1 Introduction

1.1 Background and Motivation

As a metalworking teacher, I understand that instruction, demonstration, and practice of techniques are not simply for one-way training of students. After students have achieved a certain stage in their learning, I need to focus my instruction on shift of thinking and implementation of methods. Through thinking and repetitive training of hands, the easily perceived sensations and guidance can enable a switch of roles, like a swap of roles between a teacher and students. This allows one to virtually play both the role of an observer and the role of the observee.

In art creation, one may easily follow a pre-established design thinking process or even be trapped in a state of self-drowning confusion. This study is intended to analyze the process, status, form, and logic of my creations and summarize the context and features of related arguments proposed by numerous scholars. Starting with imitation of the nature, I attempt to re-create the beauty of nature using metalworking techniques. After an analysis of archetypes, Function Follows Form theory, and the symbiosis principle, I explore the possibilities of or foundation for applying a novel design thinking process between natural and artificial creations. The goal is to highlight the interdependencies in nature and evaluate the feasibility of an innovative design process.

1.2 Objectives

Through application of the Function Follows Form theory, this study attempts to explore a thinking process that can be applied in jewelry design. The objectives of this study are as follows:

  1. 1.

    To develop and analyze a design thinking process between natural and artificial creations.

  2. 2.

    To explore the possibilities of applying the Function Follows Form theory.

2 Literature Review

2.1 When Metalworking is Viewed as a Language

Jewelry tells one’s thinking and is viewed as a new form of communication in the society. However, metalworking creates a space of expression for objects (the media). In such space, a replicated image and the content of a container, for example, need different instruments (i.e. craft and techniques) to describe how they should be observed. Art creators relying on use of “hand” choose not to express “verbally” but to view “the works they create” as a language. They use a more intuitive way of communication than verbal expression to respond, describe, and interpret the world they perceive. As mentioned in the beginning of Ways of Seeing by Berger, “Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak” [1]. Idealist aesthetics suggests that art creation is a subjective, conscious activity in which artists express their minds. Leo Tolstoy conceptualizes art as any activity that communicates emotion. Artists use sounds, colors or forms expressed in words as a means to express a feeling they have once experienced. The work they have created then becomes an instrument for communicating emotion that allows others to experience the same feeling by observing (or experiencing) the work. According to Renesette Croce and R. G. Collingwood, the work of art is located in the artist’s spirit or mind. Through expression of intuitions or imaginations, and even without use of external media, the art process can be completed in the artist’s mind [2].

In the making of art, artists use their hands to touch the object and feel the texture. Subsequently, through a comparison with their memories, they identify the common experiences between the object before them and the objects in their memories to support creation of a new image of the object. Berger mentions in Ways of Seeing that “We only see what we look at. To look is an act of choice. As a result of this act, what we see is brought within our reach. To touch something is to situate oneself in relation to it. (Close your eyes, move round the room, and notice how the faculty of touch is like a static, limited form of sight)”

2.2 The Relationship Between Nature and Artificial Creations

In the nature, the growth, integration, symbolization, corruption, and fading of biological entities always follow a certain law of life. The features of natural creations, such as browning, rough and layered texture, and fading of leaves, are always so astonishing. Through our sight, these features can be collected for use as design elements. People have imaginations about the world of minerals and look for the signs of natural creation. By describing the intuitive image of objects with our senses, transcribing their textures, and expressing emotions, we can create the imaginary images of nature.

In the Record on the Subject of Music (Yue-ji) chapter of Book of Rites (Li-ji), it is mentioned that the poem expresses man’s ambitions; the song sings man’s heartfelt wishes; the dance expresses man’s sentiments. All of them come from man’s inner world, and then musical instruments follow [3]. “The poem expresses man’s ambitions” refers to the sensual experiences of seeing. Through making, conversion of thoughts or intuitive delivery of thoughts, one can create a work and then exhibit the work to have dialogues with observers, in hope of arousing different perceptions. Herbert Read states in his book Art and Society that “the image seems to accurately match with his impression of the object, rather than with the thing he sees with the eyes” [4]. This explains that primitive artists and child artists use their observations and sensations to represent their lives. The realist images they create are inevitably abstract, but because of the gap, the artistic image of the work no longer equates to an archetype of life. Musical scholar Yan-jiang Che mentions in “On the history and development of variations” [5] that “Variation is a type of music characterized by using limited materials to present unlimited imaginations. Whether the result of the presentation can open everyone’s eyes and attract endless appraise is the greatest challenge for the creator of the variation. Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) describes the technique that Brahms used in developing variations (entwickelnde Variation) as a process of unfolding basic materials, motifs, and intervals into large pieces. Brahms’ use of this technique is largely related to the secular music he was exposed to and the environment where he grew up. It was such environment that allowed him to absorb the “variations” in music in bars and coffee shops. Repetitions are common in original folk music. In the continuous diffusion of the repetitive parts of music, there might be some changes or variations to the original version. Brahms developed his improvising style and creativity in this background. With a special ability of developing variations, he created music with unique ethnic features and achieved a height in musical achievement that is hard to reach by later musicians.

