Cultural Sustainability
Cultural sustainability is a concept that I’ve found myself reflecting on more and more, both in terms of building Studio Kahaani and my own personal approach to lifestyle choices.
This isn’t a new term, and it has long been linked to sustainable development theory and practice. The UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development outlines development targets established to shape policies on both national and international levels, in an effort to reach or at least move the arrow closer to these goals by 2030. The discourse of culture and sustainability is interwoven through many elements of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
For me, cultural sustainability can also be a personal concept - a way to think about what sustains us, what identifies us. Our cultural histories are positive for some, and painful for others. And for many who are the children of immigrant experiences, there were often cultural limitations, expectations, and insecurities. So cultural sustainability becomes a practice of revisitation, reintroduction, or reclamation.
Another important element to sustainable culture for me is modernization and evolution, because without current application or relevance so much of culture remains nostalgia rather than actual cultural practice. And as a mother, even if the new modern world of our children is daunting in many ways - from technology to social media to information access - I would prefer to remain a part of the dialogue than stuck in a moment, however lovely.
And I believe this movement should engage everyone’s thoughts - not just those of a first-generation immigrant or diaspora community. Questions of identity are no longer the domain of specific groups, as people move around the world and travel and return with new ideas and belief systems. As the world shrinks, as we work towards inclusion rather than exclusion. Our lives become a series of decisions that will ultimately create a balance sheet of how we choose to take up space in this world, how we choose to make our homes - our countries and cities and communities and houses, they are all our homes, and will embody whatever culture we choose to sustain.
My hope is that Studio Kahaani becomes one source of inspiration - in terms of aesthetics and design, but also in terms of an intentional way to approach consumption and lifestyle and luxury. After all, the very pursuit of a beautiful life - of a personal culture that sustains and supports us - is the ultimate luxury, isn’t it?
