Selfless for Oneself

Introduction:

A son of my mother’s friend contacted me about a week ago. RISD was his dream school and his question for me was regarding his application essay topic. As if it were the only topic one could think of for an application essay, his topic had been very similar with mine; the cause of his ambition and his future goals with a degree from RISD. It reminded me of the time I wrote my RISD essay. What had I written about? Piecing scattered memories together, I faintly remembered. It was something about my goals to differentiate and accentuate the Asian aesthetics from that of the western to broaden the world’s cultural palette. Cheesy as it is, I wondered how I thought about that topic now, especially after having gone through two and a half years of RISD and all its liberal arts greatness. Inspired by this thought is my response.

My Response:

Since the mid 20th century onwards, the world has experienced technology advancements at its maximum speed. Newer technologies allowed affordable goods and services to a wider demographic. The airports in the UK started reaching its full capacity as its passengers grew from 4 million in 1954 to what would be 228 million by the year 2005. As there is no such thing as a ‘happy-ending’ in reality, there were consequences. To name a few are pollution, importation of germs, and national security threats. Similarly, in the mid 19th century was the development of the sewer systems. In 1851, at the England’s Crystal Palace, exhibited and open for use to the public at a price of a penny were the world’s first flush toilets. It was revolutionary; a simple odorless way of discharging human waste. This led to a boom in usage of a vital resource; water. Yet again, consequences such as water contamination and water shortage were brought onto the table. Despite having solved some problems such as the spread of diseases and the inconvenience of disposing human waste, the solution had brought upon new problems. How are we presently dealing, if at all, with such problems? Are there any examples we can look towards? How can industrial design be a part of a solution and not a cause?


Objects are often studied in depth by anthropologists in the process of understanding a certain social group’s mindset. Meanings are imposed onto an object by both the user and the creator. Often times, these objects are used as a reference point to which one’s social acceptance and power are measured. In a westernized culture we know our combo meals from our course meals and dress pants from sweat pants. Identity is built upon one’s consumerist behavior and both the marketers and advertising agencies are very aware of this nature. The westernized society, viewing from the outside, has plainly created badges to show one’s power; a shirt with an alligator embroidered being more superior than the one with an eagle embroidered. Through extensive marketing and product placements wherever possible, these badges come as a lifestyle and not just a brand. Advertising industries impose on the western culture the idea that one has to both look like an elite and quack like an elite to be an elite. Such an ideal can be blamed for the $12.8 billion debt the U.S. consumers newly accumulated in the months of November and December just last year.

Left: Campaign by Ralph Lauren with the product placed in a setting that is both desirable and marketable. Right: Campaign by Brooks Brothers showcasing the 'type' of people who wear their clothing.

So as consumers pour $700 million in candle purchases and send $20 billion worth of gifts and cards to one another through the U.S. Postal Services, other nations are growing economically and starting to feel the desire to join in on the candle burning, badge earning, consumerist role play. Perhaps the current economic downfall is the result of both the outrageous spending culture of the western culture and the ever so growing consumerist culture of China – home to 1.3 billion. An apparent example is the booming market in the window industry in the Republic of Korea. Old styled housing and newly built apartments are utilizing windows that are an infusion of new technology with an aesthetic of the western culture. The rapid growth in sales of none traditional objects such as beds, window curtains, and shower curtains, have also started in the mid 20th century. Such phenomenon is a clear representation of the culture taking the western consumerist culture as its role model.

Left: retail space in a Korean Shopping Center of Who.A.U, a South Korean clothing brand. Right: retail space of American Eagle, an American brand.

The problem isn’t exactly what the consumer use but how many consumers use it. ‘in moderation’ is something we hear in almost everywhere. There definitely is a power in number and that power is never guaranteed to be spent for a good cause. Globalization has narrowed the scope of appreciated aesthetics and created a universal goal built on consumerist ideals. Too much of the world’s population have started to value much of the similar – none life elemental – resources and such scenario is undoubtedly going to bring consequences in equal or larger scale as that of the cause.

