間 MA’s Obscure City of Voids

Sound wave analysis

The Shaker Tube being the dominant is because it stretches out the longest and the loudest among the 3 different instruments. The Metallophone being the sub-dominant is because it came out only right after the shaker tube and it does not travel as far as the shaker tube. The Egg Shaker is being the sub-ordinate is because it stretches out the least. It may have shaken 3 times but it is still not as loud as the other two instrument.

Individual Mood box

Mnemosyne’s Scent: Accessories (Pair Work)

Jia Ying | Jia Jun

So Jia Ying and me got paired up to create  a set of accessories based on our pleasant/unpleasant scents. Both of our scents are really far apart and after much consideration, we came up with a common scent where we both have common interest in, which is Mala. To tie back to the theme, we got design inspirations from the ancient china accessories.

Some of the challenges we faced is shaping, twisting the wood into the curvy shape. Initially we wanted to swirl the wood as much as we can but the wood is extremely thin therefore it is prone to breaking very easily. But overall it was a fun experience working as a team.

Mnemosyne’s scent

Planar Exercise  – 

2D Planes 3D Planes
Straight axis Curved
Bent axis Broken
Curved axis Twisted
Complex axis Grouped

This exercise is to create interesting compositions by mixing 2D and 3D planes. 

001

For Model 001, I played with the large void to make the D look like its levitating with the SD wedged in the middle. Both the D and the SD is pointing upwards but in two different directions to show the dynamics in this composition.

002

 

Smell & Memory –

“Smell goes into the emotional parts of the brain and the memory parts, whereas words go into thinking parts of the brain.”

After a smell enters the nose, it travels through the cranial nerve through the olfactory bulb, which helps the brain process smells. The olfactory bulb is part of the limbic system, the emotional center of the brain. As a member of the limbic system, the olfactory bulb can easily access the amygdala, which plays a role in emotional memories. Sights, sounds and smells can all evoke emotionally charged memories.

Olfactory Bulb

Emotional memories

The researchers further showed that the auditory, visual and olfactory cortices each store memories related to the specific sense they process. Lesions in the olfactory cortex did not prevent trained rats from remembering to associate a sound with the fear memory.

 

Plastic bottle model –

Based on 2 of our scent – pleasant and unpleasant scent to create a sculpture. 

Pleasant Unpleasant
Brand new electronic gadgets All sort of mushrooms

I feel nauseous whenever I thought of mushrooms. I can never stand the smell and also the texture! 

Gaia’s Ikebana

Ikebana, one of the traditional arts of Japan, has been practiced for more than 600 years. It developed from the Buddhist ritual of offering flowers to the spirits of the dead. It is a form of Japanese art of flower arrangement. ‘Ike’, means alive/arrange and ‘bana’ means flower. (http://www.ikebanahq.org/whatis.php)

Most ikebana arrangements fall into one of three basic design categories,

Moribana is that they are arranged in a shallow vase or suiban, compote vessel, or basket.

Nageirebana is a non-structured design which led to the development of the seika or shoka style. It is characterized by a tight bundle of stems that form a triangular three-branched asymmetrical arrangement that was considered classic.

Heika (also known as shoka) is a basic style of ikebana arrangement that uses a tall vase and highlights vertical lines.. (https://www.thespruce.com/what-is-ikebana-1316134)

Balance Through Asymmetry

While balance and harmony are key to Japanese Ikebana, unlike Western floral design it eschews symmetry. Instead, the lack of symmetry is a distinct feature, carefully created to avoid any sense of disturbance. There is more to this in Japanese Ikebana than a simple absence of symmetry. There are degrees of asymmetry, and some people ascribe different levels of maturity or even spirituality to different forms of asymmetry. (https://www.zayahworld.com/the-beauty-of-japanese-ikebana/)

The Main Five

The taste buds are the foundation of every flavor you experience. Essentially, these are tiny biological structures that sit among the tongue’s papillae, or the tiny, rounded parts of the tongue.

An illustration of taste buds from Gray’s Anatomy of the Human Body. When taste buds were discovered in the 19th century, tongue cells under a microscope looked like little keyholes into which bits of food might fit, and the idea persisted that there were four different keyhole shapes.
1 – bitter, 2 – sour, 3 – salty, 4 – sweet

Sour –– It is mostly acidic solutions like lemon juice or organic acids that taste sour. This sensation is caused by hydrogen ions, chemical symbol: H+, split off by an acid dissolved in a watery solution.

Sweet –– is usually caused by sugar and its derivatives such as fructose or lactose. But other types of substances can also activate the sensory cells that respond to sweetness.

Salty –– the chemical basis of this taste is salt crystal, which consists of sodium and chloride. Mineral salts like the salts of potassium or magnesium can also cause a sensation of saltiness.

Bitterness –– s a sharp, pungent, or disagreeable flavor. Bitterness is neither salty nor sour, but may at times accompany these flavor sensations. Compounds that have an alkaline pH, such as baking soda, often have a bitter flavor.

