such, it invites members of research communities linked to the fields of design and creation to contribute together to a better understanding of the methodological issues involved in research as a place for exploration, discussion and the dissemination of ideas and knowledge. Research in design and creation is a recent field that is still developing. There are several complementary approaches, some of which overlap in their research programmes. Some are part of a well-established tradition of academic research, taking design as the object of study to understand its nature, how it works and its socio-historical context. Others are part of an applied research approach, aimed at formalising methods and tools to help improve design practices. Still others, more recent, use the practice of design as an approach to creating and discussing new knowledge. Each annual session will consist of four or five papers presenting the work of key players in design and creation research, in terms of their methods and approaches. Some presentations may be in English, in which case they will be transcribed into French. The seminar is open to all public. A recording will be made for online publication with the agreement of the speakers. This seminar is part of course DSN201 at Cnam. Students enrolled on this course will be supported through this seminar and additional teaching and practical work to set up a research project. This course is included in several masters and specialisation certificates and can also be taken on request or as part of the Abbé Grégoire doctoral school. 2025-01-28 10:04:12 +0200 +0200

events Au sein de l’École Estienne, SEMPER* constitue un espace d’intersection et de réflexion commun aux quatre parcours de formation en DSAA. Le séminaire, initié par Jérôme Duwa, Olivier Moulin et Carole Papion invite à réfléchir et à mettre en valeur ce qui se constitue comme recherche en design dans le milieu qui est le nôtre à l’École Estienne : expériences en imprimerie, dans les métiers d’art, dans les domaines du graphisme, de l’illustration, de la création numérique, de la typographie et de la stratégie de communication. Manuel ZACKLAD (Prof. CNAM) et Pierre LÉVY (Prof. CNAM) ont dialogué au sujet du design et des sciences humaines pour la conférence inaugurale de SEMPER, présentée par Jérôme Duwa (École Estienne), le jeudi 26 septembre 2024. 2024-09-26 16:00:00 +0200 CEST

events This seminar aims to launch the third session of the school of not-Knowing. The first began in September 2022 at the French Institute in Milan and culminated in the form of a first exhibition in the same place in January 2024. During the second phase the exhibition of around a hundred panels circulated Florence and Rome. New schools joined the initial project by adding new visuals. This set will be presented in Porto as part of the Design Biennale from October 21, 2023, with the support of the French Institute of Portugal. The third phase is being organized on the basis of around thirty schools and universities, coming from France, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Poland, India and Madagascar. The Cnam seminar, will begin the design phase. It will allow partecipants to better understand the project and its actors, and above all to begin, through examples and exercises, to confront this difficult transformation consisting of accepting that what we do not know has real value, an interest which deserves to be explored. confronts it in an open and experimental way. During this phase, attempts at educational narration will also begin, which will consist of recording an explanation from a specialist based on panels produced. It is also at the Cnam that this phase will be finalized with a new exhibition which will take place on 1 and 2 February 2024. The project will then continue for new phases which will also be presented during the seminar. 2023-10-16 14:00:00 +0200 CEST

events 2023-02-27 18:00:00 +0200 +0200

events 2022-09-16 09:30:52 +0200 CEST

events The moment of design Inaugural lecture of the Jean Prouvé Design Chair, May 18, 2022 Thank you Ruedi for this warm introduction. Your mentorship of the Chair can only be a good omen for what it can and will become. Dear General Administrator, dear Marc, dear Jean-Claude, dear colleagues, dear friends, dear family, dear listeners present here or somewhere online, it is a great pleasure to be able to start this inaugural lecture today at CNAM. Lucie and I decided to do our inaugural lessons together, because we think it is an opportunity to emphasize the closeness and complementarity of our subjects and ways of doing, and to celebrate what CNAM is for all of us: a place of learning and development, as well as a place of interdisciplinary and interprofessional exchange and sharing. It also requires that our lessons be about 40 minutes each, so that it remains a celebration and an enjoyable time, and does not become an ordeal for you. So let’s get started. 1. Jean Prouvé // where design is part of a history of materials, of doing, of society and of attachment to everyday life It is an event for a Chair of design and an honour for its holder that the name of Jean Prouvé is associated with it. And I would particularly like to thank Mrs. Catherine Prouvé, for her presence here today and for her precious help in making this association a reality. This association is, of course, within the filiation of the Chairs at CNAM - and in particular between the Chair of Applied Arts and Crafts, which Jean Prouvé held from 1958 to 1971, and the Chair of Design Jean Prouvé, which symbolically begins today. But this association also plays the role of mediation, allowing for a moment of dialogue and advocacy on what the Chair of Design Jean Prouvé intends to be. I therefore propose in this first part to discuss this filiation, not from a historical perspective, but rather to find in it an inspiration of what a Chair of design at CNAM can be today, in today’s society, with its own social, economic, technological, and of course ecological challenges. Instead of looking in the rear-view mirror for too long, we should see this filiation as a way to look ahead, and to help us reflect on what we can do here and now in view of a future that we still have to imagine and make. 1.1 