Week 9: Seminar presentation
Current research question:
How can a material story be told of Kina (New Zealand sea urchin) in homeware design, to provide comfort and familiarity to a space?
Seminar presentation
5 minute presentation of your proof-of-concept and making work thus far. Present key contexts and production schedule to support your making
Presentation feedback
Feedback was given by 4 guest lecturers: Dan Scudder, Emma Heatly, Eujeen Hwang, James Smith
Overall, the guest lecturers' feedback was positive, and they gave me good points to expand my research and think further about. They emphasised the clarity in my direction, and the narrative is coming through strongly, supported by my making.
One aspect highlighted in my feedback was the importance of respecting matoranga Maori. The Maori have used Kina as their kai and have hundreds of years of history of that interaction between the ocean, kina, and the people. So when stepping into this set of knowledge, which is different from my own culture, it is important that I approach it with the right care and respect it deserves. Drawing on Maori mātauranga and its environment, the kina season falls between kowhai and pohutakawa, an interesting perspective I know very little about. I think there is a very interesting environmental narrative that comes with this.
Emma, one of the guest lecturers, told a story of how she often dove for kina to clear the sea beds for the seaweed and snapper. The kina was then donated to the Māori community in celebration. She said that every time she dove into the ocean, there would be a blessing, elements like these that show the cultural significance of building the community and tradition around this story of Kina.
The murex sea snail, found in the Mediterranean, is an interesting source of inspiration, as it is known for producing a purple dye. I have already started looking into this, but further research into how it would be applied in a New Zealand context would be useful.
My material-driven design approach is very practice-heavy and can get messy, so I was advised to adopt a clear, systematic approach, documenting progress and findings to allow me to revisit any reflections if they are useful in my thesis year.
Another big part I need to consider is the scope of my project. One piece of feedback I got was that incorporating the ‘bringing comfort and familiarity into a living space’ part of my research question could make my project too big. Currently, I am approaching homeware with a material-driven design approach, but the second half of my research question explores the interaction and function of the products, which is another large component of design I must consider. I need to either refine my scope to focus on material properties or embrace a combination of the two.