Habitat

Displayed at
Goldsmiths, University of London
MA Design: Expanded Practice
2022 Grad Show
14th-18th Dec,2022

Interview - through-objects.com

2022

The Brief of the project

This work triggers several questions about the essence of production after civilization's progress and investigates the relationship between humans and artifacts.When all the products tend to be mass-produced, manual labour is no longer needed, traditional techniques are disappearing, and we are like getting away from and taming through nature.  In this project, the manufacturing processes have returned to a fully manual state that runs counter to current technological development, from gathering lichens as a dye to using the natural phenomenon of wild wool felting itself to make the fundamental objects of human existence - containers, clothes, and a house. The work embodies the connection and reflection between man and the earth. It will be an opportunity to be aware of what is being lost and estranged in our lives and the environment through participation, touch, and sharing, and to preserve the essence of the old aesthetic, handicrafts, and nature to think about their meaning and importance for us.

Inspiration and Research

This work explores the relationship between people and artifacts, particularly the container. A container is an object that has been in our lives from the past to the present, but the difference is that we have changed the way it is made. The initial purpose of making a container was that people needed something to bring food home and preserve it, and then it promoted agricultural development. Objects are invented to benefit human life; vessels preserve the food that we need, clothing maintain the temperature of our body, and house loads the memories of human; these are all containers in a broad sense but in different form. My inspiration comes from URSULA K. LE GUIN’s The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction.

However, my creation contradicts the mainstream production model of clothes, containers, and houses. I started by gathering lichen as a dyeing material from the Dartmoor Forest, getting the raw wool to felt and wash to the shape I needed, and finally making my fabric without using any machine. Those processes truly inspire me to understand the material that comes from. Although I can not get a stable outcome from dyeing and crafting each time, the unpredictable result attracts me; it is the value that hand-made objects have their uniqueness and the spirit of the maker.

The interesting thing about being in this generation is that nowadays we use machines to produce things that are stable and in large quantities, but at the expense of quality to keep costs down; on the other hand, we used our hands in the past, we understood every process and material, and we knew how to make it unique. However, the question of how we will strike a balance between these two is one we have to think about.

_{A Short video of this project
https://youtu.be/w_PHXYrbhZo}

The process of lichen dyeing

I used lichen as dyeing material to add graceful light yellow, burnt amber, and brown to the wool. Although I can not get a stable dyeing outcome each time, the unpredictable result is indeed an attractive point for me.

_{Dyeing samples of different wools}

The process of  making my own fabrics

I have created a unique fabric that combines wool's natural felting phenomenon to combine the cotton scrim fabric. (The Fabric that can be biodegradable in our environment. )

People were with me together to complete this tent through participation, touch, and sharing, which, just like I have experienced throughout the project; it was an opportunity to be aware of what is being lost and estranged in our life and environment through the experience and also preserve the essence of the old aesthetic, handcrafts, environment and what are their meaning and importance for our future generations.

_{Displayed at Goldsmiths, University of London14th-18th Dec 2022}