Aesthetics may be scoffed at by many industrial designers and is often left as a job for the ‘product designers’. But have they dismissed aesthetics as part of a function as well? Is coloring a medical device blue the only visual solution to calm a panicked patient? Aesthetics as a function can serve so much more than to help people create self-identity. It can create communal identity, which can eventually enrich the cultural palette and prevent everyone sprinting for the same resources, which otherwise would lead to depletion. It is time that designers take ancient designs as role models in their use of local materials and respect for communal identity.

Left: newly replaced french styled window in South Korea. Right: Korean traditional style frosted glass slide window.

The Indifferent Design

No matter how indefinable the definition of ‘art’ is, there can be no sensible counterargument to the claim that any music that makes it on the top 40s charts are molded by marketers and businessmen to a great amount. There is no doubt Warner Brothers and Columbia Records are constantly studying the unspoken demands of their target market to either fund or abolish artistic production. Similar but taken as given is the world of industrial design where design is for the people – no dial locks for the arthritic. From what’s given, then, can we build a conclusion that the world of art and the world of design cannot coexist on the same canvas? Is Joseph Kahn, the director of Britney Spears’ new music video a designer and not an artist? Can the dial lock at least have frills around the dial?

'Voice of Fire' by Barnett Newman and the iTouch

In the era of functionalism, George Marcus has defined functionalism as “the notion that objects made to be used should be simple, honest, and direct; well adapted to their purpose; bare of ornament; standardized; machine-made, and reasonably priced …” (Functionalism, 1995, p.9.) Approximately parallel in time was the birth of the term minimalism in the world of fine arts. The idea of minimalism was that art should be stripped down to its bare elements. The results: visitors to the Moma admiring a giant canvas painted in navy and red stripes and people scratching their heads at a black slab with an apple engraved on the back.

If art and design are what represents our generation, what do stripes of navy and red on a canvas and a black slab say about our era? Many arguments surrounding the iPhone and the Voice of Fire is brought up in various discussions. Some arguments including whether or not the iPhone was a successful design or whether or not Barnett Newman is an attention wanting lazy artist had risen. But in between all the arguments, where went – prepare for a sickly cheesy line – our emotions and feelings? The quest for our mental stability and/or stimulant? Despite my admiration for those who can construct substantiated criticisms based on historically logical contexts of the stripes and the black slab, my interest on an instinctive level tends to lean towards the slightly more detailed side of the fence.

From left to right: Tokyo, Seoul, Chicago

The problem the design world is facing, in my opinion, is internationalization. A synonym of internationalization, for me, is generalization. Besides the post modern architects of Brazil putting their efforts to differentiate their modern architecture from others, I have not seen much other effort. Walking down the streets of Tokyo, Seoul, or Chicago, the only thing indicating to me that I am in another country seems to be the street signs in according languages. Mercedes in Korea, Samsung in New York, glass paneled buildings. Have we all, internationally, come to the decision that if your yearly income is $100,000+, you are a Mercedes and if your income is $10,000+, you are a Mitsubishi? What about our race, nationality, sex, and age? Are we too scared to be different because we do not want to risk being racist, sexist, or ageist?

Shop Green

Hermann Miller:

Herman Miller, in efforts to both increase the level of happiness and productivity of the employees, had set a guideline to its buildings. The guideline stated that the occupant should not have to move more than 75 feet to get to a window. The guideline led to numerous benefits. The company had saved a significant amount on their electricity bills and, although subjective, had increased the level of happiness and productivity of their employees – Daylight is a source of vitamin D.

REI:

REI, as an outdoor gear retailer, brought some sense into the design of their retail stores when they provided dressing rooms for the customers that used daylight instead of fluorescent. Besides the fact that the dressing room mimicked the real environment better than fluorescent bulbs, the retailer saved great electricity expenses. Also, the retail stores of REI floored their spaces with carpeting made from recycled tires and shoe soles. The retail stores also offered a shower booth for their employees in order to encourage them to bike to work instead of driving.

Caterpillar:

Caterpillar has been remanufacturing engines and its components in their effort to be eco-friendly. The heavy equipment giant takes back broken components and filters the components down to its minimal element which is then sold to other manufactures as raw material. The components they do save require newly manufactured parts in order to function, but the recycled part alone saves up a significant amount resources. The giant’s effort can be seen in result; a 50% reduction in their liquid waste from 9 million pounds per year to 4.5 million pounds per year. The giant also joins local 4th graders on earth day, as well as a day they created called “amnesty day.” On this day the locals can bring hazardous materials such as paint thinners that they do not need anymore and Caterpillar helps dispose of such chemicals safely.

