Design for the Other 90%
If you find yourself strolling up by the park on New York's Upper East Side, you may find yourself puzzled by the presence of what appears to be a small refugee camp, set incongruously in a corner of the palatial Cooper-Hewitt design museum's well-groomed lawn. Have the squatters returned to the not-so-mean streets of post-Giuliani New York? Don't be ridiculous! This is "Design for the Other 90%" - the Cooper-Hewitt's collection of products designed for, well... parts of the world that seem extremely far from the Cooper-Hewitt.
Given that most of the products in "Design for the Other 90%" (DFTO9P) were created for use outdoor use, the show's location out on the back lawn is actually fairly appropriate, even if the backyard placement does make it seem like a bit of a sideshow to the more luxe wares inside at the Triennial. However, after clawing your way up through the Triennial's design dogpile - you'll be happy for DFTO9P's simple, practical pleasures. Unlike the Triennial, DFTO9P is well organized around understandable and important themes such as education and energy. The objects in the show give solid proof to the notion that great design often comes in response to the hardest problems.
Included in the exhibit are frog friends Design that Matters, whose brilliant Kinkajou projector was on display (though sadly not turned on) in one of the shelters. Design that Matters developed this low-cost, rugged projector as a way to teach children reading in places where poor lighting and harsh conditions make books impractical. Nearby, the museum had set up a small garden to show off IDE's treadle pump - a simple stairmaster-like pump that has made extended growing seasons possible for thousands in the developing world. The OLPC was there, though not turned on, as was some kind of WIFI-providing moped similar to what Yuri Gitman made for New York residents a few years back.
This branch of product design interests me immensely, especially when done in the way IDE does it. IDE's pumps are not charity handouts, but real products manufactured and for-sale in developing countries. Projects like IDE's create entire markets for manufacturers and resellers that, in addition to the economic advantage they give farmers, stimulate local economies and create jobs.
One thing I would have like to see a lot more of is the sort of indigenously generated design that seemed evident in only a few of the products in the DFTO9P show. It's always a complicated situation when a developing country simply drops something from the sky, however brilliant and helpful. MIT's guerilla fab labs, which have been set up in several developing countries, offer an interesting alternative path - giving people access to tools that can be used to make things themselves. I'd like to see this concept taken further - perhaps by setting up design schools specifically for these kinds of products in the developing world. I suspect there's a lot of innovation, borne of necessity, waiting to be tapped.