A path To me, Jean Prouvé embodies an essential position in design. Jean Prouvé was an ironworker, an engineer (self-taught), a designer (self-taught), an architect (self-taught), a member of the Resistance, a player in the post-war French reconstruction program, the mayor of Nancy, and a partner of Abbé Pierre in the creation of a House of Better Days. Coming from traditional ironwork, he contributed to a modern look at materials, forms and uses. His attachment to a design for use and for all, and in particular for the most modest, makes him an important post-war actor not only for the world of architecture and design, but for society as a whole. And as such, Jean Prouvé places design where it is wanted: as a societal actor, producing ingenious proposals for material arrangements whose value emerges from their use and their potential for transformation. In other words, the value is to be found in the appropriation of the designer’s proposals and their consequences for society. It is thus a question of working on what I call the “contexture” of the environments in which we evolve, i.e., on their form and their texture. I will come back later to this notion of contexture that I have developed through my research. 1.2 The doing, the reflecting, and the envisioning Moreover, the art historian, architect and sociologist Nils Peters, who wrote a biography on Jean Prouvé1, reminds us that during his classes at CNAM, “Jean Prouvé rarely said much. Instead, he made drawings and continually visualized his ideas on a chalkboard. What he illustrated here, true to his own convictions, was that the practice of theories was paramount and that any knowledge that was acquired only academically could hardly inspire creativity.” It is therefore an attitude towards the relationship between practice and theory in the field of design in the broadest sense: that of studying, understanding, involving scientific, technological, social, and ecological developments, and finding a place for them in society within the daily lives of each and every one. Design is therefore presented as a practice and as an attitude, questioning possible worlds, in order, as the political scientists Trevor Hancock and Clement Bezold2 propose, to move towards preferable futures. Design is therefore not just about creating artifacts, a commercial offer of stuff. Working on these futures through design requires that the practice be accompanied by societal, political, ethical, and ecological reflection, and that this reflection take place in action, that is, at the very heart of design practice. And therein lies the first aspect for which the Chair of design claims to be in the continuity of Jean Prouvé: an attitude at the crossroads of doing, reflecting, and envisioning. 1.3 The everyday This dedication to exploration and the powerful understanding of material, technique, and the aesthetics that can emerge from it are at the foundation of the excellence of Jean Prouvé’s work, and resonate with the Nancy school that strives to revitalize art, and to have it permeate everyday life. This environment - what I will later call this tradition - probably contributed to making Jean Prouvé a craftsman, a Jean Prouvé explorer of new materials and new projects, with a strong sensitivity to the everyday and a particular attention to the societal dimension of his art. What the architect Jean Nouvel also notes when he says, speaking of Jean Prouvé, that “rarely that ethics have created such a clear beauty”1. 1.4 A societal posture Design is therefore a practice, an attitude and a societal posture: And therein lies the second aspect for which this Chair of design claims to be in the continuity of Jean Prouvé: the ambition that design and craftspersonship be at once practices, an attitude and a societal posture at the service of the transformation of everyone’s everyday life. 2. Design // where design is an attitude and an activity situated and built on ambivalences We have thus established the societal posture aimed at by design, or at least aimed at by the Chair through its future activities. But the question of design remains, and even if the road is full of pitfalls, let’s take it, at least a little. 2.1 What design does Indeed, the definition of design has always been a difficult issue - a long history of intense discussions and failed conclusions - and thus a hitherto unsatisfied question. A recent article by design professor Alethea Blackler and her colleagues3 reports on twenty years of global discussions about the definition of design with no real consolidated result. Through a strategy that is quite popular these days, the authors then invite us to reflect instead on “the importance of design’s role in the global conversation about transdisciplinary approaches to researching and designing future scenarios and emerging pathways for humanity.” In my opinion, this approach is not satisfactory, because once again it turns away from the question of design. But if we cannot determine what design is, and knowing that it is at least a practice, an attitude and a posture, then the effort of clarification should turn to what design does. 2.2 Design is situated This can be based on an essential principle of design: that of its situation. By this I mean that design is situated: it finds its relevance through what it can propose as potentially transforming arrangements. In other words, design is lost and cannot, or even does not know how to act in the abstract. It is here on the ground, where experience takes place, where design rubs up against matter, bumps up against experience, that design acts and establishes its practice. So let’s keep this in mind: design is situated. 