Products that Age with Us: Carpet in the Turkish Household

DS 116: Proceedings of the DESIGN2022 17th International Design Conference

Year: 2022
Editor: Mario Štorga, Stanko Škec, Tomislav Martinec, Dorian Marjanović
Author: Rengin Gurel (1,2), Ozge Merzali Celikoglu (1)
Series: DESIGN
Institution: 1: Istanbul Technical University, Turkey; 2: Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakıf University, Turkey
Section: Design for Sustainability
Page(s): 1011-1020
DOI number: https://doi.org/10.1017/pds.2022.103
ISSN: 2732-527X (Online)

Abstract

This paper explores carpet, an intergenerational product, that lives and ages with its users. An ethnographic study was conducted through participant observation and in-depth interviews to understand why carpet matters in Turkish homes. Exploring material culture of carpet unfolds its meaning as a signifier of culture in second-order semiological systems. Study finds carpet has socializing traits, is the maker of home, needs maintenance and can be an artwork or object. Examining a product’s importance and emotional durability can enable new understandings of product meaning and sustainability.

Keywords: product design, user-centred design, material culture, emotional durability, sustainability