Kettl Reflection + 50 Year object

1) Post documentation of your third FNBK entry

 

2)  Reflect on trip to Kettl

– What was the most inspiring/interesting part of the visit for you?

Seeing the ceramics around the shop was pretty interesting to me. The most interesting part I would say would be to try to make the mocha on myself.

– after visiting the shop, do you think Kettl will become a Long Life Design business? Why/why not?

i definitely think so. I think Zach does have a strong passion for what he is doing. Those relationships he created with the farm owner will help the business last longer.

– Name eight specific systems of air, water, energy and materials involved in Zach’s work at Kettl. Think about what kind of geography, tea, history, people in Japan & New York are essential to his work.

1. Energy: travel (planes) —relates to air(pollution)—local transportations to meet the farmers—for people in Japan: materials used to plant the tea(I consider them to be sustainable)—hand picked leafs, being dried out by the sun, etc. — in order to bring them to a bigger shop or third party, transportation needed.

– Do you think of Zach as an artist or a business person?  Is his work aesthetic?

I think both. On one side, the process of making the tea is an art practice, but at the same time, he is making money out of them. I consider his work aesthetic, including him talking to the farm owners and also have the passion for what he is doing.

– Do you feel his work is “sustainable”?  In what ways?

I think the process of growing tea is sustainable, but for Zach, he has to meet these land owners in person which requires a lot of transportations which is not sustainable.

3) What is a beautiful object/design/cultural practice that you admire from your home country that has been created/in-production or enacted for longer than fifty years? Write a brief description (around a paragraph) about this object/practice’s history on your Learning Portfolio and explain what you think makes it so resilient (able to still be used/enjoyed/maintained for over 50 years). What are 10 systems (of air, water, energy, material) that this object/practice relies on to exist? Are any of these systems threatened by climate change?  Include an image on your LP and bring the object with you to class next week (if possible) for presentations.

I would say a lot of Chinese traditional instruments, such as erhu, yangqing, guzheng, etc.

 

Erhu, erh-hu, bowed, two-stringed Chinese vertical fiddle, the most popular of this class of instruments. The strings of the erhu, commonly tuned a fifth apart, are stretched over a wooden drumlike resonator covered by a snakeskin membrane. Like the banhu, the erhu has no fingerboard. The strings are supported by a vertical post that pierces the resonator.

In performance the erhu is held upright on the performer’s thigh, and the tautness of the bowstrings is determined by the pressure of the performer’s hand. Bowing is done horizontally, with right-hand fingering techniques for altering the bow tension and for crossing strings. Without a fingerboard, the erhu can produce a great range of effects in the hands of a skilled performer

Source used:https://www.britannica.com/art/

First of all, the instrument plays a beautiful sound quality, and also the long history part makes the instrument so valuable that people would still play it today. The materials used to make the instrument is wood which can last long. But the systems involved can be harmful for the environment. The pattern on the drum is actually used with snakes skin, which means that killing animals is part of the making process. Also cutting done the trees is also a major part of the process. In addition, the long thick wooden part that one holds with their right hand has horse tail that help to sketch the sound, which again the process is air polluting. Because the materials required for this instrument is somewhat limited, and a large part of it uses wood, I don’t think the climate change have a significant influence on the process of making.