WIP Show 2023
Our W.I.P (Work In Progress) Show is hosted online and in person this year. My work from the Royal College of Art was exhibited. The work exhibited includes, Stripy the Door Wedge, Material Follies, the CS Faraday, No Ball Games and The Marilyn.
Following on from the site visit to Woolwich, our professors wanted us to identify a chosen part of the building and construct an element of the space. This object will act as a foundation for the ongoing design process, and help establish a project direction. This totem should also communicate material interests, communicate elements of our manifesto that underscores our approach to the site, and also lay the groundwork for the conceptual brief of the design proposal. It should also explore the combination of materials that will become a defining characteristic of your interior proposition. I should be exploring materials in terms of physical properties, their production or craft characteristics and their conceptual or symbolic qualities, etc., related to the overall theme of excess.
The exercises during the first semester allowed for the opportunity to investigate Woolwich through material, its history and its people. In ‘Material Follies’, I investigated mild steel, considering its appearance, provenance and physical properties. In the ‘CS Faraday’, I was drawn to the engineering innovations and legacy of the ship - a purpose built pioneering cable-laying ship by the Siemens Brothers, in 1874. Lastly, in ‘No Ball Games’, I got to know Samson, he is 12 years old, but like me, he is also new immigrant from Hong Kong. He missed playing pick up basketball with the people in his housing complex. It was challenging to create a piece of work that responded to his story but also reflected the existing state of public sporting spaces in Woolwich. The contrast between the basketball courts in Hong Kong and Woolwich were stark. Playing ball sports served as a common thread between two cities - two cities with distinctively different social, environmental, political and geographical differences. My designs from the first semester and my subsequent thoughts were patchworked together into an object, ‘The Marilyn’ which reflects my reaction to the frenzy of the school schedule.
