Habitus Magazine | Issue 7

From time to time, people ask me about the ‘add-ons’ to the Habitus masthead – terms like ‘living in design’ and ‘design hunter’. They’re quite catchy, but what are they there for and what do they actually mean?

Well, their function, of course, is to help flesh out what Habitus is all about. A masthead by itself is a little confronting, so the sub-headings hint at the kinds of themes embraced by the magazine.

As for what they mean, let’s start with ‘living in design’. Habitus is for and about people for whom design matters. Not in the sense of design as a branch office of fashion, but in the sense that design brings order, efficiency and aesthetic and emotional satisfaction into people’s lives. Habitus is interested in the way people’s values find expression through their design choices.

One could almost substitute the term ‘living by design’, because people who are clear about what they believe in – their values – usually ‘design’ their lives. They know what makes their lives meaningful and they do what is necessary to create for themselves the environment which will bring that about.

These choices are about a way of life. Here in the Habitus engine room the term ‘lifestyle’ is banned, because ‘lifestyle’ suggests something tagged on, so that design becomes an accessory like some over-designed and over-priced handbag. But ‘way of life’ implies integrity – namely, the close connection between our inner life and the physical world we live in.

So, ‘design hunters’ are people who are carefully shaping their physical world not just to reflect their values, but also to help refine and deepen those values. A garden, for example, is not simply a decorative feature surrounding the house, but a place for contemplation. Similarly, the way a house is connected to the outside landscape shapes the way we participate in the world and engenders a healthy union between domestic life and the natural world.

And inside the house, design hunters gather furnishings and artworks about them which service their own particular practical and emotional needs.

For the design hunter, life is not an accident, because an accidental life is… well, not a life at all. So, when we tell someone to ‘get a life’ what we really mean is: Become your own designer and inject some quality into living.

Just think about it. Living by (instrumental) design means living with intention and through choice; and living by (prepositional) design means living in a quality environment, surrounded by beautiful and functional things.

PAUL MCGILLICK | EDITOR