# Design and Tacit Aesthetics **Keywords:** design, tacit aesthetics, everyday aesthetics, aesthetic practices, Michael Polanyi, Maurice Merleau-Ponty **Abstract:** Like architecture, design objects are constitutive parts of everyday life: used in various situations where they gain meaning and value. However, while engaging with objects we often do not focus our attention on them but enjoy their qualities as part of performing some action. The practical and the aesthetic merge, and while vision plays a role, touch is more important. The article suggests that the aesthetics of designed everyday objects need recognize a tacit aesthetic dimension, comprising what figures in the background of experience. Tacit aesthetics is discussed based on Michael Polanyi’s ideas about the “from-to” structure of knowledge and perception, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology, highlighting the temporal structure of perception. Through examples of Finnish designed tableware from the mid-20th Century, especially by Kaj Franck, it is shown how material, form, and design ideologies interact with patterns of use, informing our aesthetic appreciation and engagement with things. **Authors:** [[Design as the Art of Objects]]