Te momo hoahoa e whakapāhunu ana i te whakapeto

Me rapu tātou i tētahi māramatanga hou ki te hoahoa me tōna whakamahinga hei whakaaro ake i tētahi ao pai ake, te kī a Angus Campbell, ā, i te mea ko ia te ūpoko hou o te Hōtaka Hoahoa i Waipapa Taumata Rau, e whai ana rātou ko āna ākonga ki te whakatutuki i taua rapunga.

“He hītori āhua māniania tō te hoahoa,” tāna kī, “i te mea i mua i whakamahia hei whakawai, hei mirimiri i te tangata kia hiahia ia, kia hoko ia i ngā taputapu nui ake, ina koa i muri i te Pakanga Tuarua.”

Engari ko te hoahoa i te rautau 21, e uruhi ana i te mahi hoahoa i tētahi wairua whakapāhunu, kaua ko te akiaki i te whakapeto i ngā mea tē mateatia.

“Ka iti ake te wāhi ki te rerehua i te whanaketanga hua,” hei tāna, ā, e matapae ana ia, “ka nui ake te hirangao te whakamahinga o ngā rawa toitū me ngā hātepe whakanao”.
 

Koinei te mea i whakamanea i a ia ki te Hōtaka Hoahoa i te Whare Wānanga - e tuku ana, e akiaki ana i ngā ākonga ki te hoahoa mō tētahi ao toitū tūturu ake, i tētahi ara pono, ā, kāore i te ‘whakapaipai kākāriki noa iho’.

He Tohu Kairangi o te Mātākōrero me te Rapunga Whakaaro i te Mātai Whanaketanga tā Campbell mai i te Whare Wānanga o Johannesburg, me te Tohu Paerua Hangarau i te Hoahoa Ahumahi mai i a Technikon Witwatersrand i Āwherika ki te Tonga. I noho ia hei kaiako i te Whare Wānanga o Johannesburg mō ngā tau 18 kua hipa, otirā i te nuinga o te wā ko ia te Ūpoko o te Tari Hoahoa Ahumahi.

E āhukahuka ana te Hōtaka Hoahoa ehara te mahi hoahoa i te mea ka uru ki ngā wehenga whāiti, pēnei i te hoahoa ahumahi, te hoahoa whakairoiro, hoahoa hua, hoahoa pūeru rānei. Tata ki te 60 ōrau o ngā ākonga e ako ana i tēnei wā i te Hōtaka Hoahoa, e ako ana i te hoahoa hei tohu tūhono, ki te hauora, te pūtaiao rorohiko, te mātai ao whānui, te ture me ētahi atu kaupapa ako i roto o te Whare Wānanga. Nā tēnei “ka whakamahia te hoahoa hei arawhiti i waenga i ngā kaupapa ,” hei tāna.

E arotahi ana āna whakaakoranga, rangahau ā-ringa me te wheako hoahoa mahi motuhake ki te tūhura me te whakamahi i te hoahoa i runga i te āhua o te whakakotahi i ngā pūnaha ā-pāpori, ā-hangarau, ā-hauropi matatini hei whakautu i ngā matea hou, pēnei i te rapu huarahi ki te whakaputa kai toitū.

Ka uru ki tēnei te tiki atu, me te akiaki i ngā auahatanga me ngā mātauranga taketake o ngā hapori taketake, ngā kaipāmu iti i auaha ki te rapu huarahi ki te whakaputa kai me te kore e tūkino i te taiao.

“He nui te mahi auaha i ngā hapori kua paetahatia, otirā kāore aua tāngata e whakaarotia ana he tohunga nā te mea kāore i whai wāhi ki te mātauranga, engari he tohunga ki ā rātou mahi ake, i ngā tikanga ake. E mōhio ana rātou ki ā rātou mahi me te horopaki e mahi ana rātou, me pēhea hoki te whakamahi i ngā rauemi kia toitū te āhua.

“He māmā hoki te whakawhiti me te whakamāori i ēnei momo auahatanga, engari me whai i ētahi paku rauemi e taea ai te whakawhānui ake.”

“Ko te pūtake o te hoahoa ko te whakaaro ake me pēhea te tāmau i ngā rapanga auaha ki te rohe, e tuku rapanga ana ki ngā raru tuatini. Kei mua i a tātou tētahi raru toitū o te ao whānui, e tuku ana i te āheinga nui ki ngā kaihoahoa, me te nekehanga rapunga whakaaro hei whakauruuru atu ki te tuatini o ēnei raruraru.”
 

Designing in a way that discourages consumption

Contrary to popular perception design is no longer about making aesthetically pleasing stuff, or driving our desire to own, buy and display more stuff, as it has been accused of in the past.

We need a new understanding of what design is and how we can use it to conceive a better world, says Angus Campbell, and as new head of the Design Programme at the University of Auckland, he and his students aim to help us do just that.

“Design has a relatively problematic history,” he says, “because in the past it was used to persuade or manipulate people into wanting and buying more, particularly post WW2.”

Design in the 21st century, however, demands designing in way that discourages rather than encourages consumption of that which we don’t need.

“Aesthetics are going to play a lesser role in product development,” he predicts, and “the use of sustainable materials and methods of production increasingly important”.

This is what attracted him to the Design Programme at the University – it allows and encourages students to design for a genuinely more sustainable world, in an honest way and without the ‘green-washing’.

Campbell has a Doctorate of Literature and Philosophy in Development Studies from the University of Johannesburg and a Masters of Technology in Industrial Design from the Technikon Witwatersrand, South Africa. For the past 18 years he taught at the University of Johannesburg, where he most recently was Head of the Department of Industrial Design.

The Design Programme recognises that design is not that which fits within narrow silos, such as industrial design, graphic design, product design or fashion design. Almost 60 percent of the students currently studying in the Design Programme are studying design as a conjoint degree, with health, computer science, global studies, law and other disciplines taught within the University. This allows “design to be used in a way that builds bridges between disciplines,” he says.

His lecturing, practice-based research and freelance design experience is focused on investigating and using design in a way that brings together complex social, technological and ecological systems, to address contemporary needs, such as finding ways to produce food in a sustainable way.

That has included drawing on and encouraging the innovations and local knowledge of grassroots communities, small-scale farmers who have been innovative in finding ways to produce enough to eat without damaging their environment.

“There’s a lot of innovation in marginalised communities, in which people aren’t considered to be experts because they haven't necessarily had access to education but are experts at what they're doing in very particular ways. They know their craft and the context in which they’re working, and how to use resources in a way that is sustainable.

“These sorts of innovations are also relatively easy to transfer and translate, but require modest resourcing to be able to scale-up.”

“Design is about thinking about how creative solutions can be embedded locally, that provides solutions for complex problems. We’re faced with a global sustainability crisis, which presents a huge opportunity for designers and a philosophical shift, to engage with the complexity of these problems.”