STRATEGIES TOWARDS THE ENHANCEMENT OF THE SYMBOLIC VALUE OF PORTUGUESE ARTIFACTS

One of the factors that contribute towards a generally low competitiveness of Portuguese artifacts in international markets is its symbolic deficit. The majority of studies undertaken by leading experts identify the technical qualifications of various Portuguese sectors of industrial and cultural production as an asset to be preserved, but they equally identify a very low brand value in Portuguese export products: about 2% of Portuguese exports, against 50% of Spanish exports and 78% of Italian exports. The present paper derives from a series of case studies, currently in progress, that validate the above information. Drawn up from these contexts, a series of strategies are presented as contributions towards the reversal of the current scenario. These strategies are rooted in the establishment and reinforcement of networks with industrial sectors, cultural agents and local and international cultures. The current financial and economic crisis has rendered the interdependence between the various world economies evident - or, in a broader sense, it has laid bare the need to articulate local politics with the construction of a global vision. This vision should focus on the overcoming of existing asymmetries between the quality of life of various populations, on the fair use of essential resources, and on clear and definite strategies towards a sustainable model of development with a considerable impact in the future of the planet. This crisis of capitalism, occurring at the same time as the issue of the planet's sustainability reaches a level of absolute urgency, reveals a paradox in contemporary Design. This paradox comes out of the conflict between the mission that Design established for itself in the last few decades as a key agent in the process of consumption (as an important ingredient in the model of development that is now being questioned), and its ethical, almost endemic dimension, inherited from the standpoints of the Bauhaus or Arts & Crafts. If a level of formal seduction found its echo in post-industrial approaches, shaping new "needs" and shaping taste, an aesthetic that is grounded in other designs and ways of being, and aesthetic with other political standpoints seems, in opposition, most likely possible and thinkable. If one assumes this discourse as reasonable, what can one do, within a Design research framework, while focusing on a progressively poorer region, whose potential productivity persists in not bearing fruit? It is, also, important to understand that, at least since the year 2000, Portuguese higher education confers a Design degree to roughly one thousand five hundred university students. However , only in January 2007 did the Portuguese parliament officially recognise Design as an accountable activity , as a profession. Additionally, only two years ago did "Fundacao Para a Ciencia e Tecnologia" (a state department for scientific research funding) include Design as a category for Ph.D grants. Therefore, there is a clear necessity to validate and confer visibility to Design in the Portuguese context, both within the scientific and academic communities, and next to the economic and social fabrics. On the other hand, Portuguese Design Research has traditionally organised itself in contextual groups associated with the Colleges where design degrees are conferred. Design Research in Portugal exists, but it has existed in scattered form; it is stimulating, but it has not been efficiently stimulated; it is recognisable, but it tends not to be acknowledged, both nationally and internationally.