Telesis, but in design.

Telesis is progress that is intelligently planned & directed. It is the attainment or desired ends by the application of intelligent human efforts to the means.
Bringing it closer to home, telesis is the deliberate & purposeful utilization of the process of nature and society to obtain particular goals.
“The telesic content of a design should reflect the times & conditions that have given rise to it and must fit in with the general human socioeconomic order in which it is to operate.”
The most common way this expresses itself is through the romanticization of historicism & cultural exchange that gradually turn into cultural appropriation (esp. between the West & “minority” nations).
The point of cultural exchange is to appreciate different cultures, gain exposure & unify while celebrating our differences.

Humans tend to lose themselves though & because the line between cultural appreciation and appropriation is thin, people fall into the latter.
“It is not possible to just move objects, tools, or artifacts from one culture to another and then expect them to work. Exotic artifacts can be translated in this way, but their value seems to lie precisely in the fact that they are exotic—seen in an unfamiliar context.”
When culture exchange happens & cultures truly intermingle, both cultures are enriched and continue to benefit one another.

It’s impossible to just take everyday objects and without regard to context, expect them to work in a different society.
So the question on my mind now is:

“How can we intermingle cultures in a way that ensures both cultures are enriched and continue to benefit from one another?”
Ripping cultural objects out of their telesic context cannot be done with impunity.

So what does this mean for us as designers? And how can we ensure that the telesic context of an object (a thought, process, product, solution, etc.) is maintained at all times?
I’ve been processing this thing for days and writing this thread helped process it in some way but I feel like I’m not there yet. I‘m not where I want to mentally be on this topic just yet & I can’t seem to let it go.
You can follow @LongLiveDumi.
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