Destroying the Ordinary for the Extraordinary

Abstract

Product designers are trained to extend control over the objects they design: control of form, of their use-scenario, their production and hopefully their ecological demise as well. In a market-driven world, designers are often called upon to design extraordinary objects, objects that will stand out against competition, that will draw attention to themselves and their owners and carve out a spot for themselves on a store shelf or in contemporary culture. There are many ways to go about designing the extraordinary: upgrading materials, creating surprising new forms, inventiveness in usability, and so on. At the very extreme edge of tactics that can be employed here, counterintuitively, is that of destroying something in order to give it value.