3 Method

3.1 Model Development

Using the author’s works as examples, this study discusses the relationship between natural and artificial creations along three dimensions, including archetypal analysis, Function Follows Form (FFF), and the symbiosis principle. By extending the FFF theory, this study attempts to develop from the relationships between function and form and between techniques and concepts an experimental model that can be applied in research and development of a design thinking process. In the following figures, Fig. 1 shows the framework of this study, and Fig. 2 presents how this model can assist design thinking using jewelry design as an example.

Fig. 1.
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(illustrated by the author)

The research framework

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Fig. 2.
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The archetypal analysis model

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3.2 Method, Case Analysis, and Subjects

The subjects are three jewelry works created with the same theme by the researcher, including “Memory replication I”, “Memory replication II”, and “Symbiosis”. These works are first analyzed along three dimensions, including “archetypal analysis”, “FFF”, and “symbiosis principle”. In addition, according to the rough model of contemporary jewelry design (Wang, Ni, and Lo 2018), revisiting industrial techniques and making breakthroughs in traditional techniques are among the approaches of contemporary jewelry design. Therefore, the researcher explored the possibilities of applying a declining traditional industrial technique, in craft making and design. Electroforming can create a nearly perfect replication of an image or an object. Therefore, in addition to the above-mentioned dimensions, this study also analyzes and summarizes the design thinking, design approach, and techniques applied in these works. The result can respond to the question about the feasibility of applying the proposed design thinking process between natural and artificial creations.

4 Case Analysis of Design Thinking Between Natural and Artificial Creations

4.1 Archetypal Analysis

In creating this series of works, the researcher observed natural ores and explored how a natural object can be presented in an artificial making. The researcher combined “a natural ore” and “a simulated ore” into a piece of work. In this study, “natural ore” is defined as the “archetype in the natural world”. Through exploration, understanding, and perception, the researcher identified the beauty of ores and used haptic sensations combined with metalworking techniques to recreate the ores. The recreated “simulated ore” is defined as the “interpreted archetype”. The archetypal analysis model is as illustrated in Fig. 3. Jaffe states that “Like alchemists, artists project a part of their souls onto a substance or a lifeless object. They project the dark side of their personality, the shadow of the secular world, and the spirits that have been abandoned by them and the times they live in” [6].

Fig. 3.
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Discussion of the design thinking process

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The natural world has abundance of materials, waiting to be explored and recognized by observers. As shown in Table 1, the “Memory replication I” series of works is characterized by use a withered branch and application of electroforming. Through an electrodeposition process, the metallic deposits will be attached to the negative cavity side. After the deposits accumulate to a certain thickness, the cavity side can be separated to form the electroform, which is the recreated archetype. Roger Resenblatt mentions in All the Days of the Earth that “However we frenetically we get and spend, an attachment to the natural life of the plant remains fixed in our system… One cannot think of a single composer, painter or writer who has not tracked at least one major inspiration to a bird, a tree or a rose. People automatically lose themselves in wordless reverence at the sight of a curlew or a silver cloud of anchovies or at the mournful wail of howler monkeys. Or they stare dumbly out at oceans, as if longing for their microbial past” [7]. Creation is oftentimes done through intuitive matching of self-perceptions. In Carl Jung’s map of the soul, this process seems to fall in the border areas of conscious and unconscious, between personal unconscious and non-personal unconscious, and in the intersection of complex, archetypal image, and instinct. It is a turning point between soul and non-soul, bridging the inner and the outer worlds. According to the theory of synchronicity proposed by Carl Jung, there are meaningful connections between the subjective and the objective worlds. As a theory extended from the theories of id and the universe, synchronicity suggests that there is a hidden order and unity among all the existences. More specifically, there is a meaningful order between two coincidences which appear to have randomly occurred; spiritual images (subjective) and objective events may sometimes appear in an exact order.

Table 1. Memory replication I (I-Ting Wang 2018)
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Jung proposes that archetypes are transcendental and not limited to the psychological field. In terms of their transcendability, they can enter our consciousness from the soul, from the outside world or from both channels. Synchronicity refers to the situation when it enters our consciousness from both channels. The spiritual image (including abstract scientific thoughts) may reveal the actual reasons in the reflections of human consciousness. The soul and the world are inter mapping as in a certain dimension. Art makers can follow this process to interpret their “creative archetypes”.

