Hello

I'm Richard, a designer and researcher. I'm based at Edinburgh College of Art, where I teach product design. I am also currently in the process of completing my PhD at Edinburgh Napier University. My work focuses on design as a means of creating dialogue around death, dying and bereavement. I'm particularly interested in getting people who don't normally design, to design 'things' related to their bereavement experiences and grief.

 

I've always been fascinated by grief and designs relationship to how we cope with loss. Often memorials construct codes of behaviour through sensory cues where proximity and tactility command action as well as emotion. That the physical memorial produces emotional outcomes is perhaps the rudimentary design imperative of memorials, but how this translates to our new normal is less certain. Whether we brush our hands across cold stone, or rest on a memorial bench, the COVID-19 crisis has made us re-evaluate these located experiences which were unattainable for many.

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I believe design can facilitate new ways of acknowledging loss in the home and in public space. DESIGNING GRIEF is all about the application of design to death, dying and bereavement. I enjoy exploring these speculative and critical questions through product and interaction design, making things with my hands and talking to people from diverse backgrounds relating to death, dying and bereavement. If you're also fascinated by grief and design get in touch.

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