Sketching Kansei Studies as a Complex Unit

Abstract

The field of kansei studies is intrinsically a multi-disciplinary field of study, centred on the notion of kansei. This quality of the field generates both a richness for the kansei disciplines, and a challenge to define its core term, kansei. Taking into consideration this richness and this challenge, I propose an original way to look at kansei studies, and to adopt a complex thinking approach to describe the dynamics of the field. Considering kansei studies as a complex unity helps to understand the impossibility of obtaining a common definition of kansei, and yet to stimulate necessary inter-disciplinary collaborations through dialogic. Kansei design is then taken as a starting point to exemplify such necessity and value of considering kansei studies as a complex unity. Proposing a kansei design framework inspired from Japanese philosophy and culture and centred on thusness and irregularity, the notion of appropriation appears to be a challenge both for kansei design and for the field of kansei studies at large. Studying appropriation through kansei studies in a dialogical way, will not only inform design on this challenging notion, but also help us to understand the benefit of considering kansei studies as a complex unity through practice.