STATEMENT OF GRANT PURPOSE Example #3 - risd/careers
STATEMENT OF GRANT PURPOSE Example #3 - risd/careers
STATEMENT OF GRANT PURPOSE Example #3 - risd/careers
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There exists little doubt over the gravity of the environmental crisis. I believe that<br />
in the near future, as companies are ever more pressured by consumer awareness and<br />
government intervention to make products sustainable, the main issue will be to find a<br />
way to seamlessly align the interests of business, product, and sustainability. My goal is<br />
to prove that Wabi Sabi ideals and their application in daily life can serve as a fitting<br />
solution to the ecological predicament. I will demonstrate this by implementing<br />
traditional Wabi Sabi principles into modern life via the creation of functional objects<br />
designed with a strict adherence to these precepts. Though it is impossible to design Wabi<br />
Sabi into something, as this is an essence derived through use, my line of objects will be<br />
designed with the capacity to become Wabi Sabi, predisposed to essential<br />
Wabi Sabi ideals. Through this fusion of old and new, the philosophical and the practical,<br />
I will take into account new materials that fit into Wabi Sabi ideology, as well as new<br />
processes, technologies, and applications to satisfy the needs of today’s consumers.<br />
Through my connection with Shinrin Takumi Juku, a renowned woodworking<br />
school in Takayama , as well as with local artisans and designers, I will design and<br />
fabricate functional objects that will not only pay homage to Japan’s history, but merge it<br />
together with modern needs, practices, and concepts to forge a working relationship for<br />
the future, ensuring Japan’s rich heritage is not lost, but fully embraced and appropriately<br />
integrated into today’s ever changing high tech society.<br />
At Shinrin Takumi Juku, I will engage in a rigorous traditional woodworking<br />
experience, learning new skills that will bolster my existing knowledge of woodworking.<br />
Approved by Osamu Shoji, the head professor of the school, I will enroll as a fulltime<br />
student during the upcoming school year. As the learning process revolves around<br />
demonstration and then implementation by students, any language barrier can be<br />
overcome; additionally, most professors can communicate effectively in English and<br />
there have been many successful English-only speaking interns in past years. My<br />
intention at Shinrin Takumi Juku is to learn a traditional skill set that will enable me to<br />
craft my line of objects in a culturally sensitive way, and to dynamically examine<br />
the aesthetic values of traditional Japanese woodworking. I will augment my year of<br />
academic study with frequent trips to Tokyo and Osaka to meet with practicing designers<br />
and design firms, and to grasp a divergent yet relevant point of view. Concurrently, I will<br />
have access to an extensive woodshop and will execute the tangible part of my project<br />
using the tools and machinery at my disposal.<br />
Prior to the start of the school year, I will spend a month living at Sogenji<br />
Monastery, a Rinzai Zen temple in Okayama, Japan. The Rinzai school of Zen is marked<br />
by the emphasis it places on “kensho”, seeing one's true nature through enlightenment, as<br />
well as the rigor and severity of its training methods. As I take part in serious monastic<br />
practice, I will experience firsthand the way of life most akin to Wabi Sabi. Since its<br />
inception as a distinct aesthetic mode, Wabi Sabi has been linked with Zen Buddhism as<br />
it embodies many of Zen’s core philosophical principles. My connection is Daichi, an<br />
English speaking nun at Sogenji, who is also an artist trained as a potter. I will utilize her<br />
connections to local potters and visit the workshops and studios of these traditional<br />
craftsmen, and to become acquainted with their artistic pursuits. I believe this experience<br />
will deeply affect my perception and understanding of a true Wabi Sabi lifestyle, as<br />
essentials are eliminated and I enter, even though for just a short while, a life not