Cultures of Play
2019
School Project
Design for Play
Design School Kolding

France’s most famous chef, Alain Ducasse, insists, “You can mix two styles and get fusion; any more, and you just get confusion.” But many would argue the opposite. Fusion is not confusion. Fusion does not only occur in gastronomy, it happens when any two things meet. It is only natural for one culture to acculturate into another and maintain aspects of its culture, while at the same time the other culture would also fuses aspects off the culture into their culture to create a fused intercultural identity. One might even think cultural appropriation is an essential aspect of cultural development, and in fact, a beneficial aspect of cultural creativity and exchange. 

The aim of this project is to use Play as a catalyst in the conversion of cultural values. In other words, to appropriate a certain cultural product, Danish Play Culture, in a particular context, Grandparent-Grandchild Communication. 

How Might We Redefine the Role of Caregivers in Play Experience?

Re-Visit My Play Journey

Play Culture

Where I Come From and Where I Am Now

Before zooming in to the Play Culture of both cultures, I compare the general Taiwanese and Danish culture using the “High-context and low-context cultures” concepts introduced by anthropologist Edward T. Hall in his book Beyond Culture and social psychologist Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory. The initial comparison gave me a basic idea on how the play cultures came from.

I then looked into the Play Culture of both countries by reflecting on my own experience and that of the people I have worked with. Below are the key points I listed:

How Might We Use Properties of Danish Play Culture to Improve Taiwanese Play Experience with Caregivers?

By viewing the grand-parenting situation in both countries, I found that, under different social and economic structures, grand-parenting is much more common in Taiwanese families. According to the statistics below, grandparents in Taiwan are 8 times more often to be the caregivers for the kids in the family than in Denmark.

The challenge of cross-generational communication is obvious. The physical and psychological well-being of grandparents caring for grandchildren, however, are often overlooked. It could be stressful for the grandparents to position themselves in a multigenerational family. The project aims to encourage lost grandparents to be enlightened by the power of play and regain agency of themselves.

Adding Incentives

The project combines hand exercising tools and story-telling puppets. Adding the exercising element adds a contingent motivator to grand-parenting. It is not just to encourage the grandparents to put effort into exercising, but also to boost their confidence in taking care of the kids.

I looked into the hand exercising tools to learn the motions and gestures when using them.

The aim of the project is to design a low-cost product for social welfare organisations, and hand out the products to grandparents as educational propaganda to introduce a novel way of grand-parenting.