Amazon:

When shopping on Amazon.com, products come in oversized plastic bag packaging that is further protected inside a box of high gloss and fancy prints. Amazon saw a potential in marketing towards the now growing green consumer demographics and has reintroduced the plain brown box with a simple logo printed on it. The company believed that a single box was enough of a protection for various contents sold through their website, as well as a less of an annoyance for the consumer to open. The box is made of 100% recycled material which also is a plus. So far, the company only carries nine different products in their new eco-friendly packaging, but results come, the company intends to widen the use of their new package design internationally.

Whole Foods:

Besides banning plastic bags and bringing back paper bags and motivating users to use reusable bags by providing them with cheap bags made out of recycled bottles, Whole Foods has been making other efforts to become eco friendly. The grocery chain has set strict requirements for products to be carried in their stores, such as environmental practices, and the treatment of their labor workers. In trade, the company offers higher pay for the products. As the green conscious demographic keeps growing, the CEO of Whole Foods found it an opportunity to give the shoppers the opportunity to pitch in to the green movement. The company charges premium price for the consumer, in exchange for their effort to better the practices of the land and business owners responsible for the products being carried in Whole Foods.

New Relationships

Transportation technology advancement in the mid 18th century was the birth of the term and the idea of “tourism.” Primarily, such term was associated exclusively with the elite class, but later developments led to a solution that would open up the industry to a much wider audience; DELAG Airlines. Founded on the 16th of November 1909, the Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft is the world’s first passenger service airline. Despite the introduction of such a convenient transportation method, it was not until the 1950s that the airline services were seen not as a supplement to rail but as an effective method of transportation in itself. As technology in general is advancing, costs are being reduced and now the world is becoming an option in vacation planning for more and more people. In combination to the transportation advancement is the communications technology. It was only since 1988 that the internet was open for commercial use. As both technology in transportation and communications is advancing, we are able to see cross borders with less chances of the intake information being tainted. Within a short time frame of 6 decades, the world transitioned from mine to ours.

So what is the point to this story? Globalization, as we know it today, is just a young, new term. Topics dealing with whether we are destroying cultures by "helping" or imposing our laws and views on others are only a recent trend. It has only been covered by many media sources ever since the late 90s (e.g. banning of the Shaking Tent rituals of the aboriginals in Canada).




The growth of a nation or a mass institution can be compared to the growth of a single person. Just like a maturing teenager, different nations are just now opening their eyes to the world. Even the often hated giant corporations such as Starbucks or McDonald’s, as ahead as they are in their game, only recently went global. McDonald’s introduced localized menus and interior designs to be more culturally friendly and accepted in more recent years. Carried in the 2007 January New York Times paper is an article that quotes Denis Hennequin, the president of McDonald’s Europe, stating “To make McDonald’s and a Big Mac work in the country of slow food, we felt we had to pay more attention to space and showcasing." Menu wise, McDonald’s introduced McCurry Pan in India, rice based sandwich in Hong Kong, McArabia in the Middle East.

It can, therefore, be said that our nation has just met other nations and are now in the beginning stages of figuring out what each of them like or dislike.

Redundant to say, it is normally the giant corporations that have the capital to spend on research and development of products that would cater to each different countries and nowadays even cities. Corporations are on their tiptoes, living in the future, and acting as headlights to the possible problems and solutions that nations or institutions will have to face. They have shunned the light and brought about the problems of having to be more localized in order to be successful. We know some problems but we still should be learning more problems.


So, “should you do nothing because it might be wrong?” “Is it possible to ever come up with a successful design for another culture?” I can’t help but doubt the existence of UNHCR had the creators asked those questions in their development stage. “Should we not even try because we might offend someone? Should we not find out what works because we don’t want to find out what doesn’t? Before we judge and dismiss any knowledge we have as being cynical, we need to realize that we as nations are at a similar stage as that of a young child - still learning, unaware, and easy to judge. We need to realize that we need failure to know success, that to that one starfish "it matters."