2.3 Design is coloured I also take up with interest the point made by the design philosopher Johan Redström4 that design is fundamentally and historically structured on dichotomies. We are particularly interested in the dichotomous relationships between methods and practices, between everyday life and global issues, between art and industry, to name but a few. These dichotomies are places of friction, what I call irregularities, inspired by the writings of the Japanese thinker Yanagi Soetsu5,6, and I will come back to this notion later, which invites design to constantly question its positioning and its action. The practice of design is therefore fundamentally reflexive. As a practice situated in a complex context, as we have already seen this reflection is on what it does. Yet design does not find a definitive answer here either. This answer is always changing. Therefore, design is elusive. In other words, and complementing Johan Redström’s words with those I have proposed with Professors Ambra Trotto and Caroline Hummels, and our colleagues through Transformative Practices7, it is complex and colourful, that is to say, rich in its variety of practices; it is resilient and learning, engaged and transforming. 2.4 Attitude Within the practice, the designer engages knowledge, know-how, and an attitude. In this commitment, it is important to carry out quality work as an end in itself – this is what the sociologist Richard Sennett8 suggests. It is important to use and trust one’s senses and imagination, one’s intuition and curiosity – this is what design professor Kees Overbeeke9 reminds us. Finally, it is important to use one’s skills and knowledge either to do (i.e., to work and interact with the material) or to think (i.e., to work and interact with ideas). 2.5 Sustainable instability Immersed in the practices as they are lived and as they are realized, the design is moreover interested and situated in a complex world. It makes, questions, reflects, opens towards possibilities, without never putting aside the ambiguity and the uncertain… in short, what resists, the world as it is lived. It advances, and thus progresses in a form of balance which is in fact only apparent. It is formed by a multitude of temporary imbalances. Caroline Hummels and I have called this the sustainable instability of design, which qualifies the dynamic in which design works. Instabilities are moments of potential changes in practice: reflections in and on action allow for change, necessary to maintain coherence in practice, necessary for learning and development through practice10. Therefore, it seems relevant to call on phenomenology, and more generally on the philosophies that gather around the notion of embodiment. To make a long story short, these philosophies show that we perceive the world by interacting with it. This perception, fundamentally active, requires a body and skills. We perceive the world through the potentiality of our actions (what we can do), and by interacting with it (by what we do). Hence, there is a primacy of the body over action, and a primacy of action, or at least of the potential for action, over cognition. This in no way evacuates the importance of the symbolic in human experience (at aesthetic, social and cultural levels). 2.6 Symmetrical anthropology To summarise, we have seen that design is a practice whose perspective is both individual and collective, social and political, transforming and virtuoso of complexity and norms. It questions how the material arrangements it proposes can transform practices, those of others and its own, and in a complementary movement how these practices are the moment11 of an appropriation of the proposals made by design. Design is therefore a bearer of meaning that potentially modifies the context in which people and practices evolve. It is a mediation that makes transformation possible, by giving the action and its actor the possibility of discerning and thinking about its condition and its possibles, which will then be selected and appropriated. In design, it is thus a question of what we can do with our personal, social, ecological environments… and what these environments do with us. A form of symmetrical anthropology. Therefore, we are asking ourselves the question of the aesthetics and ethics of the contexts in which we live and in which the practices perform. This is what I named in my HDR work “contexture”, the texture of the context of our practices5, which allows the transformation of these practices through the mediation of design. 3. A perspective // where tradition, irregularity and moment structure a societal design With the design landscape thus described, it now seems important to move forward in this lesson by positioning the Chair and its work within this landscape. To do this, we must take sides, that is, we must structure and formulate an approach and a perspective from which we will work. And it is primarily the perspective I propose for the Chair that I will now develop. 3.1 Craftspersonship 3.1.1 The handling To begin with, it is important to emphasize the proximity of design to the arts and crafts. Already at an institutional level – which is particularly the case here in the close relationship built between CNAM and the schools of crafts and design –, and also because they are both socially situated and committed to the proposal of a beautiful with societal value through use and usefulness. And it is indeed necessary to briefly recall that the contemplation of the works produced by the crafts is not sufficient to appreciate them. It is through their handling that their materiality is expressed and revealed. It is through their handling that their usefulness and value take on meaning. Just as for design, it is through their handling that their aesthetics are fully discovered. If the crafts have a social role as works12, it is indeed that this materialization of the beautiful through the useful and the durable has a societal and ecological relevance, which our time needs. 