In this essay we will be looking at how localism relates to interior design looking at its pros and cons within communities and how and why localism is important in the sustainability of creative interior design, giving examples where appropriate and relating this back to why as interior designers we should be aware of the issue within today’s current ethos. To understand why localism is a critical issue within interior design it is paramount to understand what is localism as an idea and how it relates to the design as a whole. Localism is the idea that people should have control over what happens in their local area and that local people should be supported economically, socially and culturally and that differences of traditions between places should be respected. Localism is a key aspect within the sustainability's of communities and a sense of identity among a common people. Nowadays globalization has become prevalent across the world and although it has created many benefits there is also clear downsides in which localism combats and strikes a balance. Without localism many people crave an authenticity and identity amongst others, it has been stated for it to be human nature to select a side or team throughout human evolution to acquire a sense of safety. This reflects no longer on a person’s survival but rather the needs to preserve a feeling of belonging to a group and self-perception in relation to a person’s nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality or any kind of social group where one can identify as a distinct cultural identity.
Localism in interior design is the accommodation of the local attributes of a community incorporated into the design of a home, business or public places. It is these visible and tangible spaces that show a strength in a communities institutions to encourage more people to get involved directly in the say of the local communities ownership of important buildings and spaces rather than a homogenous area that has no real identity that cannot be easily identified or surmised through the interior design of an area. Within interior design a lot can be said about identifying the heritage and history of events within communities, these event can shape how many people live there life and bring unification amongst people who have gone through similar hardships throughout life, this can be transferred in to the way people living including interior design. As a home, business or public area will reflect what a space is trying to portray about the people whom use and interact with it. The same can be said that an interior may also be designed to attract a certain type of person within a local community showing slight design changes for these selected people however at the core the localism of the area still runs true to how the community have represented themselves in the past and how they will represent themselves in the future. An example of modern localism that highlights what group of people a building aims to attract whilst maintaining the sense of identity within the local area is from the multinational company, Starbucks in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia as seen in (Fig 1).
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Riyadh, is a very popular place to visit globally and has such seen globalization within the city such as the American company of Starbucks however with such a strong cultural identity of the Saudi people the design of the building is not traditionally Starbucks with many Islamic designs incorporated into the interior design of the space such as the Iznik Tiles, Syrian styled dome roof and the Islimi designed tile work surrounding the hub of the store. This combination of global marketing and distinct localism of design is making the store a success within the capital city. As an interior designer stricken a balance between staying true to the purpose of the building and what the place is trying to achieve and how to tie in the design specifies of the local community in such a way into give the interior an identity with the area rather than the motive such as selling coffee and remaining an authentically Arabian design in this example. In my Jesmond Dene studio project when making my design decisions I aimed to strike a balance between the original buildings purpose of real tennis and its remodeled propose of an art gallery. I did this by keeping all existing building facets related to the game with the lighting of the area mimicking the movement of the ball within the game striking a balance between the old and new purpose of the building.
When creative power is given to locals within an area many times creative solutions are sought after using ideas based heavily that incorporate the best political and environmentally beneficial to the area. Applying these ideas into locally sourced materials in the construction of buildings, the interior, the furniture and ornaments and decorations can create a sense of identity and pride with many of the locals within the area furthermore many of the locally sourced materials will require craftsmen who know specifically about the materials promoting local employment and skills development within the area increasing the area affinity with that style of work. When designers from the same area collaborate a distinct style of work is created through these relationships, the same can be said about the relationship between the local businesses within communities and the crafters, artists and other creatives and how there over time these intermingled relationship create a local identity and knowledge that creates the unique style of certain area through everybody's collaboration within each communities. It is this local collectiveness of ideas in what creates a community that has a sense of identity whilst remaining diverse and progressive but to constant new ideas from and between communities and places.
With the next World Cup being held in Qatar it will be the first gulf nation from the Arab world to hold such a globalized event, to differentiate themselves from other countries all stadiums have been designed using local inspiration of the local Islamic design traditions from the historic tribes throughout the country. One such example is the Al Bayt Stadium to be located in the Al Khor city where construction will aim to resemble the inside of a traditional Bedouin tent, inspired by the Bay al sha’ar nomadic people who lived in Qatar for generations. The tents of these nomadic tribes can be identified by black stripes and vibrant sadu patterns as seen in (Fig 2) and (Fig 3). As an interior designer it is important to pay homage to the surrounding communities local traditions in any space as it is these differences between each off the spaces which stops the homogeny of a group of buildings such as this example where the Qatari people and local governments have suggested ideas and identified there new stadiums as unique through the use of traditional design. In my Jesmond Dene studio project I aimed to pay homage to the surrounding Jesmond area by having its external decoration and internal walls based off of materials from local craftsmen in the area, taking inspiration of the materiality of the local area.
Localism does have downsides however, one problem with localism of the interior design is the problem of exploitation, and not all localisms can be the most effective whether it related to an economic, social or cultural aspect of the community. This can lead to certain need and demand for outsourcing, this demand gives the foreign parties the ability to exploit the current design process of locals not allowing a sustainable way of creating new designs. Another issue within localism is that it may not be a sustained design to begin with, but is rather kept within local communities for tradition sake. This can lead to a rut of design not allowing new creative methods of design to become reverent with a community. For some areas it is simply not seen as attractive to follow traditional localisms where the local products cannot compete with the more attractive foreign designs as it may symbolize an idea of luxury and more presentable way of life. A lot of this can be related back to capitalistic societies which highlights perceived value and wealth through the attainment of materialistic objects of which do not have as much productive value as its value in relation between the products and how a society perceives its worth.
In conclusion using localism in interior design aims at rethinking the relationship between local production, design, craftsmanship and cultural heritage. The demands of present times, in search of a relationship between the local specificities of the product, what the place is trying to provide and the global values of what an interior should be in today’s current society. By using localism within interior design a business can use this to forward new meanings and relationships between existing and potential resources from current and newer trending production within a local area. Putting localism at the core of any strategic action creates several positive values, such as openness and sustainability within the identity of a local community developing new, small and local narratives, to be shared with new and old citizens in the design process and solution. From my research it has also become apparent that localism operates in waves with there being a constant battle between the idea of localism in contrast to globalization to create a harmony amongst communities and the contrary of how the efficiency of globalization or the self-promotion of local identity benefits all. Furthermore it is important for Interior designers to aware of this critical issue throughout the creative process as each specific case requires its own unique amount of attention towards to idea of localism within an interior space.
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