Detail is a goddess

Over the past few weeks I have had the pleasure of travelling through India and Nepal on a sensory journey. No, I did not go to sort out my chakras, practise mantras or reach nirvana – Julia Roberts and her eating, praying and loving took care of all that on my behalf. My mission was to observe living design and to enjoy the region’s culinary delights.

Before departing, I’d heard the stories about Delhi Belly, the hygienic concerns and the overwhelming number of touts. It all sounded terrifying at first but, luckily, I seem to have discovered a rather different India and Nepal. I returned home a lot plumper and filled with a burning desire to rethink my aesthetic approach.

My senses were immediately assaulted by the level of detail in all spheres of life and my brain was sent into overdrive. I found the flavours of the food deep and rich thanks to the wonderful use of spices, and dishes were presented with pride. Intricate surfaces everywhere invited me to reach out and touch them, while a variety of sounds – from loud and bombastic to peaceful and calm – were ever-present.  The sweet scent of incense burning in pots on carts mingled with the aroma of roasting peanuts, and everywhere there were vibrant colours and other visual delights.

I stood watching a craftsman chiselling rock into a latticework of windows while others patiently carved wooden doors. It was amazing to see artists creating micro paintings with a single squirrel hair, and I was intrigued by the women weaving carpets to Hindi beats while a neighbour, surrounded by piles of beautiful saris, calmly sipped her tea.

Here, the design details of temples and monuments are not merely historic references – they are powerful influences on all spheres of present-day life. It’s the jaw-dropping major effort put into the smallest things, combined with the warmest, friendliest people you’re ever likely to meet, that makes India and Nepal mind-blowing. If you focus on these qualities, you can never have a bad experience in this part of the world. But if you choose to rather focus on the lack of European standards that we have become so accustomed to, this will be a curse.

My observations have made me wonder about South African design. It feels to me that we have become so focused on rushing to produce that we have cut out the art of developing the craft of design. Aesthetic committees control architects and landscape architects with guidelines that result in uniform developments resembling a street in Desperate Housewives with the classic African twist: a stone-clad wall. Clients rarely ask for true vernacular-designed homes and we are so afraid of old spaces that we leave them vacant or demolish them to make room for something that mimics the wealth and pretentiousness of oil-rich countries. Our homes pop up in weeks and interior spaces are slapped with washed-out colours and filled with furniture in mere days. We rush to mimic European trends and dare not clutter our homes with South African design for fear of being slammed with the “kitsch” label. Then there is our fear of our city centres that drives us to malls for overpriced consumables. 

It’s sad, really, that we are so afraid to flaunt our home-grown creations. I believe we are blessed in this country with amazing creativity – perhaps 2012 will be the year in which we all invest in unique South African designs. Maybe now’s the time to now focus on the goddess in the detail?

About Pieter-Ernst:

Pieter is an architect from Melville, Johannesburg, and is currently employed by Lupini Architects: http://lupiniarc.wordpress.com/

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