First Impressions of Sex

When experiencing sex, issues of hygiene should rarely be at the forefront of our minds (or bodies). But when an outside object is entering the body, there are issues of hygiene. Due to sexual arousal, excitement, anticipation and on the other hand love, trust and relationships, we'd be prepared to forego hygiene and not think about it as an invasion of our body. Being aware of this allows the opportunity for tangible design to celebrate this knowledge within sexual experiences, rituals and routines. From speaking to people in reserach, about past sexual experience and what people found memorable and important about a good sexual experience, only the surrounding elements of the penetrative intercourse were spoken about.

First Impressions of Sex is a series of objects, simulative of a sexual experience. The experience of sex is broken down into it's surrounding elements, excluding the act of a physical penetration of the body. Sexual excitement is heightened by watching one another through a partial barrier which the objects are passed between. By watching one another use specific objects on themselves, you can learn about one anothers body, or rediscover.

The overall experience of sex is now changed into a more even series of events. Foreplay, intercourse, and post climax are the three main elements of sexual experience, with the most time or importance being held on the penetrative act of intercourse. The experience is now changed into the gentle phase, the aggresive phase and the comfort phase, which objectify interactions within each element of the sexual experience. In inability to touch one another forces focus on the explicit meaning of each object.

The middle phase of aggresion is about leaving impressions on the body, lasting physical reminders of that stage, giving importance to the lack of penetration, but the impression of a physical touch.

The Foreplay Objects

a massage tool, wooden silicon coated balls simulate the feeling of the ball of the human hand. The handle is polished smooth with beeswax so it is pleasant to hold.

a hair tugging tool, also made from polished beeswax wood, the latex coated fingers run through hair, sticking and lightly grabbing at it.

a stroke tool which has cold metallic balls which spread out over the skin, gently tingling.

The Aggresion Objects

a grab tool, the curvature of the solid copper brace forces a hard pressure on the skin, with a sudden cold sensation, which gradually warms to the body.

a biting tool, also made from cold sudden copper metal, clamps down onto the skin, leaving sharp marks indented into the skin.

a scratch tool leaves hard, lasting marks down the skin. The handle is left unfinished so it is rough to the touch to symbolise it's use.

The Comfort Objects

a breathing tool simulates a partners heavy breath after breaking, post sex.

a rub tool, a soft satin cushion to simulate a partners palm running over the skin

a hug tool, a bean filled soft lycra cushion which wraps around the body like a partners arms. The palms are made from skin like leather which warm to touch.

Tweet

Liquid Living - Social Circuits

The outline of the project was to explore how people live with water in Glasgow. My focus was on the differences and unseen similarities between the ways in which people interact around the rivers Clyde and Kelvin and how this effects their experience. My aim was for the people who used the areas to make relationships and become aware of the unique qualities of the area, through evoking emotional awareness, prolonging passing moments and create a mutual appreciation.

Social Circuits is clothing which reacts to the behaviour of it’s wearer. Each of the three garments is tailored to a specific narrative created for a persona created from key observations from research.

there are 3 items of clothing, Clyde's work suit, Kelvin's jacket and a track suit. Each works by galvanic skin response as an input, which senses and reacts to changes in the wearers skin from various stimuli which can be physical or emotional.

Clyde's Work Suit

Is woven with conductive shape memory alloy thread. When an emotional change is sensed, a non-specific shape change occurs in the clothing. The shape takes forms of polygons which are laser cut into the neoprene material.

This was in reaction to the narrative created for Clyde that she didn't realise that she had an emotional experience within the area. The shape change forces her to realise she has had an emotional change and evaluate how she feels at that moment and recognise her emotional attachment to her current experience or with specific locations. This becomes a shared, lone experience of self realisation for other people who are using, and sharing the area.

Kelvin's Jacket

is woven with conductive thread and responsive LED lights. everyday the moment passes Kelvin to say hello to a face he sees every morning. They often exchange a smile and a hello or a second glance, but the opportunity to converse is passed daily. The jacket is long, hooded and waterproof to fit with Kelvin's use of his environment on his walk to work each morning.

Kelvin interacts with the jacket as a practical object by fastening the button, which also connects the jacket's circuit and acts as a gesture to the oncoming person that you are "open". On approach patterns of light emerge in reaction to heightened emotion or interest, and the jackets then show and react to the emotional changes displayed by the wearers, who stop to talk for the first time.

new relationships can be formed from this, and the moment is prolonged and made memorable.

