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Kristine H. Harper Biography

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“Resilient aesthetics and resilient beauty are terms that immediately sound like oxymorons, as beauty and aesthetically pleasing experiences and objects tend to con- note something fleeting, transient, and/or volatile. We are used to viewing beauty as something that fades, being synonymous with newness, youth, unwrinkled faces and garments, fresh flowers, polished tables, newly painted walls, and with undented floors—all of which diminish with age, usage, and wear. We are used to aesthetics and beauty being linked to the visual impression of an object.”

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Book:Anti-trend, Resilient Design and the Art of Sustainable Living
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“Let’s not fall into the trap of conventions and habits and convince ourselves that the way we are consuming now is next to impossible to alter because of regulated options, economic limitations, cultural norms, accessibility, or whichever excuse we come up with. Let’s remember that just as it is momentarily the norm to mindlessly shop and consume, it could easily become the new norm not to; to radically reduce one’s consumption and to focus on the usage and aesthetic nourishment of the objects one owns and invests in. Something being the norm doesn’t mean that it is carved in stone. Norms are changeable. Not easily changeable, but nevertheless changeable. Cherishing, mending, and repairing one’s belongings could become the new normal.”

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“Decay is renewal--a perhaps contradictory sentence that nevertheless characterizes the aesthetically sustainable product, which ages gracefully and which possesses the germ of aesthetic decay as process. Decay equals renewal in the sense that aesthetic decay ensures the continued interest and fascination of the recipient.”

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“Heaviness is uplifting. Heaviness is strengthening. Heaviness is sustainable. Not the gloomy kind of heaviness that characterizes a state of depression and hopelessness—which we must do our best not to fall into when listening to discouraging facts about climate changes and pollution—but the em- powering kind of heaviness that fills your life with substance, when you engage in meaningful projects”

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“One could argue that time is the most valuable thing we have or “own.” We even seem to have a cultural and societal agreement on this, materializing in sayings like “time flies,” “life is short,” “our children are only on loan,” etc. It therefore seems odd that time is one of the “things” that we easily give away. We sell our time for money that we spend on new consumer goods instead of limiting our consumption in order to make it possible to sell less of our time. We engage in “ought to” events and arrangements that we don’t really want to attend in order to fit in. We waste our time on insignificant series and movies that are provided to us by endless streaming services in order to feel ready for another day of selling our time. This vicious circle is unsustainable.”

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Book:Anti-trend, Resilient Design and the Art of Sustainable Living
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“I am not on a mission that involves preaching doomsday. Yes, there are definitely a lot of pollution-based problems in the world. And, yes, we most certainly need to change our consumption and production ways radically in order to stop ongoing climate change, inequality, and mindless consumption. But I think that one of the many reasons this “turning things around” is so hard is that the way we are being told to change things is lecture-based and fear driven.”

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Book:Anti-trend, Resilient Design and the Art of Sustainable Living
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“Sustainable, simple living should be synonymous with resilience. There is nothing healthy, balanced, or resilient about the occasional “sugar-rush” in the shape of consumer-ventures or luxury holidays—which are needed in order to survive one’s stressful, busy daily life. I would even go as far as to rename the sustainable way of life—known as slow living or simple living—resilient living. The majority of the connotations currently linked to simple living are too lifeless and too monotonous to be inspiring and to contain longevity.”

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“Resilient living is not an ode to dishwashing. Resilient repetitions are linked to the usage of aesthetically nourishing objects, to gratitude for the rhythms in nature, to steadily, gradually refining a skill, to the pleasure of slow creation—and the appreciation of slowly created objects—to creating momentous rituals with communities, friends, and family, and to finding a stimulating work-life balance and enjoying meaningful daily routines that allow for both efficiency and stillness. Resilient repetitions are nourishing because they have been consciously chosen by the individual.”

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