The Significance of a Designed Product, Comparison to Philippe Starcks Infamous Gun Lamp - Case Study Example

The Significance of a Designed Product By of The Significance of a Designed Product Introduction Sculpture is the branch of visual arts that uses materials like stone, metal, ceramics, and wood to develop artistic designs. Sculptural arts have a growing significance in the current world because today’s people are greatly interested to know more about such works and spend money to own popular designs. Hence, the global tourism industry and national governments have launched a number of initiatives to encourage skilled sculptors financially and technically. While analysing the history of the sculptural design profession, it is not possible to ignore tribal African contributions because those works constitute a direct reflection of the traditions and norms existed in the African community. The orientation, scale, and modelling of sculptural designs differ from community to community because sculptural works are inextricably linked to social lives. This paper will analyse the sculpture designs of two sculptors from two different geographical regions. In addition, the paper will also describe how those artistic designs have impacted the society. Throne of Weapons: A brief Overview of the Design ‘The Throne of Weapons’ is a sculpture designed and built by Cristóvão Canhavato, and this influential design was commissioned by Bishop Dinis Sengulane of the Christian Council of Mozambique (Mpofu, 2002). This sculpture resembles a conventional wooden armchair and is designed to reflect the 20th century history of the Mozambique. This design has been a property of the British Museum since 2002, and this is commonly known as the Museum’s most ‘eloquent object’. The sculptor, Cristóvão Canhavato, was born in Zavalia in southern Mozambique. He is widely regarded as Kester as part of a co-operative called Associação Núcleo de Arte. Hence, the Throne of Weapons is often referred to as Kester’s chair. The sculpture was made from the decommissioned weapons supplied by an organisation called Transforming Arms into Tools (Dinar, 2005). The weapons collected since the end of the Mozambican Civil War in 1992 were deployed to create this design. The decommissioned weapons used to design this chair mainly include AK-47 rifles and H&K G3 rifles. When the AK-47 guns were manufactured in Portugal, North Korea, and Easter Europe, the H&K G3 rifles were designed in Germany and manufactured in Portugal. The Russian contribution of the iconic AK47 rifle is of great importance in this artistic work as this assault rifle is still a significant feature on the Mozambique’s flag. A North Korean made AKM rifle and a single PPSh-43 submachinegun form the front of the chair whereas the weapons that were manufactured in Poland and Czechoslovakia make up the seat. This sculpture was signed by the artist Kester. However, the curators indicate that termites, a group of eusocial insects that have traditionally caused damages to African wood sculptures, have also left their signature on the Kester’s chair. The sculptor Kester claims that he has depicted smiling faces in this design even though his relatives had been injured by these types of weapons. The holes and marks seen on the rifle butts were used to attach straps to rifles when they were carried by their owners. The artist created a gothic shape at the back of the design with intent to symbolise a church. According to the Anglican Bishop Dinis Sengulane and his allies in this project, the stated objective of this artistic development was to spread a message of peace by using the remnants of relinquished rifles (cited in McGregor, 2011, p.na). The collaborative radio programme between BBC and the British Museum chose the Throne of Weapons to be featured in A History of the World in 100. The Elements of Concern The academic literature has well documented all the elements of concern regarding the particular design of this sculpture such as morals, ethics, mass production, advanced economies, emerging economies, lost generations, need against want, sustainability and correct choice. This war monument represents the tragedy of the Mozambican Civil War and spreads the message of everlasting peace in the global community. Hence, researchers argue that this artistic design represents both human tragedy and human triumph. In this perspective, the human faces stamped in the chair may be interpreted as crying in pain or laughing with joy (BBC, n.d.). The Throne of Weapons has many anthropomorphic qualities such as arms, legs, back, and most significantly a face (London Evening Standard, Friday 15 August 2014). These features link this particular design to the arts of Africa where non-figurative objects like pots, chairs, or weapons are often described as human beings. It is to be also noted that this design is a contemporary form of art developed with a global view and it connects the arts of Africa with the Western sphere of art and Mozambique with global arms trade. None of the weapons used to build the Throne of Weapons were made in Mozambique or in Africa thus reflecting the fact that all humans are complicit one way or another. It is evident that advanced, emerging, and underdeveloped economies set aside a substantial portion of their national income for purchasing weapons and causing harms to the humanity. According to McGregor (2005, p. na.), the arms, legs, and face of the chair are intended to be an echo of the human form and they can be collectively identified as a metaphor for human living. Since this artistic design represents human tragedy, it also stands as a symbol of lost generations who were victims to wars. The Mozambican people held heroistic notions about AK-47 gun because this weapon had helped them win the war of independence ceased in 1975 (BBC, 23 December 2005). This is the reason why AK-47 rifle is depicted in the national flag of Mozambique. However, the citizens’ feelings toward this assault rifle have changed when the civil war took the lives of nearly one million people and displaced many. Today they perceive the AK-47 as a symbol of violence. The ‘throne’ which is made up of weapons may