Details

All of our senses are an extension of our body’s capacity to touch both the surrounding environment and our interior environment. The exterior membrane of our bodies establishes the familiar ever-changing physical boundary between the interior body and exterior world, and our perception of both. Embodied experience merges multiple synchronous experiences that are inseparably linked with time and space. Despite the common perception that material is inert, it is actually in a state of continual change.

Project description:

During the second 5 weeks, students will develop a 3D object, which demonstrates its connection to the community you identify with, how it defines you, your belief, your personality, etc. The object can be a garment, a functional tool, a body accessory like body extension, etc.).

• The object can demonstrate or express feelings of connecting to a particular community (by choice).
• Students will explore how & why they feel connected.
• Considering how you can use color, shape, form, scale to represent these feelings visually.
• This object can be inspired by project #1 (Personal symbol “portrait”).

Research

Community: a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common. In my life, there are different communities according to different aspects of my life. From family to friends, each people have characteristics that fit my personality into who I am today. I like to think that these communities are tribes because they all seem like different homes I can belong in. Usually, people are attracted to humans that share the same values and morals. It doesn’t have to be people living together in the same environment, rather sharing the same values is something that holds a closer bond.

I have many communities I associate myself with. My childhood friends are one of the tightest communities that I belong in. Because I have been with them since I was a child, we grew up learning about the same stuff and grew up in a similar environment. Back then, we would play sports after school and went biking in nearby hills. These small memories held our bond tighter, which makes us still be close friends to this day. We are all in different parts of the world studying what we are passionate about.

Another community in my life that I belong to is my family. It is the first community that I belonged to before I was even born. My mother and father raised me since birth in South Korea so my memories since birth have a lot of sentimental values in my life. My family is the ones that lived with me for 19 years of my life so everything I went through in my life has been shared with them.

The last community of people that are in my life is people at Parsons. Even though they are people I met only a month ago, sharing the same passion and goals unites us as a community. Surprisingly, I find my friends here to be the most intimate and caring. A connection that drove us from being passionate about art further carried us to be emotionally relatable and caring for each other. Being independent in a foreign city without parental guidance, they are dependant on friends to be their support.

Overall, there are different categories of communities in my life that serve different values in my life. Each community has a special trait that holds value dear to me and personal. There are different reasons why I am associated with these groups. They have sentimental values and different characteristics that make me who I am today.

Design Proposal

For this project, I am thinking of designing a wearable object that is taking different elements of emotion and characteristics from each community. Rather than being literal, I want to create an abstract creation of these communities by expressing them as color to set the mood, different shapes, and forms to define the characteristics of the group. The struggle of having to make new friends in a foreign community constantly is the driving force for my inspiration. Being in a different community creates a catalyst in my social abilities and results in a struggle to open myself up to the public.

Mood Board

Inspiration for a wearable vest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sketching: 

 

Testing on Photoshop

 

 

Development and Planning

After testing the shape on photoshop, I created an illustration file to laser cut the plexiglass. I made sure to draw holes so that I can insert mechanical connectors to hold the pieces together.

Technical Drawing

1st layer

The first step to making my piece was layering the foundation of my childhood which was church. I was heavily involved in the church community and made a lot of freinds who I am still close to this day. My family was a big part of making sure I was in church so I gathered memories and notes from my father’s old notebook and post-it notes my mom used to put next to my bed when she left for work early.

2nd layer

The second layer is a collage of friends I have made over the course of 12 years in California. Even though they are all from different backgrounds and cities, they play an integral role in my life of who I am today.

3rd layer

The last layer is the smallest layer in my piece but it is the one on top of everything because it has the biggest impact on me today. I cut out an image of my friends in New Jersey.

Mechanical Connectors

I used a thick wire to connect all the pieces together. My initial plan was to use nuts and bolts to connect them but my hole turned out smaller than the ones I had.

Finally, I created a chain that connected the two sides together with a thin wire.

Concept Photos

Reflection:

This project was an overall good experience to learn more about myself and who I tie myself with. It was fun to make a visual representation of my communities in a 3d form. It was a challenge at first to come up with ideas to deliver the message that I wanted to convey but I think the final outcome was successful. My initial sketches and plans were not what my final product looks like but there was a lot of thought and intention that I had to think before creating a piece. I think I become more and more aware of the hardships of dealing with physical objects, and how your sketch might look completely different from what may be the result. Also, I learned that the measurements of the finest details such as the hole for the nut and bolt should be double-checked and tested before laser cutting. There were many successful and disappointing results while making but it was overall a good learning process to know how to overcome it in the next phase.