A Sailor's Jigsaw

Vivienne Haldane, Alfresco People, 2009
www.alfresco.co.nz/pdfs/david_trubridge.pdf
Retrieved February 2010

12. An outcome from Milan was his transition from craftsman to designer to maker-designer. "The perception in Europe that I was a designer; being treated as such and asking for more product changed everything for me".

13. The thread running through his work and central to understanding it is David's personal philosophy. Close to his heart are issues affecting the world today such as global warming which he sees as the result of excessive consumption. "Too much of teh stuff we buy is effectively junk food; it's designed to make us unsatisfied and want more. It's unsatisfying because we're getting no nourishment from it. I want to make a product that satisfies and lasts".

David Trubridge at the American Craft Council Salon

17.05.07
Lily Kane, Director of Education at ACC

http://greenjeansbrooklyn.blogspot.com/2007/05/david-trubridge-at-american-craft.html

para-3. The upshot of his presentation was that design must become more sustainable, and that craft as a process is modeling the way forward.

4. At a time when the need for sustainability is no longer in question, designers must start thinking less in terms of "products" and more in terms of "process," Trubridge said. Designers are, wittingly or not, in fact complicit with manufacturers, ever eager to come out with new items, in the overproduction that's straining resources and creating the waste problem, he added.

5.Yet while the world hardly needs more stuff, there is a human impulse to want things. This is where craft comes in, he argued: if more designers would focus on making things on a small scale using local materials, building things with care and love, then we would want to have them for a long time, and thereby we wouldn't be wasting materials and resources by buying temporary or disposable items. In other words, perhaps design can become more sustainable by becoming more like craft.

David Trubridge

The Story

The Three Baskets of Knowledge is a new lighting installation, which was on show for the first time at Superstudio Piu in Zona Tortona as part of Milan Design Week.

In the mythology of the New Zealand Maori, after the creation of the earth and life on it, the demigod Tane was sent up to the heavens to receive the knowledge that mankind needed to live on earth. The ascent was a great struggle against adversity, but once he was admitted into the heavens he was given the knowledge in three baskets or kete. Descriptions of the contents vary, depending on the telling, and are freely open to interpretation. You can gather your own knowledge.


Kete Aronui, knowledge of the earth and the natural world, which is for all (body).

Kete Tuauri, our rational knowledge, which we keep for ourselves (mind).

Kete Tuaatea, knowledge of the spiritual world, which we give out for others (spirit).

These three need to be in balance to live harmoniously on earth. Currently our rational knowledge is dominating our spirit and empathy for the earth. This installation suggests a redress to a balanced state. The three lights shine equally on the earth, overlapping at the centre in harmony.

We believe that if design today does not contribute towards a better way of living, it is both irrelevant and irresponsible. Our vision is to be able to promote ideas more than products. We do not create a new form to seduce you into buying something you do not need. We tell stories to nourish and to spread wisdom. This installation is created to feed your mind, your body and your spirit – to give you something to think about, to connect you to nature, and to nourish you spiritually.

Source: www.davidtrubridge.com