The Unsexed Design

Entering the new millennium, the world saw a growth in a variety of different industries, and consequently a change in the way we behave. For example, as Starbucks’ goal in outnumbering the population of street trees of Manhattan was being accomplished, coffee became the world’s second most traded commodity next to oil. Coffee was soon perceived as a must have on any hard working businessman’s desk. Arguably, coffee was given a dual function similar to that of a Rolex watch. Besides telling time, the gold plated and diamond engraved watches are, redundant to say, status symbols to one’s elitism. Similarly, the gradation of different brand logos printed on disposable coffee cups hints at the approximation of one’s bank account or level of education. On that account, how does the design of any product dictate, target, or influence a certain demographic?



Scarcity and demand is partially what the study of microeconomics is about. Scarcity is the reason why diamonds, essentially rocks, are more valued than water – an element of life. It creates a hunger within us to be respected, valued, and in power. Elitism is the behaviors associated with those who are fortunate enough to enjoy what’s scarce. Often times, marketers target this small demographic labeled as the ‘Elites’ as their early adapters, for the reason that much of the other demographics’ goals are to become true or knockoff elites themselves. Therefore, the goals of many marketers are to convince their targets that their products will be of aid in the accomplishment of the lifestyle of a true elite.

The level of social acceptance and demand is also put into the equation in the creation of many products. As the line between each gender’s stereotypes became more faint, the men’s grooming industry introduced new men’s beauty product lines. It is obvious that mascara and lipstick for men are still raising eyebrows, but the men’s grooming/beauty industry has seen a 43% growth between the years of 1998 and 2003, and a stable increase of an annual 25% in the preceeding years. In 2005, it was estimated that the men’s cosmetic industry was a $18 billion dollar industry.

Left: Men's grooming/beauty products, by ZIRH, packaged in containers resembling automobile upkeep product containers. Right: Not specified "for females only" but the package design speaks for itself.

In the case of the men’s cosmetic industry, it seems that the designer and the marketer had lead and created a market and not vice versa. At any local pharmacy, one can find many of the same ingredients inside any two different body washes, whether it be targeted for males or females. The only difference, it seemed, was the packaging. Take a look at the two packaging design examples shown above.

Far Left: Men's skin care products by Anthony Logistics, resembling chemistry lab containers. Middle: Skin care products by Origins contained in packages that aren't gender specific. Far Right: Skin care products by Estee Lauder, the less geekier design than that of the Anthony Logistics', but at a similar level of sex designed into the bottles as that of Anthony Logistics'.

Marketers soon realized the complexity of measuring the men’s grooming industry. They had realized that men had already been using cosmetic products even before the ‘men’s only’ stickers were put onto products. They soon realized the benefits of having genderless products that targeted both genders indiscriminately. The packaging designs above are some of those examples.

Men’s cosmetic line can be argued to be a creation of both the marketer and the designer. It can be argued that the supply had brought demand, unlike the usual ritual of demand being supplied. A certain number of demand was already there, but it was the marketers and designers that gave an 'okay' sign to the men on using such stereotypically feminine products. As seen through the examples of the packaging designs, the designs had targeted the masculine demographic and pulled the demographic through the eye of the needle, bringing growth and acceptance to the term ‘men’s cosmetic products’. As the demographic is being pulled, we can clearly see in the aisles of CVS and Nordstrom, the packaging designs losing their genders and opening themselves to a wider demographic.

So, do designers put meaning into the products they design or does the society put meaning into the product? I think the answer is both. As we have seen above, designers often provide and aid an easier pathway for the consumer to reach the destination they want. In order to do so, designers have to analyze the demand of the people and breakdown the obstacles that stand between the people and the solution - the obstacle often being gender, racial, or class specific stereotypes. In the process of doing so, we start building or rebuilding meanings into products.

Left: Jean Paul Gaultier's Brow Groomer (a.k.a. mascara) for men. Right: Dior's Black Out Mascara for women.

Why? How?

