Jogi Panghaal, Doors of Perception

Using the context of Indian culture, Jogi Panghaal guided the audience through an inquiry into what it is to make things.

All skills come from food and preparing food, and thus are intimately connected to the senses. Women have traditionally been the preparers of food and have the most intimate knowledge of the body- what they need and what their children need. These food preparation skills transfer to other areas and form the basis of all crafts. For example, working with scrap fabric and embroidery reflects the work women do in the field: planting, sowing rows, repairing the ground.

Jogi said several times that when men perform crafts (and there are 15 million artisans in India) they are discovering the feminine aspect of creation. But he also pointed out that when a craft becomes economically viable, men take it over and push out the women.

This was an interesting counterpoint to Rob Walker's talk about the desire-driven consumption and creation; Jogi asks us to contemplate the more fundamental drives to create: survival and the senses (body identity). In India, where most people live under the demands of survival, nothing is rejected or thrown away.

It also bears consideration in light of Andrew Zolli's revelations about the demographic pressures facing designers of the future.