The Track Suits

are woven with conductive felt, which can alter it's surface along with thermochromatic inks, which change colour in response to body heat. This is about forming partnerships through a mutual activity by Clyde and Kelvin. People can partner or tag on to people's run, judging the appearance of their clothing. If someone is running similar to you, they will be exerting similar energy, heat and sweat, so the colours and texture of the clothing will be visually similar to your own. This occurs when two people might cross paths, and follow onto someone elses run which changes a routine experience.

This may lead to people taking new routes, finding new things and new people, giving meaning to their daily exercise and creating memorable events and changing how they use the area in a routine way without any real thought.

Tweet

New Harvest Day - A Project

The brief Something for Everyone was to improve communication between generations. I did this by concentrating on the family, looking to create an awareness of the importance of the close relationships so this could be passed from one generation to the next. I designed within a new festival day, called New Harvest Day, which was loosely based around Harvest. The family come together through a celebration of food over a family meal that happens at the start of each season. It is about sharing an experience through food and being connected to one another. I wanted to create memorable moments by prompting conversation, which would then become family stories to be shared over the dinner table in the future. This happens through breaking some existing etiquette around the dinner table to make everyone relaxed with one another as a family.

NEW HARVEST DAY

The day comprises of 4 designed elements; a brand, the food, the meal and the objects which all create the overall experience.

 The Brand
This Season provides everything you need for your New Harvest Day meal. The food is all seasonal and locally produced. The packaging tells the story of the food, which is all sourced from family run farms, the story of the family and a little about the importance of the ingredient itself.

The Plates

The plates for the meal were individually coloured. Each plate was served with only one food on it, which was then to be shared out amongst the family. Each plate featured a laser etched word (you, me, us, them) which collected crumbs and stains and was revelaed when the food had been finished. These words are to make each family member consider the relationships within their own family and to consider which of these words they feel fit the dynamics of their own relationships.

The Utensils

The utensils were simply colour coded to each plate. The utensils served a specific purpose to the food served on the plate. The meat had carving knives, the salad had salad spoons and so on. By colour assocition and a familiarity with the use of the objects the process became intuitive and people automatically shared food to one another. I toyed with the idea of having one ambiguous object for each setting on the table to see if it began any new conversation or interactions, but left it out for the final meal.

The Table Cloth

The table cloth was left marked with a message from the plate once it had been cleared from the table. This was to prompt new conversation and for people to now be relaxed to tell people new things about them, so the family mutually grow to know each other a little better and form trusting bonds. This is also the time when people feel they want to leave the table to it keeps people together at the table for longer.

The cloth has a long napkin at each setting, so each person becomes physically connected to the table, and to each other and also each person can see visually that they are connected through the food on the table to one another.

I laid out a pen at each setting which everyone used to draw on the table cloth, which was literally a blank white canvas. This allowed new dinner table interactions, ways of communicating and created a sense of fun around the table. It allowed people to be more relaxed at it was an allowance to be disruptive of a strict etiquette which can exist at a dinner table.

The Rocking Chairs

The rocking chairs just allowed people to relax a little more and be at ease and in comfort. Hopefully this would be an association with the family meal as well as being a link to your first experiences of eating, and also food sharing; being fed by your mother and nurtured and rocked afterwards. Perhaps this is something in us all, as people only rocked on the chairs after food and kept them still whilst eating.

The Bread
The single length of dough was twisted into a shape that could be broken by each person and baked. This forms both a bonding ritual and a sensory experience of the meal. Our senses have strong links to memory so the smell and taste of warm, freshly baked home-made bread will be a memory of being with family. Ripping your own bit of bread away from the bread also serves as a more relaxed etiquette. At one point just before breaking, everyone is connected to the bread.

The Meal
At the beginning, even though I am very close with the family, there was a sense of awkwardness at me being there with the camera. It didn't last too long, really once everyone had handled the bread and eaten it off the table things were more relaxed, and I felt that they were taking less notice of me being there.

I was really surprised at how little instruction was needed. It helped with the overall atmosphere that I didn't need to step in and give any guidance. It also meant things were actually working they way I intended, which was nice. Communication through writing on the table really changed the whole atmosphere. Everyone was laughing and joking all of a sudden and everyone was being so much more relaxed with one another. It was great to see everything let loose like this. The best part was the fact that Jim, the Dad, admitted after 29 years of marriage to Julie that for his stag do he actually went to Amsterdam and he had "smoked whacky-backy", only for Julie to admit knowing that the entire time. So it was great to see a real revelation being made, and a real memory being created in the family. It's already been the centre of jokes quite a few times since.

At the end of the meal everyone rips up the table cloth to reveal the normality underneath. This symbolises that the meal is over the same way as it begun with the bread. People can keep a piece of the cloth which holds a specific memory or moment from each meal.

Tweet