The role of beauty for sustainability: a discussion on responsible consumption, aesthetics attitudes and product design

摘要

This paper explores the relationship between sustainability, and product aesthetic qualities and experience. It presents the result of an ongoing study notably looking at responsible consumption and the resulting visual culture. Initial insights are presented and thoughts that have emerged from this research experience are discussed. The link between eco-ethics, aesthetics, and the intrinsic and extrinsic properties of objects is briefly examined. The paper explores an 'aesthetic attitude' related to the ethical, spiritual and pragmatic facets of sustainability, and proposes the valorisation and celebration of beauty in these terms - as opposed to the surface "aestheticization of everyday life" that we are witnessing in contemporary society.