When red wine was poured into a glass container and placed in front of a lit torch, the staff members of the Shakespearian Theatre could not have imagined a simpler way of controlling the stage light - furthermore, a simpler way of saving wine. The wine is symbolic of money in the modern day and age. As the amount of money people were willing to pour into their products kept decreasing, industrialization was brought onto scene. As a consequence of industrialization, redundant to say, were the multiple cloned versions of an original. Soon, the term ‘hand-made’ became a synonym to ‘expensive’ while the development of machinery blurred the line between what was authentic and what was not. Despite the many claims arguing otherwise industrialization, in addition to our natural curiosity, had and still continue to push the envelope in the way we think and create.

It is a common knowledge nowadays that the price of a newly introduced Apple product will be lowered to a good amount within months. The time gap between the newly introduced products becoming so common as to have their price tags be reconsidered is a shorter but parallel example to the evolution of chair designs from the mid 19th century till now; the 21st century. As industrial revolution led to the industrialization of almost every product, products started lacking personality and the pride of the owners had started diminishing. Such consequence had lead to the Arts and Crafts movement, and to the creation of Morris & Co. Despite the company’s claims of having their products be all hand-made, the price competition against mass-produced products had later led the company to utilize machineries as support in the creation of their designs and not vice versa. With the acceptance of industrialization into our lives, designer chairs such as the Wassily Chair by Marcel Breuer had started reshaping the standards of mass-produced goods. The Wassily Chair was significant in its contribution to advancing the manufacturing techniques. The use of steel tubing on this chair was revolutionary at the time, which challenged a German steel manufacturing company in manufacturing the chair. The company had perfected in creating the seamless steel tubing for the chair. The challenge had widened the boundaries and made possible and affordable the numerous generations of chair designs that utilized this technique.

Besides the design’s ability to challenge the modern technology, the drive to do so is another element that makes such advancement possible. As tourists stand in awe in front of the intricately carved marble columns of the St. Marks’ Basilica, they are most likely to document the historical architecture with their palm sized digital cameras. The idea of eternity is what has been desired and thrived for because it satisfies the innate human characteristic to want mental and emotional stability – hence the photo albums and history classes. Such desire has brought upon inventions such as the digital camera, but more in tune with the essence of such a need is the invention of the mummy. The first mummy is said to have been done by the Chinchorro Tribe, dating back to 5050 BC. The tribe had mummified all of its members when they had passed away. Their complex mummification ritual involved the deconstruction and reconstruction of the body with less decomposable materials. The ritual included putting on a wig to the dead body. Such ritual is believed to have been developed out of grief, as a means to physically keep the deceased close in physical resemblance, thereby keeping their spirits close. Parallel in ideals to such mummies are the modern day technology of Cryonics. Cryonics is a way of preserving humans and/or animals for the future technology. Preservation is accomplished through freezing of the body. Scientists believe that, although the bodies that are put into the Cryonics tubes are legally defined as dead, their personalities and memories are mostly kept in the cellular structures and chemicals of their brains. By safely freezing this component of the body, when future technology allows, it is believed that once the bodies are melted back into life, they will be the same person that were frozen to death in the past. Although some descendent generations of the deceased will not be able to meet their frozen loved ones till their bodies are defrosted, the idea that the lives of their loved ones are put on hold, not dead, are what gives them hope and what strengthen their desire to further push technology.

The pure element to design - our need of definite answers - is what I try to incorporate in my design ideas. Just as our interests and needs in comfort of having our loved ones close by had enhanced our technology of preserving the deceased, I believe that anything can be possible with the great interest of the mass because money tends to flow towards the interest of the public. This does not mean that I wish to work at an electronics firm designing smaller and prettier phones every month. My design goal is to take the Wassily Chair as an example. Functionalism states that products should be “well adapted to their purpose; bare of ornament; standardized; machine-made, and reasonably priced; and expressive of their structure and materials.” The Wassily Chair definitely meets all the requirements of a functionalist’s standards except for the “reasonable price”. Although the Wassily Chair maybe not affordable, but it definitely had advanced the technology which then allowed many other new designs affordable to the public. The Wassily Chair, in a way, is a design proposal. It shows up on scene and in accordance to the general public’s reaction, the technology that surrounds the creation of the chair becomes more and more advance, thereby making it easier and more affordable to mass produce the design. There are many things in our lives that can use this power. How is it that cell phones that were the size of a brick had become a touch screen pad the size of our palms within the past decade when medical support in third world nations or simply a cure for many illnesses has still not been found? I hope to design ideas that can both generate the interest and therefore generate a flow of funding and new generations of ideas and products to bring the technology in important fields up to date.

