Global consumer culture is increasingly associated with the exhaustion of the Earth’s capacity to sustain life. Since consumerism intertwines with business interests, a rapid and fundamental shift in consumer behaviour may not be possible in the mid- or short-term.

My research focuses on the role of design heritage in an achievable sustainability transformation. It suggests a management strategy that taps into existing socio- and politico-economic networks to avoid conflicts of interest while suggesting positive changes in consumer behaviour. The strategy is constructed through an examination of Finnish houseware company Artek’s recent business and marketing models, and is theoretically developed for cross-cultural transferability to Istanbul’s monumental Grand Bazaar. Design may provide a compelling arena to witness and explore “the rise of heritage” across multifaceted avenues of life. We may extend the scope of the foundations of time, unfold the layers of the meaning of the present moment, and perhaps most importantly, broaden the offerings of the past for a sustainable future. Offerings of the past have long been in demand when especially heritage meshes with design’s commercial side. Since the last decade of the twentieth century, for example, diverse vintage markets have grown exponentially with a wave of stores, auction houses, and online sites that not only pop up throughout promising Western economies, but also embrace emerging middle classes from all over the world. The ever-rising consumer demand for vintage items has been accompanied by design businesses’ retro practices that have pervaded the mainstream of commercial aesthetics in a great array of industries and cultural fields, from apparel to computer gaming and photography.

What all these phenomena reveal is that various dialogues between the present and history are being cultivated and that design dialogues are increasingly being championed in diverse cultural, institutional, and commercial contexts. They all point to emerging understandings of design heritage in various contexts that primarily explore how historical capital serves present and future needs. The crux of my primary research argument is that, if managed well, the role of design heritage can be pushed much further, towards a contribution to the greater context of sustainable development, thus responding to the pressing needs of humanity. Therefore, rather than exploiting design heritage in mere commercial forms or presenting it as abstract and isolated, as preserved in design museums, we can make better use of the potential of this capital to embrace more fully a sustainable future in which consumer culture addresses slow and long-term enjoyment.


In design literature, there is no clear definition of a holistic heritage concept. Because of this, a specific theoretical contribution of this study might be the transfer and formulation of a heritage management concept from marketing and brand management practices to the design field in the form of a hypothetical sustainability strategy. The design literature conceptualises the heritage in the context of emerging vintage and retro phenomena such as by Baker (2013), Guffey (2006), and Reynolds (2012) among others. These studies attempt to explain their historical development and current popularity from various cultural perspectives. Their contribution to the articulation of the concept of design heritage remains somewhat limited, however, as these studies do not involve any discussion of the management of the current popularity of vintage and retro phenomena for the sake of sustainable development. Certainly, such studies, including the research carried out within the discipline of design history, contribute in a number of ways, such as playing a fundamental role in the education of new generations of designers. However, what I particularly focus on is the capital of design heritage that has become a part of our civic culture and is passed down through generations achieving unique enduring qualities in the era of fashion and overconsumption. For example, in contrast to the well-documented history of twentieth-century modern design, its future – particularly the promising link between the enduring symbolic features of modern design and the relationship between these and slower modes of consumption – remains an understudied area. The hypothesis of my doctoral research is that despite the overwhelming novelty mechanism of the fashion industry, a design strategy employing design heritage and encouraging durable consumption can be both economically profitable and culturally compelling for the business community and its customers too. The hypothesis extends to a focus on the exploitation of the potential of design heritage to encourage changes in social behaviour related to excessive consumption, the latter being one of the most significant elements of the present sustainability crisis.

Can we not engage design’s well-established cultural popularity, economic strengths, and enduring qualities in the cultivation of a more sustainable consumer culture?

REFERENCES :
* Baker, Sarah Elsie. (2013). Retro Style: Class, Gender and Design in the Home. London, New Delhi, New York, and Sydney: Bloomsbury.
* Reynolds, Simon. (2012). Retromania: Pop Culture’s Addiction to its own Past. London: Faber and Faber.
* Guffey, Elizabeth E. (2006). Retro: The Culture of Revival. London: Reaktion Books.