also indicate people’s urge to use the tools of violence for achieving powerful positions. Finally, Kester’s chair also describes the mass production of weapons because this sculpture is entirely made up of decommissioned weapons. Impact of the Design on the Society In order to clearly understand the impact of the Throne of Weapons on the society, it is essential to examine the social context in which the sculpture was designed. Following the end of the war of independence in 1975, the Mozambican Civil War began in 1977, and it was a proxy war of the Cold War similar to the Angolan Civil War. The war of independence was led and won by a left-wing resistance movement called Front for Liberation of Mozambique (FREMILO), which was backed up by the Soviet Union and its allies. The Mozambican Civil War broke out when the ruling party FRELIMO and the Armed Forces of Mozambique (FAM) were violently attacked by the Mozambique Resistance Movement (RENAMO) with the support of funding received from Rhodesia and later South Africa. According to official data, nearly one million people died in the civil war and five million Mozambican people were displaced. In addition, many civilians became amputees by landmines. The Mozambican Civil War ended in 1992, and two year later the country’s first public elections were conducted in 1994. As part of this sculpture development project, over thousands of weapons used in the civil war have been relinquished and handed over to the artists for disabling and turning into new shapes. According to the project’s patron Graca Machel, the aim of the project was “to take away instruments of death from the hands of young people and to give them an opportunity to develop a productive life” (as cited in McGregor, 2005, p.na). The project leaders believed that this initiative would be beneficial to convert guns into works of art. The project was started in 1995 under the guidance of the Anglican Bishop Dinis Sengulane and support from Christian Aid. This specific product design could disarm the hands as well as minds of people to a great extent. When many people die from poverty and shortage of medicines and many others are illiterate, it is pitiable to see that still the world is spending huge amounts of money for armament purposes. The project leaders believed that this artistic design would spread a strong message against the practice of unnecessarily investing in the acquisition of arms and ammunitions. This sculpture design was inspired by the Biblical books of Micah and Isaiah that say that they will turn their swords into ploughshares and nothing will frighten them. Evidently Bible spreads the message of peace, and therefore Kester’s chair greatly influenced people in a religious way. Although this sculpture was developed as a glorification of war, it has had a great influence on the minds of Mozambican people, particularly youngsters. In the traditional African societies, chairs were found very rarely because they were reserved for tribal heads, princes, and kings. Hence, chairs were really considered ‘thrones’ in those African communities. In the words of McGregor, no individual ruler is meant to sit on the Chair of Weapons “but is intended as an expression of the governing spirit of the new Mozambique – peaceful reconciliation” (p.na). Thus, Kester’s chair has a great influential power over the Mozambican society. Another challenge the Mozambique faced following the end of the civil was to decommission tens of thousands of surviving guns. The newly elected government in the Mozambique also struggled with the challenge of rebuilding the lives of former soldiers and their families. Weapons once used by soldiers and rivals were voluntarily surrendered under this project and in exchange the former soldiers and rival combatants received practical tools like sewing machines, roofing materials, and hoes. Scholars indicate that the Throne of Weapons played a great influential role in this recovery process. The project called Transforming Arms into Tools, under which the Throne of Weapons was developed, is itself a peace promoting campaign and is still going today. Carrying the message of peace and the abolition of armed conflicts, the Throne of Weapons has travelled internationally and was exhibited in a large number of schools, shopping malls, museums, cathedrals, and community spaces across the United Kingdom. Undoubtedly, the designing of the Throne of Weapons played an inevitable role in popularising the Mozambican Civil War and its dreadful aftermath. Evidences suggest that the Mozambican society has not yet recovered from the effects of the Civil War 1977-1992. Hence, this artistic monument of the war was really a strong tool to eliminate the evils and hatred and violence from the world, and to promote the existence of peace in the international community. Today the Throne of Weapons is recognised as a global symbol of peace thus highlighting its great influence over the world. Theoretical Views As many people think, sculpture design is not a simple process that anyone can do. There are certain elements and principles of design that every sculptor must comply with while designing and building an artistic structure. Mass and space are identified to be the two principal elements of sculpture designing. Mass is referred to the solid bit contained within the sculpture’s surfaces whereas space is the air that surrounds the solid sculpture. The space defines the edges of the sculpture, and it plays a vital role in linking separate parts of the sculpture. In addition, the space may be enclosed by specific parts of the sculpture. Generally, sculptural works are evaluated and differentiated according to the way they treat these two elements. For instance, some sculptors pay specific attention to the solid components of the sculpture whereas some others focus on how the solid sculpture is related to the space in which it sits. Surface is another crucial element found in most sculptures, and it can create magnificent visual effects if they are shaped appropriately. To illustrate, convex surfaces reflect internal pressure, satiety, contentment, and general fullness whereas concave surfaces express external pressure