portfolio

Draw:

The pen is mightier than the sword, or so some say.

The word draw refers to the act of drawing on something, or the drawing of something. One can draw with a pen. One can draw a sword.

Draw is a pen that replaces the cap with a sheathe. The act of unleashing ones creativity on the world, the responsibility of the words one writes. The call to adventure. The courage to stand up to the challenges. However, for the most part it’s just fun to experience the act of sheathing and unsheathing a pen.

Circadian Lamp:

Organisms have evolved over millions of years with a relatively stable 24 hour cycle of light and darkness. The many biological processes that make this possible have synced up with this cycle. However with the introduction of artificial lighting, these cycles can be disrupted. The disruption can cause a misfiring of the organisms biological processes that can cause problems in the overall health of the organism.

The Circadian Lamp is an object that embeds a plant within a lamp. The light from the lamp is beneficial to both the human and the plants, however, if the light is turned on in ways that disrupt the cycle, it can harm both the plant and the human users.

Solitude:

This is a lamp based off of an aquascape I made for a live aquascaping contest in 2017. It is meant to provide a moment of reflection, on the manner in which light reflects and refracts.

Kathedra damoclesi

Whether crossing a street, driving to work, going on a hike, or reading a blurb on the internet, we are always at some risk of losing our lives. The story of Damocles was meant to portray the danger that people in power face on a daily basis, serving as a lesson that those who covet the privileges of power might not be suited to face the risks that come with it. Kathedra damoclesi allows the user to experience a situation similar to the character Damocles. The inverted glass triangle at the top of the chair dangles hangs precariously, held only by a thin line of glue, over the head of the user, placing them in a very real danger. The experience of sitting in the chair demonstrates to the user their level of comfort when faced with the risk of physical injury.

Tasukete:

A chair with a cantilever that activates when the first user sits in it. It allows a second user of lesser mass to use the activated cantilever. A means of highlighting the act of saving a seat for someone.

Kagemusha:

An ordinary clothes rack… or is it?

Skull:

A lamp that juxtaposes an animal skull with a wooden base. The objects two primary materials bone and wood are products derived from formerly living organisms, although they incite different feelings in their use. Skull asks the user to examine the feeling. Why is the life of an animal often considered more valuable than the life of a plant? Is this the calibration of ethical values ideal, or ought it shift based on context?

Concentrated Dilution:

Metal mining and processing typically releases some level of pollutants into surrounding ecosystems. Although, the damage caused by this pollution may not be readily visible, its impacts add up over time, affecting the reproductive viability and lifespan of organisms in the polluted environment.

Concentrated Dilution is a dip pen set that visualizes this process. With every use of the pen, it is cleaned off in a clean reservoir of water. Over time the pollution adds up, until eventually the inkwell is indistinguishable from the waterwell.

Collateral Harvest:

Although the use of plant based materials is often looked at as more ethically sound than the use of animal based materials, the harvest and growth of crop, especially if done on a large and efficient scale, often involves the slaughter of animals. Animals for example get caught up in combines during the harvest of cotton.

Collateral Harvest is a t-shirt that embeds a piece of animal hide into the object. A reminder that some animals were killed in the making of what, at the surface appears to be a benign object

Unstable Equilibrium":

The organisms found within our planet’s complex ecosystems, having evolved over countless generations, have developed an interdependency on eachother. A disturbance can echo through countless layers. The robustness of the ecosystems is dependent on this interdependency. When a part of the ecosystem is damaged this stability can be compromised, even if only in part.

The Unstable Equilibrium Tables recreate this phenomenon. When a table is moved out of the cluster it loses its own stability as well as potentially compromising the cluster. The more tables are removed, the less stable the system as a whole becomes.

Towards Closed Loop Ecosystems:

This is a 150 gallon aquarium setup as an experiment to test a method of aquarium keeping that uses a minimal amount of water changes, and thus reduces the contribution of the aquarium hobby on environmental eutrophication. By implementing systems such as a deep gravel bed that allows for the growth of denitrifying bacteria, as well as a wide variety of algae, mosses and plants, and a biodiverse benthic microfauna (such as worms, ostracods, copepods, limpets).