Draft: 500 Word Rationale on Austerity

This is the draft of my rationale that I will take to my studio for peer assessment. 

Austerity through the use of homemade soap when shaving

In my sensory experiments I chose to attempt to elicit three different moods - austerity, glamour and routine. I did this by changing the feel, sound and look, respectively, of shaving. I found that austerity was the most successful experiment. In this experiment I changed the feel of the soap by making my own soap at home instead of using factory made store bought soap. 

The idea for making my own soap came from the book The Austerity Book (Mitchell, 2011). This book has multiple ideas and instructions on how people can live in an austere fashion, while not written and published in times where austerity was common it is more of a how to guide for the modern woman or man while the ideas remain the same as they did many years ago. For example making soap in the home, amongst other every day goods was common in periods of austerity and is even seen making a re-emergence today in the wake of the poor economic climate in most of the world. 

According to Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska who talks about British austerity post-war, in the period of 10 years after the second world war demand for materials in their raw states was significantly higher than the demand for pre-made items. This was because severe rationing on food such as bread and potatoes, as well as other items like clothes, made them expensive and rare (Zweiniger-Bargielowska, 1994). While originally unpopular, the utility scheme responsible for rationing resources was soon seen as necessary for moving forward and became part of a new idealism. Austerity was viewed as modernist and was heavily influential on what was deemed ‘good design’ at the time (Jones, 2003).

I think that being austere is once again increasingly being viewed as having a modern attitude. Biking and skateboarding are more popular as people seek an austere measure to their expensive petrol cars. Markets where people sell their home made wares are also more common and getting larger as people seek cheaper ways to buy and sell products, especially products that are unique and one of a kind. 

When I began shaving with my home made soap I found that I wanted to be less liberal with the soap than normal because I wanted it to last longer because I had made it and I had a personal connection to the soap. In terms of actual feel the original soap had a very smooth uniform texture whereas the remade soap has a rougher bumpier texture - it felt homemade. The remade soap was a square and thus was not ergonomic, I had to hold it in a tight grasp when shaving. This is poetic because of the connection I felt with the soap. The remade soap didn't let off much soap either which made me feel like I was being very austere, saving as much as I could though I was very wary of razor burn because of this. I felt very old fashioned, yet very modern and independent having made my own soap and I felt connected with history. 

Jones, Michelle. Design and the Domestic Persuader: Television and the British Broadcasting Corporations promotion of post-war ‘good design’. Journal of Design History. Vol. 16. No. 4 (2003). pp. 307-318

Mitchell, Jaqueline. (2011). The Austerity Book: classic tips for enjoying life inexpensively. Oxford. Osprey

Zweiniger-Bargielowska, Ina. Rationing, Austerity and the Conservative Party Recovery after 1945.  The Historical Journal. Vol. 37. No. 1 (Mar., 1994). pp. 173-197