Inspiration
The main inspiration for the mandala is of course Tibetan Buddhist sand paintings. The symbolism of impermanence and ephemerality are important here.
Inspiration also comes from similar traditions such as Indian Rangoli and related traditions such as the Tamil form: Kolam. The practice of Kolam using rice flour is thought to be a daily tribute to harmonious existence as the decoration attracts other beings into the home. Brief descriptions to these can be found on wikipedia (viewed november 2006)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rangoli
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolam
Other influences come from my own research and reflection as a practicing designer. How can a designer establish and maintain a sustainable and ecologically conscious practice? Concepts of cradle to cradle design (from William McDonough & Michael Braungart’s book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the way we make things), what happens to the products of our creativity? In particular the products that have limited life span and use. Cradle to cradle makes us think beyond the short term use of our produced objects to how they will disposed of.
McDonough and Braungart (2002, p.79) use the example of the cherry tree where the shedding of it’s beautiful but temporary over abundance of blossoms may seem inefficient and wasteful – but these blossoms will nourish the earth.
“And when the tree dies, it returns to the soil, releasing, as it decomposes, minerals that will fuel healthy new growth in the same place.”
Among their recommended frameworks McDonough and Braungart (2002, p.91) suggest the design of:
“…products that, when their useful life is over, do not become useless waste but can be tossed onto the ground to decompose and become food for plants and animals and nutrients for the soil: or alternatively, that can return to industrial cycles to supply high-quality raw materials for new products.”
William McDonough elaborates on this further in his keynote address “Design as the First Signal of Intention” at Metropolis Magazine’s Tropical Green Conference. He refers to these by products using the terms Technical Nutrient and Biological Nutrient. The end product of the mandala will be treated as a Biological Nutrient.
A transcript of this presentation can be downloaded from the Metropolis Magazine web site:
http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=2436&abs=Y or
http://www.metropolismag.com/PDF_files/2436/CE_McDonough.pdf
Cradle to Cradle is the main text I have set for my own students this year. Though the authors are a Chemist and an Architect, I highly recommend reading this book to help reflect upon our own practices as artists and designers.
Something to ponder
"If you are a poet, you will see clearly there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper.
Without a cloud, there will be no rain. Without rain the trees cannot grow, and without trees we cannot make paper.
The cloud is essential for the paper to exist.
If the cloud is not here, the sheet of paper cannot be here either.
If we look into this sheet of paper even more deeply, we can see the sun shine in it.
If the sun shine is not there, the tree cannot grow.
In fact nothing can grow. Even we cannot grow without sunshine.
And so we know that the sunshine is also in this sheet of paper.
The paper and the sunshine inter are.
And if we continue to look, we can see the logger who cut the tree, and brought it to the mill to be transformed into paper.
And we see the wheat.
We know that the logger cannot exist without his daily bread.
And therefore the wheat that became his bread is also in this sheet of paper.
And the loggers father and mother are in it too."
Thich Nhat Hanh quoted in the book: The Great Awakening, A Buddhist Social Theory by David Loy (applying buddhist principles to modern day issues).
References
McDonough, W. and Braungart, M. (2002) Cradle to cradle: remaking the way we make things. New York: North Point Press.
Loy, D. (2003) The Great Awakening: A Buddhist Social Theory. Boston: Wisdom Publications.