3.1.2 Quality Besides this, the development of industry, i.e. segmented, mechanical and informational production, which has allowed impressive development and innovations in the last centuries – and CNAM is rich of examples and of experiences, also challenges the production of applied arts and the importance of quality and workpersonship in everyday life. And make no mistake, industry is needed to serve a population that continues to grow (aren’t we talking about 10 billion humans13!). And it is the role of the designer (who in the imaginary can be an engineer or a designer, and who in reality is a multidisciplinary, multicultural, multi-profession group of people who together design and produce) to project proposals to move towards a better world. And in this proposition, the quality of the proposed material arrangement cannot be absent. Let us reason by the absurd and we will quickly see the absurdity of a world that would doubt the necessity of beauty. It is therefore for the craftspeople, designers and engineers, not only to keep the gesture and the tradition which enable a creation of quality, but also to reinforce the one produced by the machine. Let the manufacturing process take advantage of the skills, the sensitivity, the attitude of the craftsperson in order to improve the machine, its use, and its deliverables! It is then for the craftsperson not to distance oneself from industrial production, but on the contrary, and I think as did Jean Prouvé, to contribute to its use in order to improve both the craft that integrates the machine in its practice and the quality of what it produces. And we will see later the example of the textile designer Minagawa Akira who illustrates this situation beautifully. In order to move forward, I will focus our attention on three aspects that are relative and common to craft and design, which I have already mentioned, and which seem fundamental to the structure and conduct of the Chair: tradition, irregularity, and moment. 3.2 The tradition It is important to realize that the crafts produce objects of very high quality because the exigence of the profession demands it and because its environment enables it. 3.2.1 The exigence The exigence of the profession demands it, because it is sensitive to the beauty of the work and its handling, and claims its importance. It recognizes the talent, of course, but does ask as well for an attitude. 3.2.2 The environment Its environment enables it, because it carries the tradition in which the craft is registered. The notion of tradition that I use here is directly inspired by the writings of the Japanese thinker Yanagi Soetsu, who describes it as an environment made up of a culture, a collective dynamic, and a vitality centered on a know-how. A tradition is in no way static. On the contrary, it is nourished by experiences and individual daily lives to continue making the community evolve. To return to the craft, even if its execution is sometimes individual and that one finds a certain freedom of action and creation in the workshop, the practice, in the broad sense, is plunged in a cultural and socio-economic environment which enables excellence. The craft profession finds its strength and excellence because it is part of a tradition. Yanagi14 teaches us that the beauty and greatness produced by the hands of the craftsperson are not simply the result of one’s own skills (individual power), but also of what the environment provides (power beyond [individual mastery]). 3.3 The irregularity Before continuing, I would like to make a small parenthesis on Japanese philosophy, which has been developed at the crossroads of Buddhist thought and phenomenology15. Having spent about 10 years in the beautiful country of Japan, including my doctoral research years, this philosophy, as well as Japanese thought in general, has influenced and inspired me a great deal and helped me to reflect on our affective relationship to the world as it is lived, and on the experience of beauty in everyday practices. The references to Japanese literature that I will cite here are therefore fundamental in the construction of my reflection on design and on the everyday. To extend this parenthesis beyond my own experience, I hope to give here a new dimension to the colouring of design. Let’s remember that design is colourful, rich from a great variety of practices. It is also rich from a wide variety of cultures, which is poorly reflected in current design literature and discourse, heavily tinged with Western culture. Culturally decentring design, through its exposure to worldviews based on other thoughts and cultures, may allow for a broadening of the worldview through which design operates. This clear post-colonial positioning envisions the formation of more relevant perspectives and approaches to topics to which design can effectively contribute. Needless to say, the Chair will support this effort to culturally enrich design, beyond Japanese culture. Let’s go back to art and design, which recognize the strength and importance of the gesture in what it expresses of human, in what it expresses through its imperfection. To understand what is at stake in this notion – imperfection – let us take up the notion of perfection and what Yanagi Soetsu14 tells us about it. He describes it as a closure since there is nothing more to change. It is perfect! It is static and final, with no horizon of possible transformation. The end of history. The absence of freedom. To it is opposed imperfection, which invites to change, to a possibility of transformation, and thus to a form of freedom. But Yanagi is not satisfied with this form of freedom, which is in fact bound to imperfection, itself posed in opposition to perfection. He then invites us to go beyond this dichotomy asserting that what he calls “true beauty” (奇数の美 - kisuu-no-bi) is in a non-dualistic totality - we are evolving here in a Buddhist thought. He then suggests that this beauty emerges from what he calls irregularity (歪み - yugami), when imperfection becomes identified with perfection and that “something unexplained” (不定形 - futei-kei) remains. Yanagi puts it this way14: “The love of the irregular is a sign of a fundamental quest for freedom.” 3.3.1 The gesture Such irregularity can be the expression of the gesture, that of the craftsperson for instance. But we must also think about the tool and the use, other moments of interaction and appropriation. 