Slow is an emerging discussion coming out of the Slow Food movement over the last number of years. The principles of Slow appear to resonate with many people and we now have discussions on Slow Food, Slow Cities, Slow Design, Slow Fashion etc. I gave a presentation on Slow Design this weekend at a “Slow is Beautiful” event in Drumalis house in Larne, Northern Ireland. The event was a weekend of discussion and debate around the theme of Slow and how it relates to various aspects of peoples work and lives.

In my discussion I wanted to focus on our relationships (as designers and consumers) with products and how these relationships can allow for dialogues around slow. I also drew on the various perspectives of people such as Ezio Manzini, Carolyn Strauss and Alastair Fuad Luke to question the emerging principles of Slow Design. I wasn’t interested in providing answers as much as hopefully opening questions….

Among the other speakers were Alma Clavin who gave an insightful presentation on the connection between the ecological design of urban spaces and well-being. Alma is currently writing up her PhD at Oxford Brookes on this topic and had many interesting perspectives to offer. Another speaker was Jules Pretty that gave a magnificent talk (without notes or slides) on the context of place, memory and human connectivity to the earth.

Slow is an interesting theme. It draws much debate because of the various literal and semantic interpretations of slowness. Some people have drawn parallels to the principles of “transition” and have suggested that slow may lack the sense of urgency required to deal with the potential dilemmas of climate change, emerging communities and resource depletion. What I like about the principle of slow is that it can transcend the resource allocation and conservation perspectives of sustainable design and open new opportunities for creativity and humour.

This is a copy of my presentation..