4.2 Function Follows Form

Form Follows Function or Functions Follows Form. Where does “form” come from or why? In the 19th century, Louis Sullivan, a master of the Chicago School of architecture, proposed the Form Follows Function theory, stressing that form can be designed and altered depending on functions and is not just tended for ornament. The concept of Form Follows Function does not oppose ornament but proposes that the establishment of an ornament system must conform to and present the meanings of the archetypes. Sullivan mentions that “All things in nature have a shape, that is to say, a form, an outward semblance, that tells us what they are, that distinguishes them from ourselves and from each other.” The goal of creating is to make each artificial creation (not incompatible with nature) harmonious and appropriate.

However, in the early 1990s, a group of psychologists led by Ronald Finke had an interesting discovery. They found creating a virtual form and then exploring its potential functions can lead to more possibilities of innovation. Therefore, they proposed the Function Follows Form theory, suggesting that functions are variable, and by shifting the focus onto innovation and by exploring or challenging cognitions, one can discover hidden possibilities or new models of creation.

In the creating process, artists are not only an observer who watches how the work is made (objective) but also an observer involved in the making (subjective). Based on an experimental creation method, the researcher learned about the “archetype in the nature world” through observation, exploration, and dialogues in creating the “Memory replication II” series of works, as shown in Table 2. By interpreting and translating the “archetypes of the creator” the researcher derived the “interpreted archetypes” and provided support to restore the archetypes to the pattern as remembered in the brain. It was hoped that this humble attitude, as that of the nature, can be directly reflected on the works. Using the minimum amount of substrate (support), the researcher reduced the add-ons to the “interpreted archetypes” to demonstrate the maximum sensations that initially motivated the making of this work. Besides, for each archetype, the researcher also created an exclusive structure with a once-in-a-lifetime spirit.

Table 2. Memory replication II (I-Ting Wang 2018)
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4.3 Symbiosis Principle

Among these series of works, the archetypes in the natural world, the interpreted archetypes, and structure (form) are equally important, interdependent, and supportive of each other. On condition that the viewing angle for the archetype is unaffected and maximized, this study applies the structural trap to linearly connect the three elements and use the rules of counterbalancing—maintain flexible, calculate the tension, and set the pull distance, to define an appropriate role for each element such that all of them can harmoniously exist and support each other. According to National Academy for Education Research, symbiosis is a relationship between two different species. It includes three relationships, namely mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism. In this study, the relationship between design elements is defined as a “symbiosis” (Table 3).

Table 3. Symbiosis series (I-Ting Wang 2018)
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Yang mentions in Chinese Narratology that “An imagery consists of an image and meaning which are carefully selected and combined by its creator. It is a carrier of aesthetics accepted in the society and culture and also a phenomenon of human spirits. However, because object images may come from different sources, such as the nature, the society, traditions or myths, the author’s intuitive inspirations or historic culture, the sounds, the tastes or types of imagination they carry may differ greatly. The interest of literati and the secular interest in them may also differ. They can induce a wide array of interpretations and associations in readers” [8].

There is a certain force that balances the powers in the universe. This force works like dancing with a partner. Where one steps forward, the other steps back, and vice versa. In creating a work, visualizing symbiosis can bring observers or readers back to the state where they and other beings were mutually dependent and benefiting. German artist Wolfgang Laib mentions that “If you feel part of a whole that what you are doing is not just you. The individual, but something bigger then all these problems are not there anymore. Everything is totally different.” When we are able to feel and achieve this state of mind, it is the moment our soul can humbly rest. “Pride brings a person low, but the lowly in spirit gain honor” (Proverbs 29:23). Taichi has a similar conception, that is, all the things in the world follow a certain principle and are related in certain ways. They all prosper and decline. Sometimes, retreating is moving forward, and advancing is deteriorating. If we can return to the original state—restoring our attitude toward the archetype (as a humble observer) and using the approach for dealing with the archetype (symbiosis), maybe we can find an alternative option for the future (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4.
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The model of the symbiosis principle

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5 Results and Findings

Artificial making relies on inspirations from the nature. In this study, the researcher attempted to recreate the beauty of nature using an imitation approach. The researcher converted the visual and haptic senses into ideas and integrated them into the development of Function Follows Form model. Based on the inspirations from the nature, the researcher sought the balance between natural and artificial when making the jewelry works. By means of the counterbalancing approach, the researcher demonstrated a context where the archetype in the natural world, the interpreted archetype, and the structural form are equally important, mutually dependent, and benefiting from each other.

In contemporary jewelry design, more and more artists have attempted to employ various techniques to express their ideas. Based on the principles of FFF, the researcher took on a perspective of observers and employed an experimental method of art creation to learn the archetype being created through observation, exploration, and dialogues, and then create the interpreted archetype through interpretation and translation. The researcher seemed to have captured the messages from the nature. Through touch and the feel of electricity on the skin, lines were sketched on a paper. Then, the researcher closed her eyes and let the hands freely guide the development of ideas. That was a type of unlimited output of ideas, solidified in a state called “sketch”. The researcher realized that when learning from the nature, humble confrontation, counterbalancing, restoring the original motivation and the pursuit for aesthetics can lead to more creations and implementation.