3.3.2 The tool Hamada Shōji, a great Japanese ceramist who became a Living National Treasure in 1955, had a kiln capable of holding about ten thousand pots. When asked about the need for such a kiln, he replied that he would be able to completely control a smaller kiln, and that he would then be the master and controller. With this large kiln, the “individual power” weakens so that he cannot control the kiln, and what had been called “power beyond” is needed to get a good piece16. Therefore, he wants to work with grace from that power beyond, not toward a perfection that his mastery would impose. This idea of power beyond and irregularity, dear to the beauty and ethics as expressed by Yanagi, is also found in the work of Minagawa Akira. Minagawa pushes industrial embroidery to the limits of its mechanical capacities, in order to produce unpredictable and a priori unexpected imperfections, that is to say a form of irregularity, source of a unique and poetic beauty. Minagawa himself says: “I want the fabric to convey the feeling I experience myself when I make sketches. The embroidered patterns I create not only use thread to sew the design, they create a three-dimensional relief by overlapping stitches on top of each other, piercing the fabric randomly while remaining true to the light and shade of my original sketch. This way of doing embroidery without a fixed rule gives the feeling of hand-drawn lines.” In Minagawa’s work, as in Hamada’s one, it is the designer-tool pairing that makes this irregularity possible as a new craftsperson embedded in both a tradition (ceramics or textiles) and industrial engineering. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to explore this designer-tool relationship again during a project with one of the students, Yamada Shigeru, whom I was accompanying for his master’s degree at Eindhoven University of Technology. We made Japanese tea ceremony objects in 3D printing based on parametric models. It was a question for us to work on the speed of impression of the machine so that on this one associates with a power beyond. These objects were printed at the standard speed, then 2, 3, 4, 6 times faster. The evaluation made by several Japanese tea masters allowed us to conclude that the object printed with a doubled speed of impressions made precisely an aesthetics of the irregularity appreciated by these tea masters17. 3.3.3 The use But this irregularity, if it offers freedom and the possibility of transformation, must also manifest itself in the user’s experience. Without it, the everyday would be an experience without surprise, without the possibility of change and therefore without freedom. For the everyday to be worthwhile, what the philosopher Bruce Bégout calls the process of quotidianization18 must be accompanied by irregularities placed in the usual or in the expected, what George Pérec calls the endotic19. And then the everyday becomes a moment in permanent evolution, and a space of imagination, creation and freedom. Focusing on irregularity in everyday use, three concepts come to mind, which unfortunately I will not have time to develop today: 3.4 The moment of design, the moment of use There are therefore two moments in which irregularity can offer opportunities for transformation: the moment of design and the moment of appropriation. And it is on these two notions that I would like to conclude this reflection on design. 3.4.1 The moment of design These two moments, of design and of appropriation, are moments of creation. And the artefact, proposed and then appropriated, forms a link between these two moments. For design, it is therefore an essential, social and humanist role to propose the conditions for creation within use, that is to say for appropriation. The position I take in projects and in research is to defend and structure this precise idea according to which the designer must think of the human being essentially by one’s capacity of appropriation and creation of one’s environment, and by one’s capacity of reflection and responsible decision. This is not trivial and not always shared when we hear what is prescribed following “user tests” or sometimes under the unfortunate name of “good user practice”. For this, two things are needed. One has already been discussed at length. It is of course the irregularity that allows reflexivity and choice. The other is what I call the artefactual emptiness, a concept also inspired by Japanese philosophy, which denotes the space of opportunities offered to the user. The artefactual emptiness corresponds to the idea that the artifact must open up possibilities of appropriation, which it will mediate through irregularity. It is in this artefactual emptiness that appropriation takes shape. Keeping in mind the history of design and crafts, the Chair will strongly assert this societal proposal of its practices and their production. This proposal is based on the primary considerations of the capacity that each person has to create, the need for a collective and an ever-evolving tradition to move forward together, and a Jonasian categorical imperative of a social, ecological and responsible life23. Conscious of producing and disseminating proposals in a complex context and through a practice that is always in a state of enduring instability, the Chair will continue to keep its production open to questioning by all, beginning with itself. 3.4.2 In practice In practice, it will first be a matter of clarifying more clearly the role and manner of design in the moment of its own practice, outside of and yet linked to that of everyday life. This effort will lead to a reflexive practice of design, and to question its anthropological, humanistic, social, ecological, political and philosophical implications. 4 Programme // where the Chair intends to become a societal actor through designing, for training, research, and social commitment Now that we have positioned ourselves on the practice of design, all that remains is to highlight the programmatic elements of the Chair. Within CNAM, the Chair puts forward training and research approaches through design, arts and crafts and culture. Its ambition is to create and to develop collaborations in training, research and projects within and outside CNAM, in France, in Europe and internationally. It therefore aims to be an actor in an ecosystem that goes beyond CNAM and beyond design, and that will take as its horizon the possibility of a societal transformation of everyday life, through that of design and arts and crafts practices. The Chair dialogues with numerous training institutions, and is part of the dynamic of the Campus des Métiers d’Arts et du Design. One of the major visions of the Chair is to confirm the possibility of a continuum throughout the initial training of the arts and design professions, from the vocational schools to the doctorate, and of lifelong learning. Particular attention to this subject, which is dear to me, is focused on