Whenever the word “design” pops up in contemporary life, a big price tag is usually not far behind.
Just ask anyone who has recently ventured into a design store, hired an interior designer or purchased a dress by a high-profile couturier.
But as Michael Graves, Isaac Mizrahi and other imaginative talents have demonstrated at Target and elsewhere, good design doesn’t have to be a luxury. And, in fact, it shouldn’t be.
An exhibition running through Nov. 9 at the Metropolitan State College of Denver’s Center for Visual Art focuses on what might be called democratic design, projects geared toward everyday people, ranging from villagers in Africa to amateur cooks in American homes.
Don’t expect any snazzy soap dishes or funky fountain pens. The 30 international projects highlighted in this ambitious presentation attempt to meet basic human needs, solve societal problems and just make life a little easier.
A telling example is the Hippo Water Roller, which was conceived as an alternative to the traditional method of carrying 5-gallon buckets of drinking water on one’s head for as far as 6 miles — a grueling and often debilitating daily ritual for millions of people.
Developed in South Africa in 1991 by Pettie Petzer and Johan Jonker, the roller is a surprisingly simple yet ingenious alternative. The heavy-duty plastic barrel, which holds 24 gallons and rolls on its side, is pushed along with a long handle much like a lawn mower.
Donors or sponsors cover the the $75 purchase price, and they are distributed for a tiny fee (meant to encourage a sense of ownership) to needy households with the help of local leaders. So far, about 25,000 of the devices have been passed out to more than 50 communities in seven African countries.
The show was organized by Lisa Abendroth, an associate professor and communication design coordinator at Metro State, as a tie-in with the Oct. 11-14 national conference in Denver of the American Institute for Graphic Arts — better known by its acronym, AIGA.
Abendroth is quick to acknowledge that the offering is similiar in thrust to “Design for the Other 90%,” an exhibition running through Sept. 23 at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City. But just a handful of selections overlap.
She made a point of finding projects around the globe that cut across the disciplines of architecture, graphics and design of all kinds and address a wide range of often under-appreciated challenges in such areas as education, health and shelter.
What ties these diverse undertakings together is their imaginativeness and their strict focus on users. In nearly every case, the designers spent large amounts of time meeting with the intended consumers, often repeatedly refining products after numerous tests.
A good example is the Whirlwind RoughRider, designed by Ralf Hotchkiss and Christopher Howard. Through extensive trials in countries such as Vietnam and Nicaragua, the two perfected a hybrid wheelchair, which is meant to be universally durable, versatile and easy to manufacture.
Although technology certainly figures into some of these designs, many are decidedly rudimentary in approach. Good examples are a ceramic water filter, which evolved from a concept by Fernando Mazariegos, and Nazli Eda Noyan’s idea to convey emergency preparedness information in Turkey via ubiquitious pastry wrappers.
Many of these projects might seem far afield from middle-class life in the United States, but one should probably be familiar to anyone who has ever cooked potatoes or carrots — the ergonomic peeler from the OXO Good Grips line of kitchen utensils.
If there is a down side to this exhibition, it is the off-putting academic tone of some of the accompanying materials and the arcane and not especially descriptive title: “Substance: Diverse Practices From the Periphery.”
That said, this is a fascinating and accessible exploration of a fast-growing yet still under-appreciated facet of international design.
Fine arts critic Kyle MacMillan can be reached at 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com.
“Substance: Diverse Practices From the Periphery”
DESIGN EXHIBITION | Exhibition of 30 design projects affecting everyday life worldwide | Center for Visual Art, 1734 Wazee St. | FREE | 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays; through Oct. 27; 303-294-5207 or .