Chairs

Functionalism, according to George Marcus, is “the notion that objects made to be used should be simple, honest, and direct; well adapted to their purpose; bare of ornament; standardized; machine-made, and reasonably priced; and expressive of their structure and materials.” Many opposed this view and movements such as the Arts and Crafts had created a market for its separated genre. Starting with the Sussex chair, this timeline analyzes the pathway the functionalism develops on.Although the Morris and Co. decided to create home decors that both the makers and the purchaser could be proud of, their goal was over-shadowed by other products that were competing with lower costs.




1864: Ford Madox
Sussex

As a response to the industrialization
of everyday goods, Morris and Co.
took their part in the Arts & Crafts
movement by producting hand crafted
home decors including chairs. Ironically,
though, the chairs were only aordable
to the wealthy class, and some machinery
was used in producing textiles.

1925: Marcel Breuer
Wassily, Model No. B3

Design has many great functions and
one of them is to push the limits on
manufacturing techniques. The use of
steel tubing on this chair was revolutionary.
With a German steel manufacturer’s perfection
in creating a seamless steel tubing was the
creation of the Wassily chair that was
simply mass-producible. The Wassily chair
opened up a new trend in chair designs
and the use of steel tubing.

1965: Willie Landels
Throw-away

Joining the 60s trend of disposable
yet fashionable goods was the
Throw-away chair. Design to be
easily manufactured, the frameless
and simple polyurethane was
inexpensive. The polyurethane was
covered in “wet-look” vinyl which
was the trend at the time.

1972: Frank Gehry
Wiggle Chair

Initially designed to be a low-cost piece, the
popularity of the design of the chair bumped
up the price tag to an unaordable price tag.
The 60 layer of corrugated cardboard cut-outs
can hold up to thousands of lbs. Also, the use
of recycled corrugated carboard adds a great
deal to its popularity.

2004: Emiliano Godoy
Knit Chair

Dealing with the more recent market demand,
the Knit Chair strives to solve multiple design
problems at once. Built with all organic, FSC
certified pieces of wooden panels and 100%
cotton to hold the pieces together, the chair
is known to be comfortable as well. This chair’s
rigid but soft structure bends just enough for
maximum physical comfort, and its choice in
materials that are all biodegradable allows
maximum comfort for your conscience as well.

The machine made furniture proved effective in cost but could not prove itself too aesthetically pleasing. Combining both the cost effectiveness and aesthetics can be found in the Wassily chair by Marcel Breuer. This chair was revolutionary in its advancement in manufacturing techniques. This chair was easily mass-producible and aesthetically pleasing. Pushing the boundaries of manufacturability, the design was simple enough to be mass-produced, and designed to be ornamented in its own style. Although it can be argued that the industrialization had limited the designs of products, it can also be said that the industrialization paved a new pathway for a trend towards new forms and aesthetics. Also, the frameless polyurethane couch, Throw-Away chair by Willie Landels, was developed on the basis that it was easily manufactured, but the simplicity had taken off any unnecessary ornaments but just the form reflecting its function as a sitting device. If anything ornate, the chair’s cover was “wet-look” vinyl, which reflects the trend of the time. With the trend of disposable goods at the time, pollution had become a concern. As a response to such a problem, sustainability or eco design had been added to the list of requirements of a functionalistic design. Frank Gehry’s Wiggle chair is a great example. Made up of recycled cardboard was a form that could withhold thousands of pounds. More recent example of such a trend is the all-organic Knit chair by Emiliano Godoy. This chair is biodegradable and amazingly comfortable as well because of its rigid, but subtly forgiving form of the chair.

Lighting

Colonoscope

A fiber optic video on a thin, flexible tube.
Colonoscope is used during a colonoscopy.
Pictures of the patient’s colon and rectum
can be taken.





















Surgical Theatre Light

Halogen light used in operating rooms.
The multi angled beams allow shadow-
lesslight to cast on a designated area.

















