Community Design

Kam Heritage Project
Dimen village, Guizhou Province, China

In cooperation with the Dimen Dong Cultural Eco Museum, Marie Anna Lee and her students have worked in and with the community of Dimen to preserve its cultural heritage, promote local identity and improve its living standards through various design methodologies.

The project received 2013 and 2014 seed award honorable mentions. Standing for Social Economic Environmental Design, seed highlights best practices in the field of Public Interest Design.

Visit the project's website for detailed information

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Concept / What is the project about?

• Cultural preservation / Document traditions and craft processes

  • Dawn of the Butterflies manuscript

  • Short documentary movies

  • Collection of Dimen stories

  • Collection of design motifs
    

• Education / boosting of local identity: Craft workshops; training of designers;
  raising interest in local customs and traditions

  • Dimen motif library
    

  • Workshops for Adults

  • Workshops for Children

  • 2014 Smithsonial Folklife Festival
    

  • Through Young Kam Eyes Documentary (Anastasya Uskov, BFA ‘12)
    

  • Their Then and Now Graphic Novel (Joanne Kwan, BFA ‘13)
    

  • Dimen Animals Coloring Book (Graphic Design I students)

• Raising living wages through crafts sales

  • Cooperative

  • Cooperative's Products

  • Student Prototypes (Graphic Design I students)

  • How to Guides

  • Design for the Museum

    
    

Local Partners

• Dimen Dong Cultural Eco Museum

• Community of Dimen
  Dimen village belongs to Kam minority, one of the 56 ethnic groups in China. Chinese call them Dong. Dimen has been virtually isolated for centuries from the rest of the world and resisted modernization. Recently, the outside world has come to Dimen full force and visible changes are happening every year. Many people, especially the younger generation, have left for work in distant factories to provide for their families leaving fewer working-age people in the village.

Lee says about her design process:

"I am interested in community-based work where I not only design with a particular audience in mind, but closely involve my clients in the process and use design to solve their specific needs. They in turn are no longer clients simply waiting for a finished work that may or may not be what they need, but become part of the solution from start to finish and contribute to the end product. This approach often leads to my collaboration with professionals from other disciplines, creating solutions that go beyond design and have a broader impact on the specific community."