AxisGroup International Inc.

Need and Want

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Affluence and the Quality of Life



Affluence and 'quality of life' are neither interchangeable
nor equivalent. Satisfaction is not necessarily linked to
buying more products, or with replacing them with more
trendy models. It is a rare consumer who does not value
one possession with a special meaning from the past, or
as a kind of continuity into the present. Just as children
carry many forms of play into their adult behaviour, so do
most of us cling to symbols and forms: a special kind of
fountain pen, or a familiar knife.

Replacement of objects with a more contemporary model
is not an automatic impulse of all consumption. Objects
which satisfy the whole person who uses them on many levels,
such as ToolToys, will be preserved and permanently
rediscovered , not replaced.

The ToolToy approach, then, does not bring about more
consumption and a demand for the latest style. Rather,
it is seen as promoting objects of lasting value, capable
of satisfying both the inner and outer person over time.

Users have emotional needs as well as physical ones,
and products which meet both these needs at once will
prove of enduring value.


 

 

© 1993- 1995 Alexander Manu ©1995 Danish Design Centre "ToolToys - Tools with an Element of Play "
The author grants permission to make a digital or hard copy of part or all of this work for personal use provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit. The copyright notice and the title of the publication must appear on all printed copies.