ava shong
Compose
The Living Room Collection
Student Thesis Project
+Concept
Celebrating the inner strength of believing in ourselves!
Throughout my college years, I have had the chance to meet many brave leaders and amazing friends who taught me how to face challenges with a spirit. They are not fearless, but their strong spirits and belief in themselves shine through total life uncertainty.
These brave people inspired me to create this collection.
This collection is about celebrating the power of believing in ourselves through everything, and taking each experience as it comes, learning from it, and allowing ourselves to evolve naturally.
Francesco Ciccolella's Resilience,
commissioned by Der Spiegel
The Collection
FLOOR LAMP
END TABLE
COFFEE TABLE
SOFA
OTTOMAN
RUG
+Moodboard
Energetic & Somber
I wanted this collection to have a stunning effect, or be a stepping stone for people who enjoyed this work, to be inspired to look at themselves as an evolving person, and to find the positivity and joy that truly matters to them.
I imagine being able to send this message to someone going through a really hard time, and I believe someone like that might not necessarily receive the softer and more joyous tone of life right away.
So, I chose an energetic and somber approach to invigorate my message but keep it realistic, too.
Building Blocks
In the spirit of learning something new, I want to present the messages as simple as possible, like stacking blocks one at a time, and taking everything step by step.
https://ms.pngtree.com/freepng/pink-three-dimensional-stairs-illustration_4711080.html'>Imej PNG daripada ms.pngtree.com/</a>
Rough sketch of collection
or keep scrolling for the final designs!
+Final Designs and Processes
Message 1:
Use your voice, Floor Lamp
Message 2:
Knowing who you are takes time, Sofa
Message 3:
Your heart awakens with passion, End Table
Message 4:
Life is a series of ups and downs, Ottomans
Message 5:
Decide with what you know at the time, Coffee Tables
Message 6:
Define yourself by how you act, Rug
+Research Path
By researching ways people nurture resilience in their daily lives, I found that it is through practicing behavioral changes, such as reacting to difficult feelings or situations differently with a positive perspective.
Then I learned that art therapy is a way to practice behavioral changes. As art can send a message beyond just a functional design, people who interact with art will learn the messages, and enjoy creating their own art!
Finally, after researching what art furniture is, and how other artists have sent inspiring messages with them, I decided to translate ways people nurture resilience as the message in this collection of art furniture.
I chose to design living room furniture, as we use them every day, to encourage us to interact with the message daily!
1
How do we increase our resilience?
I learned that building resilience has a lot to do with changing our responses to difficult matters.
Famous shame researcher Brené Brown has done extensive research on resilience. Her book, The Gifts of Imperfection, walked everyone through the solutions of practicing faith and hopeful actions, changing our emotional responses to things that triggered shame in our lives, and sharing our stories.
In other words, the solutions she created with her research challenge us to change how we behave!
2
Can art help change how we behave?
Yes, art therapy has been used since the World War II, helping soldiers change their traumatic responses to memories and triggers of the war to increase their resilience and the positivity they let into their lives!
Lynda E. Bair’s “Interacting with Art: Healing from the inside Out” explained how art therapy works:
When we enjoy a piece of art, we start to understand its message and connect it to what it means. By creating and appreciating art, we actually train our brains to think differently, and this makes it easier to change how we see tough situations in life and find more positive meanings in things that used to bother us a lot.
3
What is art furniture?
Usually hand-crafted skillfully, art furniture could be or not be inspired by a piece of art.
Design: created to serve a specific use.
Art: created more for its aesthetic value, and to convey a message or emotion.
My interpretation of art furniture: A functional daily-use design created to convey a message or emotion.
A room with a message of joy, from Opalhouse x Junglaow Design,
https://www.opalhousestore.com/bencia-slipper-chair-mustard-opalhouse-designed-with-jungalow/
The market in art furniture.
Art furniture has always been present.
1951 Isamu Nogushi_Akari Lights:
Designed after WW2, the lights' uplifting, light, and engaging forms inspired joy, action, and resilience in their message.
1971 Verner Panton_The Varna Restaurant:
Panton not only inspired a generation of designers to innovate in manufacturing but also to imagine creatively the spaces where the designs will end up in, as a whole picture.
2023 Eny Lee Parker_Soft and Sensitive:
The unique, soft, and comforting forms of the collection's pieces are pulled from Parker's childhood doodles to inspire self-discovery, nurturing love, and support in our lives.
4
Conclusion of research...
Resilience is all about changing how we respond to things, and
Art is a great tool to help change behaviors and increase resilience.
Art furniture focuses on sending a message through its form, its use, and craftsmanship.
And many artists/ designers have already used this type of art to send many positive messages to the world!
+The Booklet
is an experimental way of designing philosophical messages through visual learning and function.
I designed a specific message of moving forward by believing in yourself in each piece of furniture. It is explained in a little annotated sketch, which I thought would be fun to put into a little booklet!
The booklet is called "A Visual Guide To Composing," as I love the idea of anyone believing they have the power of a musician to compose the way they live their life, just like a musician composing a song script, from nothing but five static lines.
