25 October 2019
Sparked by a Wendy Ramshaw neckpiece at the Victoria
and Albert Museum, the project is an ongoing enquiry into
aesthetic identity. Questioning my role as a designer, artist,
crafter, maker or interdisciplinary practitioner, I began
drawing from space and writing my thoughts while exposing
myself to landscapes, art, design and architecture. The result
was a collection of conceptual wearable objects, situating
the human body central to an imagined ‘role reversal’ in
parasitic invasion. A material palette of found ‘industrial’
objects helped me generate a vocabulary in translating my
thoughts into tangible form.
Sharing my research, thoughts and final outcomes with peers and tutors is always an intimidating, yet gratifying and productive experience. This time, I decided to let my audience interact with my display of final objects and prototype models before explaining my thought process. Observing different reactions, questions and responses gave me some interesting insights into user response. The soft gel wax and embedded watch movement created an interest among my peers. Alkesh appreciated my experiments taking imprints of my palm in clay for ‘Lost time’. Cloe was interested in the aesthetic identity experiment pieces that I made with wire mesh.
My concept sheet represents the organic process of research, ideation and development that I engaged in, for this process. Since my concept was not based on pure function/convenience based design, I found it hard to explain my concept in a linear manner.
Francesca pointed that the embellishments could be responsive to the growth of plants, something I had previously discussed with Kyung Hwa. For my next prototype, I would definitely like to further the abstraction process keeping the plants in mind rather than working in isolation.
Discussing my chosen materials and techniques, I realized that I had been responding to the versatility of various thicknesses of wire in developing the essential hardware for the handbag, with hinges replaced by wrapped wire, and latches formed out of nuts locking in thicker wires, held in place by thin nickel alloy wire. The technique of wire wrapping was laborious and painful, and I’d like to replace that with welding if I get access to a torch. The form of the handbag as an abstraction of the temperate house was a bit conventional, even though I felt that the handle resonating a duplicated shape, added some character to the final piece.
Taking Alkesh’s suggestion, I would definitely like to document over time, the interaction of the ivy with the structure of the handbag, as a time-based experiment. I hope to provide the ivy with the right care in the studio for this.
With regards to developing a commercial version of the handbag, I would definitely have to look into the protruding sharp edges and mobile plant growing technology to allow people to carry these adornments upon themselves and connect with the underlying narrative. However, as Kyung Hwa pointed, this might contradict my ideas of essentially empowering the plants, by another case of ‘posession of plants’ by humans, and the fact that plants would be in constant pain in a mobile human adornment. This made me wonder if the plants could encourage humans to let go of their prized possessions by taking over their adornments and asserting them as their permanent (not mobile anymore) homes.. Moreover, Alkesh pointed out the intriguing ‘battle’ seen in hardy plants asserting ownership of fences and walls, breaking through human infrastructure or existing in harmony with it.
The ‘Lost time’ piece referenced a stronger connection with the human body, and fell in my concept a bit better. It would be interesting to use a lighter coating of wax and embed a working watch movement within it for a ‘part-functional’ timepiece. (the spiraling wire ladder and creeping ivy would essentially inhibit any productive movement of the arm and hand)
Exploring abstraction in aesthetics and form, and basing it on an imagined narrative was a new experience to me. I am still processing the context of such products in people’s lives. Yet, exploring materials and representing my thoughts through weaving and drawing from space was an exciting undertaking.
design factory 