Research on the Characteristic of Speculative Design in Contemporary Jewelry

Abstract

Speculative design, with the evolution of the times, encourages critical and independent thinking abilities. It is a debate on various possibilities with assumptions and questions, instigating contemplation and discussion. With the background coming from Critical design, Speculative design advocates a more open approach, inviting people to think and discuss actively. Meanwhile, Contemporary jewelry is a highly experimental and artistic form of creation emerging from the Western countries, combining unique craft techniques with experimentation of materials and criticism of values to become an expression of thought. This study takes the theories of Speculative design such as design fiction, critical design, and thought experiments to explore how a framework of methodology or tools is created to support the ideas at the conscious level, First, based on the literature study of Speculative design theories responding to the homogeneity with contemporary jewelry, the theoretical structure, questionnaire survey, and in-depth interview are carried out. Secondly, through in-depth interviews with 16 experts, we explore their perspectives on contemporary jewelry, the relationships between contemporary jewelry and the body, and the importance of craft value in contemporary jewelry, summarize the experts’ perspectives and exploration of jewellery characteristics, and further revise the questionnaire model. The research results show that speculative design, as a jewelry design method, has nine characteristic attributes engages more dialogues and reflections using implications, debate, ask, thus providing a framework for inference in the context of inferential reasoning.