Taste and attunement: Design culture as world making

Focus on positioning ‘design culture’ as central to understanding the world.
Design culture allows perception in terms of qualities, feelings, meanings, and a material environment.
Rather than claiming absolute centrality, the exploration of design's foundational role in shaping perceptions is pursued.
‘Design culture’ implies a wider consideration of society's aspects where tools and technologies play a central role.

There are concerns within contemporary scholarship about design culture's broad applicability.
Disciplinary boundaries in scholarly institutions may find this breadth unmanageable, risking overlap with fields like archaeology, anthropology, and material culture.
Experience of the world is complex and messy, where discrete categories often fail to encapsulate reality.
The chapter aims to explore the world-making capabilities of material culture, using the duvet as the focal case study.

Raymond Williams defined culture as ‘a whole way of life’, encouraging relational awareness without assumptions of foundational unity.
Culture is dynamic and fragmented, constantly evolving with competing practices and feelings.
Design culture requires attention to ordinary lived experiences woven into an extensible fabric of interactions within designed environments.
Example: An awareness of daily technology and design practices transforms the experience of mundane tasks (like cooking) into reflections of broader design culture.

The duvet has evolved into the dominant bedding form in the UK, symbolizing changes in domestic practices.
It represents a shift in bedding technology, merging multiple items (sheets, blankets, eiderdowns) into one solution, promoting efficiency and practicality.
Early adoption faced societal resistance due to existing cultural practices surrounding traditional bedding.

In the 1960s, only a small fraction (5%) of Britons used duvets, reflecting their status as luxury items associated with elite retailers.
The gradual acceptance of duvets replaced traditional bedding in a cultural context that included changing housing conditions and heating technologies.
Media representations and advertising played key roles in normalizing the duvet, influencing societal attitudes towards domestic arrangements.

The duvet facilitated the evolution of personal and domestic relationships by promoting shared responsibilities (e.g., making beds) and liberating lifestyle norms.
It is a symbol of emotional and practical transformation in UK households, emerging alongside altered social dynamics.

The duvet's rise is deeply connected to broader societal changes:
- Availability of contraceptives signifies evolving relationships and personal choices.
- Fluctuations in ownership and socio-economic conditions facilitated the adoption of modern conveniences like central heating.
The duvet encapsulates a reconfiguration of domestic values, corresponding with shifts in class, gender roles, and expectations.

Design culture transcends the notion of discrete objects, promoting a broader understanding of societal tastes as bundles of preferences influenced by designs.
As defined by Bourdieu, taste can signify social stratification or empowerment within social dynamics.
The material qualities of design culture prompt re-evaluation of taste as influenced by sensory experiences.

The UK-duvet represents more than personal choice; it plays a role in attuning societal practices and norms, impacting notions of comfort, convenience, and identity.
It serves as an example of how design operates beyond symbolism, grounding itself in tangible social and cultural transformations.
Understanding design culture reveals its role as an agent in shaping meanings and experiences within societal contexts.