What is your aesthetic judgment about a telephone set which encrusted with khatam?
What are the reasons that certify your idea?
ُUsing khatam on a telephone set not only combines a modern object with a traditional artwork, it is also to create an ornamental appearance for an object that its quality and operation is more important than the appearance. Knowing that telephone is a set consisting of different parts such as: number buttons, letters and etc., using painted and decorative appearance may not be so pleasant. Of course, the use of simple colors and limited spectrums in different phones shows the aesthetic preferences of people.
As an art, the place of Khatam encrusting place is among the category of decorative arts and is a subset of the art of carpentry. That is to say, using khatam needs framework. For a long time till now we see usage of khatam in different object like: photo frames, chairs, tables, boxes etc. But khatam telephone is a combination of traditional decorative art and a modern functional object that has a different usage from other objects that use khatam as a framework.
Different types of khatam result in different kinds of geometrical knots. Apart from elegance and confined colors of geometrical designs and drawing are common characteristics of the all kinds. The order and symmetry of the designs created in khatam indicate the desirability of it. Moreover, in evolution and aesthetics of an object encrusted related to the quality of khatam and the manner of producing it. In comparison with other ornamental arts, khatam has special appearance and the changes in it is not noticeable for everyone. only who are familiar with this art discan understand the distinction.
As we can see in different khatams available in the market, they are classified into first, second and third degrees, objects such as: clock, tissue box, pen case, etc. But all of three types are far from the elegance, glitter (of metal wires) and glorious appearance. Of course the important thing to mention here is the usage of khatam in decorating a telephone set. Knowing that telephone is the most important machine used everywhere in every place. Telephone is one of the most important inventions of mankind that has changed a lot in mechanism through time. Also more facilities have been added to it. Its new form is not comparable with elder models.
Although at the time of buying a telephone some people choose primarily according to the physical appearance and color. But the industrial designers that offer models, preserve and analyze different tastes. Styles and usages offer new designs, applying color spectrums of grey, blue grey, black, white and simplicity of models within a variety of forms showing various kinds of demands in society. This is why the designers and producers always try to have initiatives and if decorative aspect of telephone would be accepted by people, surely a new market would be created by offering new designs. The reason why there was not a permanent and long term presence of this ornamentation in this compound is that along with transformations created in this industry, the standards of choosing a telephone was good quality and new application. If some particular models were introduced to market, they were in a limited number. It was also because of examining customers. Because many experiments show that customers pay more attention to application and facilities of a new set. Consequently there would be a contradiction at first if we had khatam-decorated telephone. Because usually khatam is used for objects that have enough space to work on and beautiful designs. When the artist has a framework, he has enough space for any new designs he wants. Although telephone is a set with different parts and functions, designers try to minimize all these functions in lesser space and there would not remain unused and sufficient space on the surface of telephone to work on.
So in encrusting a telephone set with khatam, it is necessary to have enough space in producing process in order to encrust the surface and this should be such that the visibility of geometrical, tiny graphs and phone details (numbers) remain untouched. In fact, producing a khatam telephone by observing every feature could be a new idea and could be considered an artwork. So what is created is an object that is completely ornamental and functional which has its specific addressees.
The total appearance of a khatam telephone may not be acceptable for some people. Meanwhile, they are eager to buy that set for its utility and not as an ornamental object and because of khatam being used, which is a handicraft object, they have to pay a high price for it.
Finally, by using khatam on the surface of a telephone, not only some applied features of it would be limited in the production process, but also in the encrusting phase, the designer faces some problems regarding the clarity and visibility of details. This design surface which is confined because of the limited space and just cover the surface, will influence the visibility of details. Consequently, if there were a need for ornamentation and beautifying a telephone set, more creativity and designs would develop.
As a result, using khatam on a telephone would not be very much acceptable or pleasing, because of confining functional aspects, similar and monotonous designs and luminosity of some parts and certain details not being visible.
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