Do it yourself: democracy and design

Introduction:
The theme of this special issue arose from a perceived
need to generate a discourse around the interface
between ‘ design ’ taken as a function of the activity
of ‘ professional ’ designers and being part of an
established cycle of the design, production and consumption
of goods; and ‘ Do It Yourself ’ taken as its
antithesis — a more democratic design process of selfdriven,
self-directed amateur design and production
activity carried out more closely to the end user of
the goods created...