THE DESIGNER’S ATELIER

Francisco Jarauta / Madrid, Spain

 Therefore, design is one of the leading tools in defining new ways of culture. In its intention it belongs in its own right to the field of project culture; in its applications it is the moment when all the elements modernize and transform not only uses, but also tastes, determining ways of perception to the system of needs. All reflection on design becomes a reflection on the tensions between culture and its projects. It is clear to everyone that these observations take on greater force if the context defining them is a culture like ours, subjected to processes of acceleration and profound innovation, whose scope encompasses all domains of science and life. It is the responsibility of those who assume the task of the construction of future societies. ¶ During long years of friendship and intellectual complicity, I have had the opportunity to converse at length with Ricardo Salas on the problems of contemporary design. ¶ He brings together the ideal intellectual and professional conditions to make progress in a discussion dominated by the complexity of a changing situation and a cultural context like that of Mexico, which is clearly one of the privileged settings where tradition and innovation constitute a complex world, full of allure and challenges for the contemporary actor. Ricardo Salas has solid training from the Scuola Politecnica di Design, followed by a specialization in Basel in the field of graphic design. Generationally, Salas represents an intellectual bridge between the dominant theoretical models of the 1980s in European institutions and the new proposals that have arisen to address today’s challenges. Bruno Latour has offered timely reflection on a parallel situation.