the fundamental and very CNAMian idea that one must learn to learn. The Chair contributes to research in design and in the arts, culture and creation, at the intersection of epistemological, craft and industrial, societal and ecological considerations. This research is situated and engaged through practice. The Chair therefore proposes and promotes research through practice, that is, research that involves practice in the research activity itself, and not adjacent to research. It invites pragmatic approaches, based on reflective practice10. The Chair is also involved in projects with a clear societal contribution. Historically, design proposals have always contained a political dimension, and the Chair intends to place this consideration at the center of its questioning and its work. Finally, the Chair wants to be constructively provocative. While questioning and proposing possibilities of societal transformation through practices, it is committed to questioning its own questioning, its own proposals and its own practices. 5 Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths, Enwrought with golden and silver light, The blue and the dim and the dark cloths Of night and light and the half light, I would spread the cloths under your feet: But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams. Thank you. 6. References Peters, N. Prouvé. (Taschen, 2017). Hancock, T. & Bezold, C. Possible futures, preferable futures. Healthc. Forum J. 37, 23—29 (1994). Blackler, A. et al. Can We Define Design? Analyzing Twenty Years of Debate on a Large Email Discussion List. She Ji J. Des. Econ. Innov. 7, 41—70 (2021). Redström, J. Making design theory. (MIT Press, 2017). Lévy, P. Le temps de l’expérience, enchanter le quotidien par le design. (Université de Technologie de Compiègne, France, 2018). Lévy, P. Designing for the everyday through thusness and irregularity. in Proceedings of the International Association of Societies of Design Research Conference 2019, IASDR19 (Manchester Metropolitan University, 2019). Trotto, A. et al. Designing for Transforming Practices: Maps and Journeys. (Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, 2021). Sennett, R. Ce que sait la main: la culture de l’artisanat. (Albin Michel, 2010). Overbeeke, K. The aesthetics of the Impossible. Inaugural Lecture (Eindhoven University of Technology, 2007). Schön, D. A. The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think In Action. (Basic Books, 1984). Dōgen. La présence au monde. (Le Promeneur, 1999). Arendt, H. Condition de l’homme moderne. (Librairie générale française, 2020). dix—milliards—humains. dix—milliards—humains. dix—milliards—humains https://dix-milliards-humains.com/fr (2021). Yanagi, S. Artisan et inconnu, perception de la beauté dans l’esthétique japonaise. (Langues Et Mondes L’asiathèque, 1992). Stevens, B. Invitation à la philosophie japonaise: autour de Nishida. (CNRS, 2005). Yanagi, S. The Responsibility Of The Craftsman: And Mystery Of Beauty. (Literary Licensing, LLC, 2013). Lévy, P. & Yamada, S. 3D-modeling and 3D-printing Explorations on Japanese Tea Ceremony Utensils. in Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction - TEI'17 283—288 (ACM Press, 2017). doi:10.1145/3024969.3024990. Bégout, B. La découverte du quotidien. (Éditions Allia, 2005). Perec, G. L’infra-ordinaire. (Seuil, 1989). Fukasawa, N. Micro consideration. MUJI無印良品: 無印良品とクリエイター (2015). Cox, A. L., Gould, S. J. J., Cecchinato, M. E., Iacovides, I. & Renfree, I. Design Frictions for Mindful Interactions: The Case for Microboundaries. in Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems 1389—1397 (ACM, 2016). doi:10.1145/2851581.2892410. Lévy, P., Deckers, E. & Restrepo, M. C. When Movement Invites to Experience: a Kansei Design Exploration on Senses’ Qualities. in Proceedings of the International Conference on Kansei Engineering and Emotion Research, KEER 2012 366—372 (National Cheng Kung University, 2012). Jonas, H. Le principe responsabilité une éthique pour la civilisation technologique. (Flammarion, 1998). Yeats, W. B. La Rose et autres poèmes. (Seuil, 2008). 2022-05-18 10:30:52 +0200 CEST

events Séminaire les Médiums en design, pour une anthropologie symétrique du design – 2022 Le séminaire « les Médiums en design » est co-animé par CY Design Research, Dicen-IDF et la chaire Design Jean Prouvé du CNAM. Il invite les membres de la communauté de recherche en design à contribuer à la compréhension du design comme éco-système fait d’humains et de non-humains, de vivants et de non-vivants structurant et structuré par les pratiques et les réalisations. Design ? une conversation avec des matériaux Dans les années 80, les recherches en design ont amorcé un tournant qui a remis en scène la matérialité des pratiques du design. Parmi les fondateurs de cette recherche, Donald Schön (1992) parle de l’activité du designer comme d’une « conversation avec les matériaux » : pour lui les matériaux sont aussi bien des mots, des paroles avec lesquelles on joue et sur lesquelles on revient, que des dessins qui permettent de préfigurer les architectures ou objets à venir. Agentivité des mediums du design et pratiques incarnées La recherche en design s’est aussi inspirée pour une bonne part des anthropologues des cultures matérielles (Knappett & Malafouris, 2008; Ingold, 2007) qui attirent l’attention sur ce que le medium fait au designer et s’intéressent aux pratiques incarnées du design. Propriétés physiques mais aussi sociales et culturelles Ces recherches aujourd’hui rencontrent les media studies aussi bien anglo-saxonnes (McLuhan, 1965; Mitchell & Hansen, 2010; Hayles, 2004) mais aussi la philosophie Allemande des médias (Kittler et al., 2018; Mersch et al., 2018)) et les recherches francophones en SIC (Jeanneret, 2000; Bonaccorsi & Flon, 2014)). En effet, depuis le fameux « le medium est le message », on se rend compte à quel point le support n’est pas transparent derrière le message, ou pour le dire en termes de sémiotique (Fontanille, 2015) le plan de l’expression ne disparaît par derrière le plan du contenu. Même le numérique présente une matérialité sensible qu’il faut prendre en considération. En France, ce sont les historiens du livre (Chartier et al., 2001), de l’écriture (Christin, 2009) et des chercheurs en