For my fashion week item, I mainly gained inspiration off Jess’ unpleasant scent (Wine) and my pleasant scent (Medical Halls). What I found interesting was that Jess’ unpleasant scent actually smelled pleasant to me, hence I wanted to try and incorporate the 2 scents to create a more positive image.
Wine to me:
My part of the collection – Glove
Final Piece:
Reflections:
Our collection was modelled by Jess’ friend, Rachel Ng. She did a wonderful job of modelling our pieces. It was really fun to be teamed up with Jess as fashion is her strong point and as a collaborative effort, I felt that we managed to pull off our Mnemosyne project really well.
The plastic model is a combination of my pleasant (medical hall) and unpleasant scents (tea tree oil).
I modelled the (D) and (SO) after my pleasant scent.
The overall shape of the (D) is round and curls inwards as round shapes are often associated as being soft and friendly, like how I would feel towards the scent of medical halls. I remember eating lots of lotus roots in the herbal soups that my grandma would make for me, hence I modelled the (D) after the slightly bulbous shape of the lotus root.
^Lotus Root for reference
I would also eat lots of Huai Shan, a type of Chinese yam, in the soups my mum would prepare. Hence, I modelled the (SO) after the round pieces of Huai Shan. I pierced and wedged some of them together as I wanted to convey that idea of layering, just like in chinese medicine where they would layer different herbs together to treat the patient.
^ Huai Shan for reference
For the (SD), I modelled it after my unpleasant scent as tea tree oil has a sharp and strong scent that would hurt your nose when you smell it too closely, hence, my (SD) is tapered from sharp (tip) to wide (middle) and sharp again, to imitate that idea.
There isn’t much contrast between the (D) void and the (SD) void, making it slightly harder to distinguish. Overall, there could be room for improvement as there is very little voids .
Mnemosyne, the Titaness of Memory, is among the 12 children of the first born gods, Uranus (Heaven) and Gaea (Earth). Remembrance was an important skill as there were no other predated way of recalling in Ancient Greece as language had not been developed at that point in time. Hence, Mnemosyne was credited to be the one who gave humans the ability to converse and reason.
It was said that when people crossed over to the Underworld of Hades after death, they were given the option to drink either from the River of Lethe, which causes people to lose their memory when they reincarnate as humans again to learn the values they needed, or to drink from the Spring of Mnemosyne, to remember all their painful memories of their lifetime and proceed to live happily for all eternity.
Mnemosyne is also known for her legacy for her motherhood of the 9 muses whom were all fathered by Zeus . He wanted people to remember his victory over the Titans and went to Mnemosyne disguised as a shepherd with the intention of seducing her for the 9 nights they spent together before heading back to Mount Olympus.
The use of visuals can help us to retain pieces of information better by associating the information we want to remember with an image/character/object. Before researching on mnemonic devices, I still had trouble remembering how many days are there in all the 12 months of the year but with the image attached above, it’s easier to associate the higher archs (knuckles) to 31 days and the lower archs (between knuckles) as 30 days.
Rhymes
Rhymes often have similar terminal sounds. Like in the attached image above, it shows how these words sound similar yet have vastly different meanings. Hence, they are easier to remember due to the acrostic coding in our brains.
Acronyms
An acronym is formed by using the first alphabet of every word that you want to memorise, and turning it into a phrase.
Olfactory
Here, I’ve linked a video to explain how olfaction works in conjunction to taste.
Method of Loci
Using location to remember certain information better. For instance, using landmarks to help remember information better on your way back home.
SCENTS
Pleasant Scent:
Chinese Medical Halls. Specifically, my grandmother’s medical hall.
I grew up practically in the Chinese medical hall my grandma used to own. To many people, they would shun away from it because they often find it too medicinal smelling but to me, it’s the smell of comfort.
Unpleasant Scent:
Tea Tree Oil
This happened just a few weeks back but I was dumb and didn’t know that you had to dilute tea tree oil in water before using it. Hence, I over-applied it topically and chemically burned my face. It was a hot blotchy mess and I now tea tree oil is dead to me (ok not really I’m exaggerating but you get my point)
Initially when I was researching, I thought of using desserts for my final model but changed my mind as I thought it would be interesting to use savoury food instead. I was inspired by salads as it often an appetiser/meal that most people would eat on a summer day as it is refreshing and light. I realised that a lot of these salads would pair beetroot and goat cheese together so I decided to add that into my food model.
This was the final result for my food model. I used beetroot, feta cheese and baguette for my final food model.
I used the baguette to replace the cone (D) in my model, feta cheese to replace the cylinder (SD) and the beetroot to replace the sphere (SO). I wanted to different take on the ikebana as well so I used thyme.
Unfortunately, I lost the images that I took for the documentation process hence, I’ll illustrate them out.
These are the food items I got from the supermarket.
Here is the main preparation process for my food model. I made a vinegar reduction and used that for my final plating to create movement. I shaved off the baguette into the shape of a cone and attached that to my Feta cheese, which I cut from a rectangle to the shape of a cylinder. I bought pre-cooked beetroot hence all I did was to assemble the final model.
– Overall it is unfitting of a balanced composition as the cylinder is way too long and the radius of cone is far too similar to the cylinder.
– Gives a sense of uneasiness an anxiety when you look at it.
Model 2
(D) – Cone
(SD) – Cylinder
(SO) – Sphere
Cone is dependent on Sphere
Sphere is dependent on Cylinder
sphere is wedged into cylinder
Cylinder is independent
– Overall, model is pretty well balanced. Does not look wonky but need to either increase the size of (SD) or reduce size of (SO) as they are competing.
In the end, even though I made 2 models, I went with model 3 as I felt the shape was more interesting and made some last minute changes.
I made the (SD) 3 times larger as it would have been covered by the (D) in the back view (not shown here).
I decided to pierce the (SO) into the (D) and (SD) so that it would be seen from the side view and would also look like it is being cradled by the (D) and (SD) in the front view.
Applications
#1 (Rotated to the side in front view)
Dresser, Mirror and a TV all-in-one
I had always liked the idea of being able to watch the telly while getting ready for the day. Something about having a voice in the background while you go about your mundane chores seem very soothing.
#2 (Top view facing down)
Cooling park bench with solar-powered USB charging
When I wasn’t as busy, I would take my dog out for a walk in the park and I noticed that a lot of people who visited parks are often on their phones. With the abundance of sunlight coming in, it would be great to charge your phone as and when you need it, this is especially useful for joggers who are often using their phones for music when they run.
