My Anxious Kinship of Furniture
– An Alchemy Of Making
My Anxious Kinship of Furniture is an exploration of personal disadvantages transformed into creative advantages. It is grounded in the belief that what one creates is an extension of the self, weaving personal narratives into the fabric of design. This project delves into personal experiences with anxiety and aims to use furniture design as a tool for overcoming these challenges.
An Alchemy of Making, contains two furniture pieces, including a chair developed in collaboration with Karin Bolin. The materials for these pieces were sourced through various rituals, wherein the ritualistic process itself dictated both the method and materials. Made from human hair and shells from the Japanese oyster, an invasive species that has spread along large parts of the Swedish West Coast. The material properties of the furnitures form the basis of the alchemical proposal where the dignity of the oyster and the human being are equated. The furniture forms a story in which man, like the oyster, is portrayed in its invasive shell.
This work seeks to criticise societal norms around the use of materials that come from our bodies. The association of presented material deepens the concept of humans as invasive and hopes to be able to contribute to the current discourse on material use, material gathering practices and their transformative possibilities.
