Two recent, profound events:a) dinner hosted by Hong Kong Rotary, honoring a World Peace Scholar from Japan
b) public lecture by Eames Demetrios, grandson of designers Charles and Ray Eames, on education methods and practices
The World Peace Scholarship is intended to train the next generation of front-line defenders/promoters of peace. There are centers at seven universities world-wide that offer select students Master degree programs with courses advanced diplomacy and conflict resolution. The honored guest of the Rotary dinner, Miho (pictured left), studied at one such center in England in the late 90s. From there she moved to Iraq where she lived for ten years, providing public relations assistance and working as a bridge between peace forces and the millions of refugees tied directly to the conflict in Iraq. A decade of sacrifice to service so hazardous in nature is humbling, to say the least. Miho will leave Iraq in January with hopes of beginning... life. At the close of the evening, she said that the only way the conflict in Iraq will end is if its citizens compromise on how the country will be run, all by themselves.
b) Eames Demtrios is a quirky fellow -- looking like George Lucas, having the personality of Bilbo Baggins. He travels the world telling tales of the Eames dynasty (his given name is his mother's maiden name), and attempting to add his own interpretations of the original, golden concepts of his grandparents. Two such concepts that weigh heavy on my head are
1. the guest-host relationship and its effect on design (comment to appear in blog form in coming weeks)
2. learning by doing
Charles Eames was a living example of using the 'learning by doing' approach to improving skills and developing style. He taught himself the start-to-finish processes of photography upon inheriting his detective-father's equipment. This was accomplished by simply taking pictures -- a lot of them. The complete Eames collection contains 850,000 prints. The 'learning by doing' effort requires constant involvement and focus, something many people are unable to give one activity for prolonged periods of time. I think the method is key in the mastery of the priority subjects in my life: the Chinese language and architectural graphics. Serious time dedication. Maybe next semester...
Here's 20+ hours for starters:
