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Archepilado.
We like to introduce ourselves; nine aspiring designers enrolled in the 2020 'summer isolation' workshop, hosted by Sep Verboom, founder of the Livable platform
Introduction
We like to introduce ourselves; nine aspiring designers enrolled in the 2020 'summer isolation' workshop, hosted by Sep Verboom, founder of the Livable platform. Portrayed and supported by photographer Aaron Lappeire. During our one week stay in Ghent, we reflected on the perception of "Isolation". Can we take advantage of an isolated situation? Can we create a dialogue between the environment and ourselves?
By reflecting on contemporary social changes, we developed a concept using a hands-on approach. This came to life by exploring different ways with rattan materials, to get from concept to creation.
We are (from left to right):
Elke Cuppens, Lara Rutten, Laetitia Meyers, Juul Prinsen, Charlotte Declercq, Cinte Wittoek, Nicoline Devos, Ubbe Vandenameele, Leto Keunen
Topic
through open conversation and sharing experiences between the designers, we analysed what these past months in lockdown due to Covid-19 have meant for people in general.
Through reflection we tried to find a meaning of this lockdown. What did people experience? Which feelings came with these experiences?
A search for the articulation of experiences trough words came about: people had to balance, redefine, put into perspective and connect. Some people took advantage, while others started helping each other. (False) safety feelings, new ways of connecting and/or disconnecting. The 'invisible' enemy made us experience all sorts of things.
Material
During this workshop we worked with a material unfamiliar to us. This Indonesian material; known as Rattan, has a rapid growth cycle and can be used as a sustainable alternative for wood. Traditional craft methods are used for working Rattan. In this workshop we tried to combine the current zeitgeist with a traditional crafting method.
Over the course of the week each of us experimented with the material. This taught us its features and limits. Rattan is found in different shapes and sizes, mostly as a dry, stiff material in weaving patterns. When wet, the material becomes flexible and is used for binding or fixating. We used this knowledge as a base for our designs.
Concept & development
Visualizing our lockdown feelings trough sketching led to an idea of showing the different emotions that people felt in these 8 weeks of lockdown and more weeks of restrictions.
While a bubble is defined as a group of people with whom you have close physical contact, we tried to give them a different meaning; showing what was going on inside of people minds instead. Different feelings/experiences were translated into physical bubbles of rattan. We decided on their measurements and shapes: proportions in relation to each other and in itself.
Scenography
It was important to us that the given location where the workshop took place could enhance our design. We connected these two trough painting circles on the floor where the bubbles are fixated. The bubbles represent different experienced, the circles were given different proportions accordingly. This way, the installation and location work together to start conversation
Feedback/Thoughts/Conversation
Can we start conversation and raise questions with our project? How will people handle a second wave? Will we adapt to the 'new normal' and test our limits?
Story: conceptidea
COVID-19 brought turbulent times, in which we all experienced the oppressing of a pandemic.
Over the past few months of lockdown and restrictions, we all reflected on what to think, what to feel and what to (not) do. Every one of us experienced isolation, and how to cope with it.
Each of us experienced this in another way. Some are aware of the world around them, others live in a continuous ignorance. Some spend their isolation with family, others never felt more alone.
Although every experience is unique, we can see a common theme in each story. How various it may be, everyone is fighting the same enemy.
This project tries to find a way to map these experiences and the variety and similarity between them.
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