Barbara Trippeer
Evidence Based Applied Design Researcher, Fashion Educator, Product Designer, Sustainable Apparel and Manufacturing Specialist, illustrator, artist in residence
Threading the Needle: My Design Philosophy
Almost all designers bring a perspective of personal positionality to their work, regardless of the project or problem they seek to address. My experiences in the fashion industry prompted me to question the impact of the work I was developing, the methods used in its production, and the fundamental training imparted to incoming designers.
I utilize critical cultural theory as a framework in my classrooms and across the spectrum of the research I conduct within the design discipline to affect the evolution of my profession. Critical cultural theory is a social philosophy that challenges us to question our underlying assumptions regarding how specific aspects of society are informed by its cultures. As briefly described by its originator Max Horkheimer in 1937, critical cultural theory "[seeks] to liberate human beings from the circumstances that enslave them." It prompts us to evaluate and challenge our society's underlying power structures and examine how they operate within a broader socio-economic, political, and environmental context.
Analyzing and assessing design through this lens also creates opportunities to practice critical inquiry into the discipline's discourse, practice, performance, and the educational foundations that support and nurture it. In essence, examining design from critical cultural theory creates opportunities to question the status quo that design affects and is affected by through disruptive and transformative acts of resistance. These can be planned and operated in design classrooms and through the projects that professional designers, researchers, and scholars choose to address.
Utilizing critical culture theory allows me to analyze power relations related to the fashion industry and the societies they impact. It also allows me to critically analyze the design, manufacturing, and distribution systems that facilitate the creation and perceptions of its cultural product. Historically, these systems have been invented and used to oppress various groups and exploit resources, with little consideration regarding the long-term negative impacts of initiating and sustaining them. By exploring a range of planning and operating more ethically focused design approaches and pedagogies, I hope that my work can contribute to the sustenance of a more equitable and democratic design profession.