Work and Play
Ulla-Maaria Mutanen has an interesting article in the Finnish Design Yearbook 2006 on the importance of play. I could not agree more about the point that both production and consumption are discussed with terms of work, whereas play is assumed non-productive, not important and naive. This makes us use concepts describing work-like activities when trying to conceptualise both production and consumption in processual terms. At least In my ethnographic studies, I can very clearly see that people are players, not workers, in their everyday life. Especially men ; ).
Ulla-Maaria has a really interesting blog, especially the stuff about handicrafts fascinated me. This all is a part of Consumer 2.0 movement. Knitting as a creative (not productive- comparison to above) practice is interesting.
http://ullamaaria.typepad.com/hobbyprincess/
posted by Oskar Korkman @ 11:19 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I couldn't help my self, but have to comment the next sentence in your post:
"people are players, not workers, in their everyday life. Especially men ; )"
I would say that women are players as well as men are. Could it be that womens play is not just as easily seen as play. As crafter manifesto in Ulla-Maaria's blog says: crafting is a form of play.
Women have made handicrafts throughout the history - knitting is only one example. Nowadays its not necessary to make things yourself anymore - but everything can be bought readymade. This means that womens work (handicrafts, knitting etc.) is actually playing ;)
Have recently found a player in myself...
that is true! the thing about me was more of a stupid joke referring to the point that men would rather play around than do "serious things". And of course it is also false to say that people are players... not of course, people are very many things, but perhaps the play-like aspects to people have not been recognised that much, especially not in marketing, and consumption theory.
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