and an inner insubstantiality (The art of sculpture, n.d.). Similarly, a flat surface does not produce any visual effect of three-dimensionality while a modelled surface can create strong 3D effects (Ibid). Sculptors also use coloured or uncoloured surfaces to produce a particular visual effect. The principles of sculptural design give particular emphasis to factors such as orientation, proportion, scale, articulation and balance (Ibid). Proper orientation is inevitable to create s sense of harmony or disharmony in the sculpture while proportion and scale determine how the sculpture is fitted to its surroundings. The element of articulation is concerned with how sculptural figures are linked together. More clearly articulation is about how different parts merge in a single structure or how separate sections are jointed. In the perspective of the balance factor, the sculpture must be physically stable, and it must project a sense of dynamic or static equilibrium. Comparison to Philippe Starck’s Infamous Gun Lamp The Throne of Weapons is regarded as a design of the emerging world as it spreads the message of peace and economic development. The Gun Lamp built by Philippe Starck is a direct opposition to this design. Referring to Clark and Brody (2009, p. 209), Gun Lamp is a sculpture which is made up of a lamp and a gold plated Kalashnikov on its stand. Starck designed this artistic work for the Italian lighting company Flos. This particular design brought unwanted publicity to the design profession and it resulted in a set of favourable and unfavourable comments by experts. In the opinion of Mark Delaney, this design is a good example of design industry’s growing obsession with fashion and novelty (Ibid). Delaney adds that these types of designs are ‘neither particularly beautiful nor artistically insightful’. In direct opposition to this view, Mike Curtis opines that Starck’s controversial nature of this particular design shows how the design industry can provoke and enhance consciousness (cited in Clark and Brody, pp.16-17). The Gun Lamp is designed in the form of a Russian Kalashnikov rifle standing upright. Lamping designs always try to suggest innovative ideas so as to bring new light into people’s lives. However, Starck’s lamping design, at first sight, provokes shock because guns generally stand for violence, war, and sufferings. According to Lee (2005, p. 234)), although it is a lamp functionally, this design as a sculpture is actually a critical reflection of the current world struggled by local wars and other sufferings. Hence, the designer turns such a powerful symbol (light) into a mild domestic element. There is also an element of humour in this sculpture at presenting a deadly weapon as a mere device to light up a room. Although Starck is not the first sculptor to use such contentious designs to express his ideas, this particular design sparked a series of hot debates surrounding its acceptability in the design profession. The major difference between the Throne of Weapons and the Gun Lamp is that the former is a war monument that tries to exhibit the severe consequences of armed conflict whereas the latter appears to be a direct reflection of the current world which is affected by the growing threat of wars and armed conflicts. When the former is intended to spread the message of peace and to give a new hope to the world, the latter aims to criticise the unwanted political disputes that might lead to armed violence. It is evident that Kester followed conventional theories and approaches to express his mindset while Starck used many contentious approaches to design the Gun Lamp. Although Starck also tried to raise his voice against violence and wars through his sculpture, this particular work was against the generally accepted traditional practices of sculpture development. Conclusion In total, the Throne of Weapons is a sculpture designed and built by Kester under the project called Transforming Arms into Tools. The sculpture was entirely made from decommissioned weapons that have been collected since the end of the Mozambican Civil War in 1992. As the AK-47 rifles had greatly assisted the Mozambique to win the war of independence, Mozambican people adored this assault rifle and hence an AK-47 gun is depicted in the Mozambican national flag. However, the people’s attitude toward this rifle changed when the same gun caused to take the lives of nearly one million Mozambican citizens during the civil war. In this context, the Transforming Arms into Tools project aims to disarm hands and minds of young people by decommissioning weapons and transforming them into useful items. Hence, the Throne of Weapons reflects human tragedy and human triumph at the same time. The sculpture spreads a strong message against violence and asks the world to avoid armed conflicts that would cause dreadful consequences. Kester’s chair, in terms of sculptural design, is entirely different from Philippe Starck’s infamous Gun Lamp which was built in contrary to conventional sculpture design approaches. References The art of sculpture. Sculpture Definition, Types - Statues, Reliefs. [online] available at: http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/sculpture.htm#theory [accessed 14 Aug 2014]. Clark H & Brody D (eds.) (2009) Design Studies: A Reader. US: Berg Publishers. BBC ( 23 December 2005) ‘Are you passionate about your flag?’. [online] available at: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4550842.stm [accessed 14 Aug 2014]. BBC (n.d.) Throne of Weapons. [online] available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/97OnxVXaQkehlbliKKDB6A [accessed 14 Aug 2014]. Dinar A B (2005) ‘Mozambique: Tree of Life’. AfricaFocus Bulletin. Lee S (2005) Light Into Life: Future Life : Asian Design. Michigan: Ahn Graphics Company Limited. (Friday 15 August 2014) ‘London - A world city in 20 objects: No. 10 Throne of Weapons’. London Evening Standard McGregor N (2011) A History of the World in 100 Objects. UK: Penguin. Mpofu N (2002). ‘Throne of Weapons A British Museum Tour’. British Museum. [online] available at: https://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/throne.pdf [accessed 14 Aug 2014]. Read More