Extra felicity O’Dell fce

Now turn to Part 4.
You will hear a radio interview with Jeremy Wales,
who is talking about issues relating to ethical
design. For questions 24 to 30, choose the correct
answer, A, B or C.
You now have 45 seconds in which to look at Part 4.
F
In this week’s edition of Design Today, we are going
to be looking at the issue of ethical design. In the
studio we have Jeremy Wales, who lectures in
ethical design at the International College of Design
in London. Jeremy, perhaps you could start by telling
us exactly what ethical design is?
M I suppose the central thing is that it aims to blend
the aesthetic with the ethical. There used to be a
contrast between what was seen as ‘ethical’ and
what was considered ‘design’; now the two are
coming together. It’s something that people have
talked about for ages but have only recently
attempted to put into practice. People are
developing craft products from the third world using
contemporary approaches to design. The aim is to
produce items that are attractive to the
sophisticated western market but are developed in
accordance with moral and social principles. So
poorer societies inspire and benefit but are not
exploited. 
F
So the ethics bit is concerned with the relationships
between rich and poor countries?
M That’s probably the most publicised element but
there are other issues too. For example, ethical
design pays much more attention to ecological
concerns in the production of goods and to the
preservation of the environment. There is also a
strong strand within the movement which acts
against the designer mentality, promoting unlabelled
equivalents which are just as good as and half the
price of their labelled versions. 
F
It sounds great! Could you give us a specific
example of ethical design in practice?
M Of course. I could tell you about LOSA, for
instance. LOSA stands for London South Africa
and is proving a very interesting liaison between
British based designers and South African craft
workers. British designers went out to South
Africa to help craft workers adapt what they
produced. They used to make what would sell to
tourists. But western design experts told them
they could earn a lot more by adapting their goods
so they became attractive, desirable items and not
just souvenirs. They now sell to some major
design stores in the UK and will be expanding into
other European countries soon. If that goes well,
then they’ll start targeting the States.
F
What sorts of changes had to be made to the
traditional products?
M The key word would be simplification. The number
of colours used was reduced, for example, and the
lines of an object were often made more
straightforward. Despite any changes, the items
have clearly retained their own distinct Zulu feel.
F
I suppose the key question is: who gains financially
from all of this? The western experts or the Africans
involved in making the goods?
M The ethical approach holds here too. The British
designers have taken only a small fee each and the
rest of the profits are ploughed back into the
business. The South African members of the
project are involved throughout all the processes
and say that it has been an amazing learning
process for them. Ideally, there will be no need for
the involvement of British designers in the future –
all the work will be able to be done locally.
F
Thank you, Jeremy. I’d now like to a turn to another
ethical design project, this one taking place in Brazil
...