material world

The studio embraced the knowledge of materials and processes as the primary driving force behind the design process. Through the research of principles and precedents combined with workshop-based engagement with tools, techniques and the manipulation of materials, the students contemplated the emotional and cultural connections humans have with the physical environment.

In this undertaking they first explored material as identity, writing a personal manifesto and creating abstracted assemblages that encapsulated their relationship with the objects in their lives. This was followed by workshop based investigations of material as medium, in which they individually became experts in the properties of a specific material and then worked as groups to make a small sculptural object that joined or combined the materials that each group member had explored in a unique and beautiful way.

Finally, they investigated material as metaphor, using the format of domestic furniture to communicate a deep reflection on contemporary life. Employing contradictory and metaphorical combinations of materials, they developed functional everyday objects that addressed the realities of modern living and encouraged a reconsideration of our relationship with the physical world.