In Between: [Square & Circle)


Experimental Leather Molding Collection
2021

Leather

Vase / W.300 x D.90 x H.300
Bowl / Ø.240 x H.50
Coaster / W.200 x D.200 x H.15
Candle Holder / Ø.95 x H.60

The two well-known geometries: square and circle, have been widely adopted in the world of art & design as in everyday life. Under a high degree of visual stimuli, it directly affects how the modern creators shape their work. As a designer, I was reflecting on the reasons why I applied "square" and "circle" in my design practice, more importantly, understand their cultural connotations. Starting with cultural investigations and material experiments, this idea has been developed as a graduation project and personal yearly summary for studying Design for Luxury and Craftmanship at ECAL: The exploration of Eastern and Western cultures as well as when ancient craft meet modern technology.

In Between: [ Square & Circle ) is an object collection constructed by means of leather molding technique. The idea is to explore and understand the various cultural connotations of geometric shapes.

In eastern culture, the circle and square not only indicate the ancient Chinese view of the world, but a philosophy of life, being gentle without losing principle, namely concept. While in the west, they represent rationality and mathematical principle that objectively existed, such as the ancient Greek puzzle of compass-and-straightedge: Squaring the Circle, namely form. With form and concept, we create objects; with objects, we shape culture.



「方」 與 「圓」 二大造型,在現代藝術與設計的世界裡被大量採用。在大量視覺刺激下,直接影響眾多創作者如何決定其作品形式。我作為設計師,試圖尋找自己應用 「方」 與 「圓」 在設計實踐中的原因,並針對其進行了文化調查與材質實驗,以作為在洛桑就讀奢侈品與工藝設計之畢業製作:探索東西新舊文化與科技工藝。

「方圓之間」 則是個人針對此題目的反思結果,為一系列由古老皮革成形技術混以現代加工方法製造之生活物件,該系列旨在探討幾何圖形在不同文化裡的意涵,以及創作者自我對話。

在東方文化裡,方與圓多以抽象概念的形式存在,不僅指涉古時中國人對於地表空間的感知:「天圓地方」,更是一種待人和善溫柔卻不失原則的處世哲學:「外方內圓」。然而在西方,它們有著具象的形式,即代表著客觀的理性且絕對存在的數理法則,例如著名古希臘尺規作圖難題:「化圓為方」。

融會東西歷史對幾何造性的理解與文化印象差異,運用皮革可塑性高的特性,製作這一系列實驗性生活物件,並在實踐過程中,再次領悟造物本質:透過概念與形式,我們創造物件;而藉由物件,我們形塑文化。 






Molding

Leather molding has been in the history of craft for almost 800 years. It consists of soaking a piece of leather in water to greatly increase pliability, shaping it by hand or with the use of objects or even molds as forms. As the leather dries it stiffens and holds its shape. With high pressure, it brings accurate forming results: such as the subtle surface imperfections and shapes of the mold itself.


皮革成型在工藝的歷史裡已存在超過800年。該過程包含以將皮浸於溫熱水中以增加柔韌度與可塑性,並以手、堅硬物體或模具來塑形,並等待乾燥。隨著乾燥的過程,水分的蒸發將會硬化皮革,並逐漸定型。壓力更能夠給予精確的模製結果:像是模具本身細微的紋理與不完美處,為模製皮件創造新的質地。