The Unfolded
Team Members:
Chia-hung Lin
Innovation Design Engineering (RCA)
Di Liu
History of Design (RCA)
Eleftherios Sergios
Urban Design (UCL)
Simin Qiu
Design Products (RCA)
Xueling Wang
Vicual Communication (RCA)
Sweeping Broom
The broom is attached to a bar that runs along the curling sheet, tracking the position of the stone and moving ahead of it. Using the mouth-piece, the second player can then activate when the broom descends on ice and the speed with which it sweeps the surface.
It is a story of lovers’ encounters. The encounter, for lovers, is a moment, which is crystallised in space as a paper-made, semi-open, seemingly foldable compartment. When two (potential) lovers enter the space from two different entry points, they are unaware of what is going to unfold in front of them. In anticipation, they make their way through the passages, which is made of standing panels that partially block their views, and progress into the unknown destination. What awaits them can be a rigid wall, a floating window, a canvas waiting to be painted, a screen where a film could be shown, a space where imagination flies, and above all, a lover.
It is the longing, wanting and waiting that make the journey through the passage worthwhile. When two lovers finally encounter at the meeting point of the two passages, they immediately form a private sphere in this heightened, compact, and probably suffocating space. However, the space is not completely enclosed, which allows others to peep in and watch them. Therefore, there is an additional public dimension to the lovers’ world, which makes it both secure and insecure at the same time.
As the story unfolds, the choice is at the lovers’ hands. They may want to get close to each other, get closer, stay in a comfort zone, or get closer until there is zero distance between them. They may also turn around, turn away or turn against each other. The story never finishes.
Paper is used to form the compartment as well as the panels. Thin, translucent, soft, warm, touchable, stretchable, permeable, manipulable and yet fragile in nature, paper is of qualities that are akin to those of human relationships. Paper needs support to be able to stand firmly, like lovers. The whiteness of the paper, pure and innocent, creates an intimate ambience. Paper also breathes. The amore is in the air.
