Dear Disaster by Jenny Ekdahl

Use your touch to ease your mind.

2012-08-06

Dear disaster : inspired by natural forces

Graduation project by Jenny Ekdahl (25 yrs), presented in March 2012 at the Lund
school of industrial design, Sweden. Currently on display in the exhibition Sydform
that runs until September 2012 in Sweden and in Denmark.

A natural disaster is an event that we associate with destruction, distress and

sadness. But a natural disaster is also a phenomenon that fascinates, that is beautiful
and at the same time terrifying. This contradicting love hate relationship with nature
was the starting point for my graduation work.

I wanted to create an object that could both illustrate my appreciation of natural forces
as well as the psychological process of recovery after a natural disaster.
By describing natural disasters with graphs, diagrams and pictures they are said to
make the events easier to embrace. I wanted to use similar ways of interpreting
natural events in my design and use structures that we associate with safety instead
of fear.

As part of my graduation work I therefore investigated what shapes, textures and

patterns the human being automatically is intrigued by such as rhythm, complexity,
playfulness and the possibility to leave personal imprints on an object.

The structure of the cabinet is an experiment with overcoming fear by touching. The
interaction with the structure on the cabinet is a way for the user to tell her story, a
conversation about sorrow and fear but also about finding meaning and regaining trust
in nature after an incomprehensible event. The function of the structure lies in mentally
pleasing the user by showing her personality, feelings and personal marks, and it
works as a tactile psychological help by hiding at the same time as it might highlight
the event for the user depending on what she decides to do with it.

The cabinet is representing water as well as the absence of water, a contrast that also
defines a natural disaster. One side of each wooden scale is painted blue, white or
grey, while the other side has been left plain, so that they can be flipped to create
patterns based on water and waves. When mud is cracking of drought it produces a
similar three-way pattern that water bubbles has, and therefore I chose to use this
pattern in my design. The cabinet is keeping small keepsakes from the past safe
behind a closed door, and the high legs are preventing the water from reaching them.
Here’s some more information from the Jenny Ekdahl:

Construction

The cabinet is a one-off object made of beech wood with a moving structure on the
door consisting of small, wooden scales. The scales were water jet cut from a
veneered plywood sheet that I constructed. They are threaded on piano wire with
small brass washers between every scale, and fastened and tensioned inside the
wooden frame. I both designed and made the cabinet that all together consists of
more than 4500 parts.

More detailed project background:

Natural disasters work as a visual reminder of how life suddenly can end, but they are
also reminders of how life once begun. By discussing my fascination to an event that
awakes our search for meaning I came to question my own approach towards design;
– Are we contributing to the disasters by our mass production and consumption of
today? – How can I then justify and motivate my will to design new, poetic objects with
no obvious function?

Based on these questions I investigated my design philosophy and aims; the

communication of stories and emotions by objects, in order to find better arguments
for why this design is as meaningful and important today as technical innovation. My
interpretations of natural disasters are used as a metaphor to describe the importance
of emotional and poetic experiences in design for the future.
 JENNY EKDAHL, DEAR DISASTER "ARMOIRE À ÉCAILLES"

05 NOV. 2018

Jenny Ekdahl s'est intéressé aux rescapés, traumatisés, de catastrophes naturelles

en créant Dear Disaster "armoire à écailles".

A part l'effet thérapeutique, l'utilisateur peut à sa guise varier l’aspect du meuble, il

peut laisser son empreinte personnelle sur cet objet.
Ce meuble illustre les forces naturelles et le processus psychologique après une
catastrophe naturelle. Il décrit les catastrophes naturelles grâce à un diagramme et
des images simplifiées.

Le meuble est en bois de hêtre avec une structure mobile sur la porte,composée
de 4000 écailles de bois qui fonctionnent comme des clapets, elles peuvent se
rabattre sur les deux faces.