curating nature

As an intuitive surrounding exploration method objects were collected and studied as an attempt to organise and translate what’s organic. All pieces have potential to be further developed into products concepts taking either of explored features as a starting point.

It all started with intentional walks around Domaine de Boisbuchet area to research the surroundings. The result is a collection of materials - man-made and organic that seemingly mimic each other. Artificial materials, processed by natural forces and conditions resemble those that come from nature itself. Common characteristics of materials of both origins is layering.

All found pieces of the environment were then organised in different orders according to varied categories and placed on a grid. Using a grid as context is an attempt to understand and familiarise organic forms through juxtaposition with mathematical order and also emphasise their aesthetics.

Apart from creating layered compositions of materials, an observation on layering in the environment inspired material research through slicing. Through slicing a wooden block, tree rings were observed and highlighted by burning out the ones that are softer.

A significant part of the project was work on a piece of tree trunk found by the river at the premises. A piece of bark that came off the trunk embodies particular aesthetic qualities in its form, colour and layering of different wood densities. Some of the material characteristics revealed themselves during processing of the material through cutting it with a Japanese saw and a table saw. Most of the piece was sliced that inspired the following process.

Sliced piece was then visually analysed for its organic shapes and forms. Through varied interventions that were aimed to emphasise the existing, natural aesthetics, processed elements of the found piece were placed on displays coherent in their purpose and material (cork blocks and painted styrofoam blocks found in the workshop, grid plastic sheets and grid wire sheets). In some displays metal concrete reinforcement elements found in the area were used and served the purpose of marking a grid in space.