Alchemy of cultures: From adaptation to transcendence in design and branding
Monday, October 1 2001
In this comparison of Western and Asian perspectives, Mario Gagliardi analyzes differences in each culture's understanding of uniqueness, copying, the integration of external influences, and the inclusion of consumer perceptions within the design process. Insights such as these become important as corporations try to create products and brands that have meaning-functional, cultural, mythical, symbolic, and ethical meaning-around the world.
IMAGE PHOTOGRAPH 3"It may be that I am the only one who sees the sky black at night and the stars white, and everybody else sees the sky white and the stars shining black. And I say the sky is black, and they say the sky is black; but when they say black they mean white."
Charles Cogsworth, the hero of R. A. Lafferty's story "Through Other Eyes," goes on to try out his invention, a cerebral scanner that can connect two brains so that he can truly see through others' eyes. Until this stunning machine has been invented, we can only speculate about how that would feel. But this has been a preoccupation of humans for decades. Goethe said that in encountering the "other," one sees a mirror of oneself. For his part, Oscar Wilde once wrote that if an artist wants to achieve a "Japanese effect," he should not act like a tourist and travel to Tokyo, but instead study the masters of Japanese art at home. Once the artist has done that, he will be able to see a Japanese effect while sitting in a park or strolling down Piccadilly. If he can't see it then, says Wilde, he won't see it anywhere.