Camilla Fucili is a graduate student in RISD’s Industrial Design program. Continuing in our quest to share the various thesis projects being done by our graduate students, here is her thesis.
Between the lines. A Story about People and Objects at the Table.
The purpose of my thesis work is to reinterpret everyday objects to create meaningful experiences of use. By investigating an everyday moment such as dining, I wanted to bring a layer of sensitivity to objects that would otherwise be aseptic & cold. The resultant objects live in the space between the lines, in the gap between the human and the artificial made of stories, poetry, and imagination. These objects are small domestic sculptures; they talk about us and carry the marks of our existence, becoming metaphors of living, alter egos of their owners.
Allure is a set of bowls inspired by the ritual of sharing typical of Asian cultures. I wanted to design an object to extrapolate this cultural behavior and transform it into a universal metaphor. These bowls link to each other to create a visual and material connection between people across the table. They create a movable and adjustable path thanks to their magnetic edges that connect them together allowing different setups. They can grow during the meal (during a pot luck for example) or simply changing configuration to create different choreography of the table setup.
Dining is a social moment that brings people together to share not only food, but also thoughts, laughs, and stories. I wanted to make an object that celebrates and visualizes communication at the table. Speech recalls spoken words; it’s the remnant of a conversation, what’s left at the table after a meal. I laser cut fabric in the shape of words that become more and less legible, mimicking the clarity of the sound of overheard conversations. The sound is represented through different thicknesses of the words and the crossing directions. It both freezes past conversations in time and allows new conversations to happen thanks to its visual and tactile qualities that engage people and create a framework for a dialogue.
Romeo&Juliet is a set of plates inspired by the observation of the act of covering the food for someone that is late for dinner. They are halves that function perfectly alone, but create something more when combined together. The tension between being objects that stand by themselves and being part of a whole is exemplified by their shape and by the embossed pattern that goes across both plates. Every design choice acts as an aesthetic hint to the functional and conceptual meaning. This set of plates has various dimensions and they all fit together thanks to the fact that all borders match each other.
U-play is inspired by the observation of young friends at the table in the act of reaching out to each other’s plates. This stretched out utensil functions as an extension of your body. It recalls the shape of our hands as an invite to be used in a spontaneous and playful way, as if you were using your hands. This way we can spice up the dining experience without replacing the traditional fork. It can be used in many ways: to reach out to other people plates or serving plate, to fight, or maybe to poke each other, or feed each other. It represents and legitimizes play as part of the dining experience.
Cin Cin, which means cheers in Italian, is a glass for couples inspired by the intimacy of the act of cheering. I wanted to translate this intimacy into the object itself, so I made it out of two parts connected to each other through a joint that allows rotation in both directions. It brings the faces very close to each other, reinforcing the intimacy of the moment. The sculptural form of this object goes beyond its usual function and tells a story.
Posted by Carly Ayres | Date Posted: 26 April, 2011