Muuto_Catalog_2022

For more than half a century, contemporary design has
maintained an ethos of ‘form follows function’. As we
ascend into an era of deeper understanding of the interconnection
between body and mind through scientific
research, we are beginning to recognize the profound
effect of art, design and architecture on us – from the
embracing shape of an armchair to an open office
flooded in natural light. It begs the question: should we
be giving more thought to ‘form follows feeling’?
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Susan Magsamen is a long-time collaborator and friend of
Muuto, the executive director of the International Arts +
Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins University and co-director of the
NeuroArts Blueprint. Her research centers on the human
experience of aesthetics – a field adequately dubbed neuroaesthetics
– examining the impact of architecture, art and design
on our behavior and sense of wellbeing. Catching up with
Susan, we spoke of design’s potential for producing wellbeing,
the importance of expressing an authentic self in the places we
work and live in, and how we can combine neuroaesthetic
elements or universal truths about light, form and tactility
to create more poignant spaces that truly make us flow.
susan — There's a lot of work right
now in thinking about things like flourishing
or thriving – really being your authentic
self. Even though we all have the same
biology, my conditioning, my experiences,
my genetics, make me respond to arts and
aesthetic experiences differently.
On the importance of self-expression
As we grow up, we are learning to better
understand what we need. You might recall
decorating your room with an overwhelming
sense of urgency – a need to rearrange,
to transform. In these early ways,
we are projecting our identity through our
spaces, developing a sense of what we like
and what we need around us to thrive.
susan — There really isn’t such a
thing as good or bad taste – there is only
self-expression. You cannot say, my essence
is better than your essence. It is
what it is, and we need to honor that. We
will explore ourselves for the rest of our
lives. We are such intricate beings, and
to allow that into the spaces that we are
in holds so much potential. What we like
changes and as you change, every space
you inhabit somehow changes.
Universally appealing neuroaesthetic
ingredients
While conditioning makes us gravitate towards
particular objects and spaces which
we experience in vastly different ways,
research, like that of Anjan Chatterjee
of University of Pennsylvania and Oshin
Vartanian at University of Toronto, has
demonstrated that there are more universal
neuroaesthetic principles we can adhere
to when forging holistic experiences