The everyday and unexpected familiarity in design

What is everyday? We live in everyday but it is hard to define what it actually is. People easily regard it as ordinary and daily habits. And this habitual familiarity makes us feel safe and comfortable. We are afraid of things that are out-of-custom. Nevertheless, we also seek the world anew. What is the reasoning behind this double standard? Is refresh unfamiliarity some kind of seasoning to keep us away from boredom of routines?

The cultural art movement, such as Dada, started to experiment “the everyday” as its main element in the early 20th century. Dada was an anti-art movement that ignored standard aesthetic of art. Duchamp’s “Fountain”[1] is one of the famous examples of this movement. It shocked the public when it was first shown, because of its familiarity as an everyday object and unfamiliarity as an art form to the people.

In 1993, Droog design came up with unconventional, but very simple and direct design showing the concept of everydayness. They used milk bottles to make a chandelier. Droog design engages the ordinary people and release the idea of design that it breathes and grows within real life.

Everyday is the site of actual use of designer’s creation. A French Sociologist Lefebvre argued, “Why wouldn’t the concept of everydayness reveal the extraordinary in the ordinary?”[2] I will continuously question this throughout my finding.

[1] He made use of an already existing object readymades—in this case a urinal, which he titled Fountain and signed "R. Mutt".
[2] Henri Lefebvre, The Production of Space, trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith(Oxford:Blackwell,1991)