Why Design Philology? Re-reading the past to understand the present and imagine the future

Two years ago, as we began to contemplate the upcoming 30th anni- versary of our School of Design, we asked ourselves a simple question: how can we meaningfully celebrate such a milestone? Celebrating 30 years of our School of Design meant not only con- fronting questions about our future and the challenges that lie ahead, but also, inevitably, looking back on our past to reflect on the challeng- es already faced and the paths that have been forged. Suspended in this emblematic state, which Walter Benjamin poignantly described in his famous essay inspired by Paul Klee’s renowned painting Ange- lus Novus, symbolizing the angel of history flying forward while gazing back, we conceived this ambitious program of archiving and philologi- cal reflection, which was named Design Philology. Let us begin with a fundamental axiom: without history, there is no future. This principle, imparted to us by our mentors, may seem self-ev- ident, yet it bears repeating, as it is all too often overlooked.