Speaking of design experiences: a phenomenological inquiry into the everyday aesthetic discourse in design representation

This project exhibits an experimental art installation as part of the deliverables of our interpretive study on design creativity, which aims to understand how designers assign meanings, memories, and personal stories inculcating into their design identity as a ‘life project’. The idea of the art installation is inspired by the phenomenological interviews with a group of international textile designers and fashion artists as well as the observations in several wool felting workshops with a group of Hong Kong-based fashion design students. The art installation visually documents the flow of experience, ideas, and production during the design process. Interactions and dialogues between designers and materials, ideas, lived experience are also presented through documentaries as a part of the art installation. Our research findings and interpretations showcase three aesthetic themes, namely ‘feeling the material, feeling your design’, ‘design as an introspective process’, and ‘design as co-creation of social experiences’. This research contributes to address the link between designers’ aesthetic discourse in everyday life as well as their personal narratives during the design creation process. More importantly, we demonstrate the possibilities of translating interpretative findings to art installation in the field of fashion and textile design