sciences de l’information et de la communication (Jeanneret, 2008) qui ont compris l’importance de revenir sur les incarnations, les métamorphoses, les légitimations, et les circulations de ce qui fait médiation entre notre réalité psychique et le monde extérieur, aussi bien que ce qui fait lien entre nous. Médiation et médialité Plus largement encore, c’est une théorie de la médialité qui rencontre les théories du design : en effet, pour changer le monde, il ne faut pas être complètement pris dans ce monde. Il nous faut un entre deux, des espaces et des objets de médiation, qui permettent à la fois de relier et de mettre à distance pour composer et recomposer des alternatives à ce qui nous entoure (Guillory, 2010; Gentes, 2017). Une histoire des médiums Ainsi, les recherches centrées sur les médiums du design s’intéressent non seulement à l’agentivité des matériaux mais aussi à la façon dont le designer fait sens avec les matières qui s’inscrivent dans une culture et une histoire de leurs mises en œuvre (Greenberg, 1971). Le bois par exemple ne présente pas que des propriétés chimiques et mécaniques, il s’inscrit aussi dans une culture du bois : les valeurs sociales qui lui sont associées, et dans les traditions de son utilisation : pour des objets utilitaires mais aussi pour des sculptures. Le rôle des mediums et la relation qui est entretenu entre le designer et ces mediums évoluent de plus dans la temporalité du projet et dans celle de l’usage (Levy, 2020). D’un côté, la variété et la pluralité des fonctions du prototype au sein du projet en fait un medium au cœur du déploiement du projet. De l’autre côté, l’appropriation est un moment d’évolution du sens. Quels médiums pour le design d’aujourd’hui ? Aujourd’hui, le design ne traite plus seulement du bois ou du plastique, mais du vivant, de nos modalités d’être ensemble, et des technologies qui organisent notre vie. De la terre à l’IA, il y a plus d’un pas et pour les designers contemporains des enjeux colossaux. Quelles sont les caractéristiques de ces nouveaux matériaux du design ? Quelles sont les méthodes de travail de ces nouveaux médiums ? Comment former à ces nouveaux matériaux du design ? Le séminaire « les médiums en design » invite ceux qui se questionnent sur leurs pratiques, qui s’interrogent sur leurs méthodes à rejoindre la communauté de recherche formée par CY Design Research, Dicen-IDF et la chaire Design Jean Prouvé CNAM pour échanger sur ces questions. La revue Sciences du design est associée à ce travail : nous proposerons aux auteurs qui ont abordé ces questions de faire une présentation de leur article. Bibliographie Bonaccorsi, J., & Flon, É. (2014). La « variation » médiatique: D’un fondamental sémiotique à un enjeu d’innovation industrielle. Les Enjeux de l’information et de la communication, n° 15/2(2), 3–10. Chartier, R., Collectif, & Cavallo, G. (2001). Histoire de la lecture dans le monde occidental (Édition : [Ed. augm. d’une bibliogr. rev. et augm.]). Seuil. Christin, A.-M. (2009). L’Image écrite ou La déraison graphique (Enlarged édition). Flammarion. Fontanille, J. (2015). Formes de vie. Presses universitaires de Liège. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.pulg.2207 Gentes, A. (2017). The In-Discipline of Design: Bridging the Gap Between Humanities and Engineering (1st ed. 2017 edition). Springer. Greenberg, C. (1971). Art and Culture: Critical Essays. Beacon Press. Guillory, J. (2010). Genesis of the Media Concept. Critical Inquiry, 36(2), 321–362. https://doi.org/10.1086/648528 Hayles, N. K. (2004). Print Is Flat, Code Is Deep: The Importance of Media-Specific Analysis. Poetics Today, 25(1), 67–90. Ingold, T. (2007). Materials against materiality. Archaeological Dialogues, 14(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1380203807002127 Jeanneret, Y. (2000). Y a-t-il (vraiment) des technologies de l’information ? Presses Universitaires du Septentrion. Jeanneret, Y. (2008). Penser la trivialité: Volume 1, La vie triviale des êtres culturels. Hermes Science Publications. Kittler, F., Guez, E., & Alloa, E. (2018). Gramophone, film, typewriter (F. Vargoz, Trans.; Illustrated édition). Les Presses du réel. Knappett, C., & Malafouris, L. (Eds.). (2008). Material Agency: Towards a Non-Anthropocentric Approach. Springer US. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-74711-8 Levy, P. (2020). Artefactual emptiness: On appropriation in kansei design. Proceedings of the Kansei Engineering and Emotion Research International Conference 2020, KEER2020. McLuhan, M. (1965). Understanding media: The extensions of man. McGraw-Hill. Mersch, D., Alloa, E., Baumann, S., & Farah, P. (2018). Théorie des médias: Une introduction. Les Presses du réel. Mitchell, W. J. T., & Hansen, M. B. N. (Eds.). (2010). Critical Terms for Media Studies (Illustrated edition). University of Chicago Press. Schon, D. A. (1992). Design as a reflective conversation with the materials of a design situation. Research in Engineering Design, 3, 131–147. 2021-12-11 20:04:12 +0200 +0200

events Entre méthodes et pratiques en design - un moment d’apprentissage Pierre Lévy, professeur du CNAM, Chaire Design Jean Prouvé Je voudrais m’intéresser aujourd’hui à la place des méthodes et des pratiques en design, et décrire leur entre-deux comme un lieu de développement des pratiques, c’est-à-dire comme moment d’apprentissage réflexif sur la pratique. 