Belonging & Belongings is a compilation of our artistic design research activities and materials from a research programme we have worked on together with Dr Daijiro Mizuno, from 2007 to 2011. The book is rich in imagery, reflecting our visual research approach, and includes photographs, magazines, and film stills from the various studies we carried out in both Japan and the United Kingdom. The book can be seen as an introduction into what artistic research can bring to design research, with the Belonging & Belongings programme acting as a Research & Development activity for STBY.
The five essays included in the book are based on a paper we published for the IASDR Conference in Tokyo in 2013, titled ‘Belonging & Belongings: Design Research Through Visual Explorations’ (which can be found here). These essays provide the conceptual framework in which we carried out our research, elaborating on the approach of ‘artistic design research.’ The full paperback version of the book is currently available for purchase here, and the ebook can be downloaded for free here. The book will soon also be available through several other channels including Amazon and the Apple iBookstore.