Comparative study of design by culture reference: Design examples

Design by culture reference is a well-known design methodology for inputting culture resources into design processes and approaches. This paper explores the essence of culture reference design methodology based on three case studies focused on chairs, which are: China chair, Proust chair and Louis ghost chair which reference different historical cultural combinations of modern design methods. With the hypothesis of modern culture reference methodology focusing on culture reference resource as data input, design thinking was considered for data interaction, and simplicity, while symbolism, sustainable design as data output for methodology. Comparing this approach with problem-solving methods of traditional design methodology, the design by culture reference helped increase product value, meanwhile it helped in the adaptation to the humanity and technique development design methodology.