Umami – Not very well known to all. It can present in a wide range of foods – anything that contains glutamates, including many fermented and aged foods. Having red meats such as beef, the more ages they are, the greater the levels of umami.

Sketch Model 001

The cylinder being the dominant, wedged 1/3 onto the sub-dominant. The large void in between the dominant and the base makes the dominant levitate. The sphere being pierced through the dominant.

Sketch Model 002

The sub-dominant being wedged on the dominant and the sub-ordinate wedged onto the sub-dominant. All of the 3 are facing in different axis hence making the model more interesting.

Things to improve on  is to reduce 30% the size of the sub-ordinate to have it more prominent when against the sub-dominant.

Sketch Model 003

All the elements are visible in all views. The dominant being pierced through the sub-dominant. To make the model more interesting is to have the sub-dominant placed slightly higher than 45 degree. However the sub-ordinate is facing the same direction as the dominant.   

Things to improve on – to pierce more of the dominant into the sub-dominant. To shift the sub-ordinate directly opposite to create more dynamics to the model.

 

Season: Spring

The concept for the final model is to portray the birth of the new beginnings right after winter.

Mind map for Spring

Final Model

Dominant–Branch

Sub-Dominant–Carrot, Yellow Acrylic (Two thirds of the carrot is being pierced through the acrylic)

Sub-Ordinate–Blueberry

The first thing came into my mind was cherry blossom when I thought of the season spring. Majority of the people might also thought of cherry blossom when thought of spring. So I have decided to go along the birth of the new beginnings which portrays the fresh harvest of spring. I chose yellow acrylic for my cylinder is to show the rising sun after the winter and the carrot is protruding out of the sun to show the growth of the fresh crops. The branch depicts the roots of the carrots therefore is being pierced into the carrot. The mass of the branch compared to the sub-dominants creates a levitation between the branch and the ground. The end of the branch curving inwards is to portray the cycle of the season. 

Paradox: Mirror

So I picked up the word mirror. I find that mirror is somewhat similar to symmetry. My task is to create/suggest the idea of mirror using the foams.

Sketch model A

Red – Dominant 

Yellow – Sub-Dominant

Blue – Sub-Ordinate

Orange – Void

My idea for Sketch Model A is to portray mirror as close as possible. To have the SD and SO smacked right in the middle of the D. The SD and SO might seems too flat on the front view. But on the side view, the SO is the support for SD is levitating away from the D, leaving a void in between. It does give off a more dynamic feel to it rather than having everything just sticked onto the D.

 

Sketch model B

Red – Dominant 

Yellow – Sub-Dominant

Blue – Sub-Ordinate

For this sketch model I tried playing with the methods of incorporating the foams together without using masking tape. Hence the D is wedged into SD and the SO is pierced into the SD. The side view has a clearer vision of the D being wedged 3/4 into SD. The SO 1 unit out of 8 units of the D. The only thing for this sketch model is that from the SO is totally hidden from the bottom view.

 

Sketch model C

Red – Dominant 

Yellow – Sub-Dominant

Blue – Sub-Ordinate

Leaning towards the word mirror, The SD is crisscrossed with the D and the SO being pierced through the D holding the SD in place. The idea was to have mirror-image all way round 360 degrees of the model. But having the SO pierced through the D instead of the SD will lead to the result of having two similar Ds. I feel that this model is the closest to the word mirror hence I am improving this model further into the final model.  

 

Final Model

This final model is a much improved version of sketch model 3, whereby the SD is being place in the middle of D and the SO is pierced through right the middle of SD. 

2D Sketch Analysis
Front View
Side View

The choice of transparent acrylic for the dominant is to have emphasis on the sub-dominant and the sub-ordinate. Giving an illusion that the SD and the SO is levitating. The idea is to be able to show SD and SO in all directions, 360 degree. Therefore I chose wood for SD to have a strong contrast out from the D. The height of the void within the D is slightly 1/3 longer but still within 1/2 of the height of the D, leaving a good proportion as a whole. The SO for being a tiny nail is to not overpowering the D and the SD yet having it’s purpose there.

 

Application

A possible application would be a modern glass house. Far away from the city, a 360 degree surrounding view of the nature. 

Another possible application would a transparent coffee table. Giving off a modern feel to it as well.

F3D Week 1: 2D Analysis

…OM…

This amulet was the first thing that came into my mind when was told to bring an object which is 3D-interesting to me.

The organic/unique shape of this amulet interests me a lot, whereas the more common shapes for amulets would be either in ovals or squares. From the front view it may seem flat but in fact there are protruding shapes on the amulet itself. There is a contrast of colours within the amulet where the middle part has more hues of red which makes the buddha stands out even more.

The object is symmetrical from left to right. However the top half has a bigger proportion compared to the bottom half. Taking the black stone and the rice grain as a base unit to divide the amulet into 6 parts as shown.

The protruding shapes on the amulet are more prominent on the top view. Also from here you are able to see how symmetrical this amulet can get.

As well as the bottom view. The curves which can’t be seen on the top view could be seen clearly here. The overall colour palette for this amulet falls under earthy tones, which presented as a whole despite having the black stone and the grain within the amulet.