1. Le design Le premier point d’attention porte sur la notion même de design et la façon dont il est décrit par la propre communauté de recherche en design. Un récent article (Blackler et al., 2021) propose une analyse de vingt ans de discussion sur l’une des listes de diffusion les plus actives et renommées dans le monde (PHD-DESIGN List, n.d.) et portant sur la définition du design. Sa conclusion est comme suit (traduit par l’auteur) : Malgré un discours robuste autour des perspectives pertinentes sur le design, les discussions de la liste sont et ont été répétitives, sans aucun progrès significatif vers une définition consolidée du design. […] Nous proposons qu’il n’est peut-être pas possible de définir le design de cette manière, et que le domaine devrait s’éloigner de la réitération et discuter de l’importance du rôle du design… (Blackler et al., 2021) On note déjà que la tentative de définir le design semble inaboutie, et les auteurs de l’article suggèrent que cette tentative est inévitablement vouée à ne jamais aboutir. Le design ne se laisse pas définir et il serait temps de passer à autre chose : au lieu de questionner ce qu’est le design (description de l’état), il semble plus judicieux de questionner le rôle du design (description de l’action). La résistance du design à la définition semble également être exprimée par Johan Redström (2017) lorsqu’il s’intéresse aux fondations du design (traduit par l’auteur) : Le design semble fonder son existence sur des complexités issues de dichotomies. De négocier la forme et la function. D’engager l’artisanat et ses compétences, et de travailler avec la production industrielle. De travailler avec des processus ouverts et d’être profondément engagé à la méthode. D’être centré-utilisateur et design-driven. D’être art et science. […] Et le design peut aussi être remarquablement résilient et désireux de s’engager à tout cela, ce qui n’est ni blanc ou noir, mais complexe et coloré. […] La raison pour laquelle on apprécie tellement les dichotomies en design est parce qu’elle permet d’adresser le conflit, la collision, et les contradictions, et d’ouvrir ainsi de nouvelles perspectives et potentiels. Ce que nous dit Redström est que l’on peut trouver la force du design (certains disent le pouvoir du design, nous dirons sa capacité d’action) au sein des dichotomies. C’est en effet dans la collision, la contradiction ou l’irrégularité (Lévy, 2018, 2019) que des opportunités nouvelles se créent et que des transformations sont possibles. Dans un entendement commun et global, c’est-à-dire sans friction, la transformation est bien moins probable. La première conclusion est donc ainsi : Le design est insaisissable, et c’est plutôt une bonne nouvelle ! La pratique réflexive ainsi que l’acceptation de plusieurs perspectives et de dichotomies semblent donc pertinentes pour le design. 2. Méthodes et activités Les méthodes en design sont essentielles pour la formalisation des processus de conception en design. Elles le sont donc dans l’enseignement puisqu’elles permettent de clarifier un cadre pour le projet et à l’apprenant d’appréhender des complexités précédemment discutées. Elles le sont dans la pratique professionnelle à la fois pour la gestion du projet et pour la communication du et autour du projet. Toutefois, les méthodes existantes, et nous prenons ici pour exemples le double diamant proposé par le Design Council (2019) et le Model MV proposé par Kees Dorst (2015), semblent s’attacher à une séquence ordonnée d’activités prédéfinies, séquence souvent contredite par la pratique. La pratique peut être plus fidèlement décrite par les actions situées qui la constituent. C’est ce que propose le Reflective Transformative Design Process (C. Hummels & Frens, 2009) qui propose une perspective effective autant pour la pratique elle-même du design que pour son enseignement. La description d’activités permet de cadrer la pratique sans pour autant imposer un ordre hors contexte. L’expérience montre en effet que le projet doit s’adapter aux ressources accessibles et aux contraintes et opportunités qui se présentent. De plus, dans une période où le design s’investit de plus en plus dans l’arène sociale et politique, nous avons développé une nouvelle approche, les pratiques transformatives (C. C. M. Hummels et al., 2019), qui justement reprend cette idée de discuter la pratique au travers d’activités tout en incluant des notions liées entre autres à la participation sociale et à la complexité. Ces approches ne prescrivent ni séquence ni réelle limite aux activités, si bien que la pratique ainsi décrite peut paraitre à la fois déstructurée et omnipotente. Mais c’est justement au travers de l’une des dichotomies proposées par Redström - travailler avec des processus ouverts et d’être profondément engagé à la méthode - qui expose la force de l’association contradictoire formée par la méthode et la pratique, celle d’une activité réflexive possible grâce au delta entre pratique et méthodes, qui invite justement à une réflexion transformative, et donc apprenante, de la pratique du design. C’est donc là la seconde conclusion de ma présentation aujourd’hui : Les méthodes et !es activités forment donc une dichotomie en design. C’est au travers de cette dichotomie que la pratique du design s’établit, au travers d’une réflexion transformative et apprenante de la pratique. Bibliographie Blackler, A., Swann, L., Chamorro-Koc, M., Mohotti, W. A., Balasubramaniam, T., & Nayak, R. (2021). Can We Define Design? Analyzing Twenty Years of Debate on a Large Email Discussion List. She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation, 7(1), 41-70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sheji.2020.11.004 Design Council. (2019). What is the framework for innovation? Design Council’s evolved Double Diamond. Design Council. https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/news-opinion/what-framework-innovation-design-councils-evolved-double-diamond Dorst, K. (2015). Frame Innovation: Create New Thinking by Design. MIT Press. Hummels, C. C. M., Trotto, A., Peeters, J. P. A., Levy, P., Alves Lino, J., & Klooster, S. (2019). Design research and innovation framework for transformative practices. In Strategy for change (pp. 52-76). Glasgow Caledonian University. Hummels, C., & Frens, J. (2009). The reflective transformative design process. Proceedings of the 27th International Conference - Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems CHI09, 2655-2658. https://doi.org/10.1145/1520340.1520376 Lévy, P. (2018). Le temps de l’expérience, enchanter le quotidien par le design [Habilitation à diriger des recherches]. Université de Technologie de Compiègne, France. Lévy, P. (2019). Designing for the everyday through thusness and irregularity. Proceedings of the International Association of Societies of Design Research Conference 2019, IASDR19. International Association of Societies of Design Research Conference 2019, Manchester, UK. PHD-DESIGN List. (n.d.). Retrieved 4 December 2021, from https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=PHD-DESIGN Redström, J. (2017). Making design theory. MIT Press. 2021-11-18 10:30:52 +0200 +0200