materialism

The studio interrogated our relationship with the material world and encouraged students to develop a physical approach to the fashioning of spatial experience. The studio fostered an appreciation of the metaphorical and affective qualities of materials and asked students to locate this sensibility in relation to the ‘materialistic’ nature of contemporary society.

Initially students were introduced to concepts of materialism through a review of the issues surrounding industrialization, consumerism and environmentalism. At the same time, they undertook a series of making experiments that employed both ‘conventional’ and ‘unconventional’ materials and joining techniques. In doing this they explored the potential of material as a communicator of narrative, mood, values and ethics.

Ultimately the students developed concepts for a ‘Temple of Consumption’, a retail space that challenged the values and practices of our contemporary consumer society. The design needed to employ the techniques of retail branding and subvert them to embody a positive, sustainable and thought-provoking message. As well as being a powerful statement about consumerism the design had to function as a shop, facilitating the process of exchanging one valuable thing for something of equal value.