- Put it on the table. - Observe it for a while. - Take it apart, not as if you would disassemble a machine, - Spread all parts and components on the table. - Try to distinguish 'cells' from 'organs' and 'systems'. - Try to understand the interdependency between the different 'organ systems' that, as a whole, - Reconsider the organism. Try to identify the 'breeding grounds', 'multiplication rates', 'spreading patterns' and 'lifespan' of your kitchen appliance. - Link up these estimates with the context in which your kitchen appliance emerged. Hereby consider labor costs, availability of energy and material, modes of production, communication tools and social organization. - Try to understand the interrelations between the appearance of your kitchen appliance and its context. - Go to your computer, google your kitchen appliance and dig up three very different versions of your appliance from a near or distant past. - Again, try to understand the interrelations between the appearance of each object in relation to its context. - Step back and reflect. - Now, filter out the patterns, the reoccurring design principles that you identified as successful in the past and valuable for the future. - Number and list them. - Sketch up / prototype a new design for this kitchen appliance in which you apply these principles within a contemporary context. - Piece your own kitchen appliance together and take it back home.
but rather as if you would dissect an organism.
allow the object to perform its task.