Nigel Black is a long way from the hustle and bustle of a busy Adelaide lifestyle as he explores the world of Zen and design on an overseas study tour.
Black, a designer with a background mainly in print work, is a sessional lecturer at UniSA and is currently connecting with other practitioners of Zen Buddhism in the United States for his research doctorate. Here, he discusses the connection between a 6th-century spiritual practice and his life as a designer.
What topic did you choose for your PhD?
I’m investigating designers whose practice is informed by Zen Buddhism – a study inspired by a personal juxtaposition of design and Zen practice. I am seeking ways to move beyond identified limitations in design practice. The participants include architects, landscape architects, industrial designers, graphic designers and calligraphers. In support of the investigation, I am participating in some serious Zen practice in monasteries and centres world-wide to deepen my understanding of Zen practice. I am in no way an authority on Zen, simply a practitioner, hence the extra study in this area.
What is the connection between Zen Buddhism and design?
Creativity is an obvious connection, for me and for my participants. However, there is a whole swag of emerging themes.
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How does that connection affect your aesthetic?
Achieving a particular “aesthetic” is not a focus. There is a misconception that Zen as a word means minimalism. If there is any aesthetic that comes from Zen in relation to the work of my participants, it is the result of process. Product, and the aesthetic that comes with that product, is a the result of process. In your question you use the word “connection”; this gets closer to what Zen may bring to a design practitioner, their process, and hence the resulting aesthetic or product.
Who are the major proponents of Zen Design?
This was difficult territory for me as a researcher on the hunt for participants, as there was no one in particular, [which is] very fitting for Zen. So I had to work hard to find where these people were. I asked many who advertised themselves as Zen designers if they practised Zen, and predominantly they said, “No, I just liked the word” – or they said they liked the aesthetic, whatever that meant. There are, of course, areas of design where we may find the kind of designers I am looking for. I did find some people who ended up in the study – quality practitioners who only via their book publishers would identify as a Zen anything. This is an interesting trait among those I have encountered.
You are currently on tour with your study – what interesting places have you travelled to so far?
I have travelled Europe and now the US, then onto Japan and China. Spending time with serious practitioners of creativity and design that pull from Zen has been a profound experience. These masters have opened up and shared their experiences and thoughts with me in an intimate way, for which I am very grateful.
People have been the focus from the start, and I am astonished by the people I meet every day on this five-month field trip. People have welcomed me globally into their homes, design studios, zendos [meditation rooms] and monasteries, and universities.
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Why spend time in the US?
The US is the place where I discovered most of my participants, although I am engaging with a Dutchman, an Australian and a Japanese person. Out of the Western countries, the US has a strong history regarding Zen.
What would you say is the single most important source of inspiration for you as a designer?
This changes moment to moment, and it doesn’t take much to find inspiration in any given moment.
How can Zen inspire other designers?
I could tell them Zen Buddhism will make them more creative, connect them in a deeper way to the world, themselves and others, make them sharper, and more wholesome with their actions — but that would be useless. If they were interested in what Zen may inspire in them, they will have to discover and experience that for themselves.
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