The Modernist Utopian Vision of Social Equality: The Monobloc Single Moulded Plastic Chair Globalised Design Thinking Stephen T.F. POON School...
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Stephen T.F. POON
School of Media, Arts & Design, Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation, Malaysia
Page 48 – 52 | Vol. 4 No. 2 (2019) | Available online on 1 Dec 2019
Abstract
The discussion in this research is about how the utopian ideology that emerged from designing ordinary products demanded by mass consumer markets triggered the plastic monobloc pandemic and influenced social reformation, both in aesthetics aspects of industrial design applications, and in equalising the global post-World-War II economy. Modernism through mass production processes provides a platform for social response by urban designers, who strive for more sustainable ways to achieve idealised utopian conditions by introducing characteristics of durability, cheapness and sturdiness, while developing mass production techniques. The ubiquitous monobloc chair is an example of social activism in design thinking, as mass manufacturing enables society to afford less costly, everyday furnishing materials such as injection-moulded plastic chairs. From the creative standpoint, many in design fields may disqualify and disclaim the value of homogenous plastic furniture as a tangible expression of social reformation. Nevertheless, monoblocs ride on the mass-consumer utility factor and is promoted from economic benefit rather than aesthetics standpoint. What should we make of this, and how does design modernism fit into the 21st-century ideals of “utopian” society today?
Keywords
Monobloc Chair, Mass Manufacturing, Modernism, Social Equality, Utopia
Acknowledgement
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Human Factors & Ergonomics Journal (HFEJ), eISSN: 2590-3705 is the official Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Malaysia. The journal is published on a biannual basis. HFEJ aims to address current research in the field of Ergonomics in addition to the broad coverage of cognitive ergonomics, user experience, physical ergonomics and others such as transportation, industrial design and industrial engineering. HFEJ is a member of, and subscribes to the principles of the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics), as such we only accept original work.