Light and Other Stories
Flowering
Floorlight
Glass, birch, steel
1100x600x600mm
A trace of human existence, a »side effect« of an physical interaction. The warmth from light creates a naturally growing salt crystal lampshade. Slowly unfolding layers of narrative build up an emotional connection between human and objects. Is it about man-made nature indoors? Is it an apparatus for harvesting smells or a display case for treasures? The real is defined in terms of the viewer’s experience. The user, as co-producer of the story, creates authentic meaning and emotional commitment.
I aim for rich experience and tangible interaction in design. I believe design should serve as a psychological cure, and help people commit to certain values, such as appreciating the slowness of growth and feeling bonding with the world and others.
In this project I try to enhance subject and object relationship. I look for a "tangible emotional interaction" by exploring an applicable method in design. A method combines storytelling, open-end design, and slow design.
Process and details in the blog.
Floorlight
Glass, birch, steel
1100x600x600mm
A trace of human existence, a »side effect« of an physical interaction. The warmth from light creates a naturally growing salt crystal lampshade. Slowly unfolding layers of narrative build up an emotional connection between human and objects. Is it about man-made nature indoors? Is it an apparatus for harvesting smells or a display case for treasures? The real is defined in terms of the viewer’s experience. The user, as co-producer of the story, creates authentic meaning and emotional commitment.
I aim for rich experience and tangible interaction in design. I believe design should serve as a psychological cure, and help people commit to certain values, such as appreciating the slowness of growth and feeling bonding with the world and others.
In this project I try to enhance subject and object relationship. I look for a "tangible emotional interaction" by exploring an applicable method in design. A method combines storytelling, open-end design, and slow design.
Process and details in the blog.
Lab equipments
Tablelight
Glass, beech(stained), steel
300x220x220mm
200x140x140mm
FINDING THE STORYLINE
Form follows narration
I want my story to begin in domestic environment, in people's homes. This is based on the considertation of keeping the concept close to the forms of existence. And I'd like to keep it open, not aiming for a certain kind of home products. To define is to construct. And construction is the begining of destruction. To create emotional connections I'd rather search for ways of tangible interactions than forms and formats. I hope the right "language"-forms and formats will come naturally with the right storyline.
Inspirations from nature
Nature is the greatest artist of all time. Her works are always my source of inspiration. She is also an amazing storyteller. The things formed by nature. The natural wonders growing in wind and earth. Erosion, fossils, marks and bones, minerals are her story books. She always has a way to tell demonstrate them with right tempo and wonderdul skills
In search of "side-effects"
Anything that physically formed as natural consequence of certain human action is indication of human existence. Examples of natural consequences can be seen everywhere in the nature. But what I am looking for is the ones formed by human interaction with the physical world. Something grown naturally with time, with less purposes.
I begin to look into everyday life, the low-tech or low-fi ways of living. Fractions on sofas. coffee marks on a wooden table top.Pillings on the textile. Polished look on teeth of a comb. Burned marks inside a lamp. Straches. Wounds. Traces of human existence.
Stories and songs, written in the language of pressure, tempreture, movements-"side-effects of certian human action". They cause physical changes on appearance of artefacts, and add values to their meaning.
The design process begins like a daily practise. I look for "side-effects" caused by human action, formed by power of nature. My search is a hands-on experiments of material, shapes, tryouts.
Growing natural wonders
As the experiments went on I begin to try manipulating the natural process of growing. With few human effort, I try to make the interaction work naturally between the layers of daily life activities.
Heat-Evaporation-Tempreture change-Volume change-State change-...
I look for a visualization that is noticeble and enjoyable. Most importantly of all, it will be applied in my design language.
AN OPEN-END STORY
An open-end story laid the basis of all interactive activities in experience rich design. Because this allows the user to create individual authentic experience and have their own “version” of the story. In this way, their “version”, how different or unexpected it might be from the designer’s pre-programming, is based on their very own past experience and memory, can produce the emotional connection that every experience rich design is looking for.
Tablelight
Glass, beech(stained), steel
300x220x220mm
200x140x140mm
FINDING THE STORYLINE
Form follows narration
I want my story to begin in domestic environment, in people's homes. This is based on the considertation of keeping the concept close to the forms of existence. And I'd like to keep it open, not aiming for a certain kind of home products. To define is to construct. And construction is the begining of destruction. To create emotional connections I'd rather search for ways of tangible interactions than forms and formats. I hope the right "language"-forms and formats will come naturally with the right storyline.
Inspirations from nature
Nature is the greatest artist of all time. Her works are always my source of inspiration. She is also an amazing storyteller. The things formed by nature. The natural wonders growing in wind and earth. Erosion, fossils, marks and bones, minerals are her story books. She always has a way to tell demonstrate them with right tempo and wonderdul skills
In search of "side-effects"
Anything that physically formed as natural consequence of certain human action is indication of human existence. Examples of natural consequences can be seen everywhere in the nature. But what I am looking for is the ones formed by human interaction with the physical world. Something grown naturally with time, with less purposes.
