3.1.3 THE CARDIFF GROUP: TRACING ITS ROOTS

TCG was born out of a two-day seminar held in July 2002, organised mainly by James Fathers, Tim Coward and Angharad Thomas. Since then, it has turned into an interdisciplinary group of academics and practitioners drawn from fields as varied as design, development studies and economics. Among the founding members, Coward is the Director of Research and Graduate Studies in the Cardiff School of Arts and Design at the University of Wales Institute (UWIC), while Thomas is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Art and Design at the University of Salford, and Fathers is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Product and Engineering Design at the UWIC.

The focus of interest of the Group is the exploration and articulation of the relationships between design and development, in any global context but particularly in low-income economies. The process of design is considered by the members to be more important than the artefact produced. They believe that design is an essential ingredient in the production of all commodities, management systems and services, and this fact is acknowledged and endorsed in all industrialised economies. However, its role has not been articulated or theorised by either the design world or the discipline of development studies. It is this deficiency that TCG wants to address.

The Group’s aim is to: research into the contribution of design and design education in developing countries; apply the research outcomes through the conduct of “action research projects”; evaluate and disseminate the outcomes of the Group’s work; promote the Group’s aims and outcomes.

It wishes to achieve this by: conducting multidisciplinary projects in partnership with other groups and agencies including those based in developing countries; organising conferences, seminars and workshops; influencing policy and decision-makers in development and developing contexts; collecting and publishing examples of validated research and case studies of practice in the field; providing means of communication for academics and practitioners.

The Group has sought project funding, but so far, without success. Coward [interview: 2004] points out, “We do not have any specific project funding as TCG. Members have worked on projects for which they have secured funding as individuals. These range from projects in developing countries to conference papers and case studies.”

At present, the Group is awaiting response to a proposal submitted to EPSRC and AHRB on the “Designing for the 21st Century”. If successful, this will help fund the development of a “Cluster” whose aims and objectives are very similar to those of TCG.

The Group has subsequently been joined by John Ballyn, an independent design consultant, whose interest in TCG was “to promote the use of design processes by non-designers as part of market development packages for artisans and entrepreneurs” [interview: 2004]. Prior to this, he was working with crafts enterprises in the developing countries, developing training material for distribution to producers. He feels, “it is very important to share and debate methodologies and processes when working in such a field” [Ibid].

Rob Aley, a designer craftsman and candle-maker, is also one of the original members responsible for the formation of TCG. He used to be associated with the Intermediate Technology Development Group, but is now an independent consultant on development educational projects.

Under the supervision of the members, TCG has participated in seminars in Bangalore in India and Gregynog in Mid-Wales, presenting papers on design in development to students and academics of development studies. Individual TCG members have also participated in events in Southern Africa.


Disclaimer: The views expressed in the interview are not necessarily those of The Cardiff Group, but that of the individual members.