ABSTRACT
What is a cultural object? For over a decade, we have been teaching a unique practice-oriented course for product designers focusing on three distinct cultures of wood: classic Japanese carpentry, Western and Southern African wood cultures, and the ascetic design of the Shakers. Instead of working in a classic manner of presenting the students with a design brief describing our intended result, including a clear function and market-value, we drove the students to start thinking about cultural philosophies, norms, and conventions, as well as religious principles. Mixing various Israeli cultures (Palestinian, Ethiopian, etc.) with a contemporary interpretation of these three cultures created a new approach towards the essence of both empathetic design as well as vernacular design. Through the unique cultural traits of wood, and understanding the Other, empathy is embedded within design practice. Thus, a unique pedagogic approach towards empathy enables us to integrate theory and practice and to raise socio-cultural questions relating to our own position vis-a-vis other cultures.