I begin to look into everyday life, the low-tech or low-fi ways of living. Fractions on sofas. coffee marks on a wooden table top.Pillings on the textile. Polished look on teeth of a comb. Burned marks inside a lamp. Straches. Wounds. Traces of human existence.
Stories and songs, written in the language of pressure, tempreture, movements-"side-effects of certian human action". They cause physical changes on appearance of artefacts, and add values to their meaning.
The design process begins like a daily practise. I look for "side-effects" caused by human action, formed by power of nature. My search is a hands-on experiments of material, shapes, tryouts.
Growing natural wonders
As the experiments went on I begin to try manipulating the natural process of growing. With few human effort, I try to make the interaction work naturally between the layers of daily life activities.
Heat-Evaporation-Tempreture change-Volume change-State change-...
I look for a visualization that is noticeble and enjoyable. Most importantly of all, it will be applied in my design language.
AN OPEN-END STORY
An open-end story laid the basis of all interactive activities in experience rich design. Because this allows the user to create individual authentic experience and have their own “version” of the story. In this way, their “version”, how different or unexpected it might be from the designer’s pre-programming, is based on their very own past experience and memory, can produce the emotional connection that every experience rich design is looking for.
SLOW DESIGN
I always have high respect for artists or craftspersons who work with tacit knowledge-a skill that is mastered with practical exercise and experience.
“Through repeated failures, one becomes familiar with a material and its characteristics.”-Slow art, national museum Stockholm
They make art, in a slow way, against the modern high-paced way of living and quick-consumption. The whole process almost becomes ceremonial-a meditation or a self-reflection, gradually putting emotions inside the objects, slowly using the physical structure as language, even poetries, to speak to the right audience.
As for the audience, the identification of how it is made, the mark that is left on the object during production , as Benjamin Walters put it, the aura that is left in the object from the manufacturing or designing process, create an empathic experience. The non-verbal communication not only exists between people and object, it exists between people who designed/made the object and people who get to buy it and use it. A product, hand crafted or industrially manufactured, could all communicate with the user emotionally, through the empathic process. The sensory experience that is provided by the object in the interaction-the texture, warmth, look, smell or the sound, later becomes the basis for user’s cognitive evaluation-how it is made and how much time and effort has been devoted to this process. It is this devotion that evoke the communication emotionally.
When I am conducting this project, I tried a new design scheme. Combining my initial idea or sketch, I look for the possible recources I could find, and then make decisions based on the real life situation. This is not only a consideration for practical purposes, it is my try out for the slow design method. The realization of idea is equally important as the idea itself.
The glass part is made in Småland, Sweden, in cooperation with local glass artist Micke Johansson. The tricky part in this process is because my stand point is to address handcrafts in the slow process of design, it is important how the object is made-not in search for precision or exact shapes. The mark or traces from a hand crafted piece will add more value. So I intend to avoid mold for the final shape. We tried different ideas for production without molds. It is a difficult process and requires a lot of experience and skills from the craftsperson. The final results is gained with his excellent free blowing mastery.
I always have high respect for artists or craftspersons who work with tacit knowledge-a skill that is mastered with practical exercise and experience.
“Through repeated failures, one becomes familiar with a material and its characteristics.”-Slow art, national museum Stockholm
They make art, in a slow way, against the modern high-paced way of living and quick-consumption. The whole process almost becomes ceremonial-a meditation or a self-reflection, gradually putting emotions inside the objects, slowly using the physical structure as language, even poetries, to speak to the right audience.
As for the audience, the identification of how it is made, the mark that is left on the object during production , as Benjamin Walters put it, the aura that is left in the object from the manufacturing or designing process, create an empathic experience. The non-verbal communication not only exists between people and object, it exists between people who designed/made the object and people who get to buy it and use it. A product, hand crafted or industrially manufactured, could all communicate with the user emotionally, through the empathic process. The sensory experience that is provided by the object in the interaction-the texture, warmth, look, smell or the sound, later becomes the basis for user’s cognitive evaluation-how it is made and how much time and effort has been devoted to this process. It is this devotion that evoke the communication emotionally.
When I am conducting this project, I tried a new design scheme. Combining my initial idea or sketch, I look for the possible recources I could find, and then make decisions based on the real life situation. This is not only a consideration for practical purposes, it is my try out for the slow design method. The realization of idea is equally important as the idea itself.
The glass part is made in Småland, Sweden, in cooperation with local glass artist Micke Johansson. The tricky part in this process is because my stand point is to address handcrafts in the slow process of design, it is important how the object is made-not in search for precision or exact shapes. The mark or traces from a hand crafted piece will add more value. So I intend to avoid mold for the final shape. We tried different ideas for production without molds. It is a difficult process and requires a lot of experience and skills from the craftsperson. The final results is gained with his excellent free blowing mastery.