Role of Traditional Wisdom in Design Education for Global Product Development

Abstract

Tradition is the codified research over centuries—with tremendous feedback. It is important to realise that tradition is a result of research with feedback over the centuries, Joseph Allen Stein. For Indians the concept of globalization is not new. India has been trading partner to various nations since ages. What is new is the speed and the borderlessness of the transactions characterizing the present cache of globalization, made possible in large measure by the networking technologies, and in part by the object of such transactions, viz., information and knowledge, and the ensuing new economy. India being an old civilization with kaleidoscopic variety and rich cultural heritage, faith in the idea of growth and change remains the driving force of modern India. The material evidence of art crafts and architecture inevitably becomes the principal source for understanding the historical and cultural context. Our culture’s ability to sustain uniform and repetitive means of production and reproduction, and implicit in this uniform repeatability its high level of technical coordination. Design education needs to integrate these existing knowledge systems with the emerging knowledge economy, especially standing as we are at the threshold of forces of a globalization, and the opportunities that this could throw up for the traditional sectors. Design education has to redefine itself as the response to fast changing scenarios on the global front. Collaborative cultures form a invariable aspect of design studio. The interdisciplinary dialogues and debate nourish the atmosphere in the design studio. This paper intends to understand the ability of traditional societies of assimilation and reflection of various cultural and technological changes which result in the plurality of Indian architecture, culture and craft, which forms one of the major aspects of the global product development. Various examples from the different design fields like architecture and product design are taken for presenting the connect between the traditional wisdom and global product development..