Try to interpret the DIY spirit in a modern context.
Thanks to the continuous breakthroughs in the development of technology, it’s becoming easier and easier for us to find out products around us that are usable and fully functional. However, at the same time, have you ever thought that the products have also begun to be expensive, easily damaged, and difficult to repair. The rapid updating not only raises the threshold of using them but also is a little bit over-designed sometimes.
And this becomes the reason why I went to visit my grandfather, who is the perfect representative of the DIY spirit from the last century in my mind.
「DIY」comes from the 20th century, symbolizing the rise of individuality. Compared with "Innovation", which means using new technology to create new things, DIY is more inclined to "Creation", reorganizing existing elements. In general, the DIY spirit in my Grandpa's mind is using affordable and easily available materials to achieve specific goals quickly.
Don't we need this spirit in modern context?
"DIYer" is a package that contains five narrow bamboo boards with holes and five hanger hooks. It looks like a set of hangers, while more than just hangers.
Stewart Brand said that
"Human is as god."
Although I can’t fully agree with the values of human beings as creators, it also tells us that Humanity has the ability and conditions to change the environment around us. The concept of DIY subverts the upstream and downstream relationship between people and objects/production and consumption and provides unlimited possibilities and flexibility for Partial Exchange.
Simplify and deepen your life from NOW.
Feel the DIY Spirit from your own experience,
then you'll truly understand that it will never be outdated.
The work was selected as an exhibit for 'Seminar in a fruit shop: You and Me in Design' in Shanghai, 2020