Magnifying Light

Used by many different professions,
the magnifying light allows the user to
not only view a certain area more up
close, but also more brightly and therefore
precisely. Afluorescent ring bulb surrounds
the magnifying lense.

Dentist Light

Designed so that the light beam is
reflectedinto a narrow beam which
allows the doctorto focus the light on
the oral cavity more efficiently.
























Diagnostic Light

Halogen light used for basic
examinationsof the patient’s body.

Bringing Back the Past

The timeline Bringing Back the Past examines the different technologies and purposes of mummification in the course of time. The first mummification is believed to have started out of religious and spiritual reasons by the Chinchorro Tribe. Moving forward from spiritual reasons to reasons such as memory and medical technology was allowed by modern public knowledge and less religious beliefs. Recent technology has leaned towards the way of catering to the more emotional and materialistic consumers. It has also leaned towards to cater to the curiosity of the future; Cryonics. From contending the spirits to reviving the dead loved ones, the technology of preserving the dead keeps running on the demand for such services by the living.

Chinchorro Mummies

Contrary to popular belief, the first mummies were not mummified by the Egyptians. In fact the oldest and intentionally preserved body dates back to 5050 BC by the Chinchorro tribe. The tribe inhabited the northern coast, now known as Chile, mainly dieting on seafood. The ‘Black Mummies’ were one of the types of mummies created by this tribe, in which the mummification process involved disassembling the body and removing the skin, the head, and the limbs. The corpse then was fleshed, and the internal organs were removed in order to prevent the corpse from decaying. Then, the body was reconstructed with vegetable fibres or animal hair, twigs or branches as the spine and the limbs. The skin was replaced with that of a sea lion’s or a pelican’s. Finally, the body was covered with ash paste and clay, which then was painted with black manganese.


Buddhist Mummies of Japan

First done by a Japanese Buddhist priest named Kuukai, self mummification became almost religious among the Japanese monks dating back to over a thousand years ago. Kukkai, the founder of the Shingon sect of Buddhism, went through three steps in order to achieve this self-mummification process. The first step of the process was to remove most of the body fat, which decomposes fast after death. In order to do so, the priest ate nothing but nuts and seeds, and subjected himself in enduring physical hardships. After a thousand days of such diet, the priest then restricted his diet to small portions of barks and roots of pine trees. This process, again endured for another thousand days, was performed as a means to eliminate bodily fluids to minimize the changes of decaying after death. Towards the end of the latter thousand days, the priest also started drinking tea made from the sap of the Urushi tree. Drinking this tea, which was poisonous, resulted in frequent vomiting, urination, and sweating, which further eliminated bodily fluids. Also, this process would later kill any maggots or insects that tried to eat the corpse of the priest. In the final step, the priest went into a glass tube, where he sat until his death.

Plastination

Plastination involves replacing water and lipid tissues with curable polymers. Plastination uses polyester-copolymer, silicone ...etc, as curable polymers. In the first step, the body is embalmed. First, the body is embalmed in formaldehyde solution. Then, the body is bathed in acetone which replaces the water of the cells. Then, the body is moved and put into a bath of liquid polymer. In this process, the acetone is boiled. As acetone boils it leaves the cell as it draws the liquid polymer to replace itself in the cell. The liquid polymer is then cured with gas, heat, or ultraviolet light which hardens the plastic. Then, plastinated, the bodies can be posed in different poses. Such technology dates back to November 1978, when Dr. Funther von Hagens proposed such idea and applied for a patent for this technology.

Cloning

Bernann Mckinney spent $50,000 for clones of Booger – her pet dog. Scientists at Seoul National University made this possible. Scientists at the university took skin cells from Booger’s ear tissue before the dog died, and used the skin cells to create embryos. The embryos were then implanted into female dogs, which then after three months, five clones of Booger were born. Professor Lee Byeong-chun took part in this project. He had prior experience in cloning a dog, his first experience being the cloning of Snuppy- the first dog to be cloned - in 2005.

Cryonics

Cryonics is a way of preserving humans and/or animals for the future technology. When either humans or animals cannot live on the limitations on modern medical technology, the legally deceased body is kept in a tube at a temperature of -321 °F. With hopes that the future medical technology advancement will allow life back into the currently frozen bodies.