Chuan Ma

FLUX

This project proposes a new interaction of “elegance when turning” to lighting by researching and deconstructing traditional Chinese materials and related crafts. Focusing on the combination of traditional handicraft and modern design, FLUX is a cooperation with craftsmen and inspired by the ancient Chinese fan, which creates various colours of light by changing its movement path elegantly.

ELAPSE

A calcium carbonate (CaCO3) bench is set in a cast CaCO3 cuboid. The material of the bench is of higher density and hardness than its surrounding material. A stronger CaCO3 tablet with a brass motto is set in the bench in same way. By erosion through natural forces, the bench and the tablet will emerge one after another in the next 5 to 15 years. The characters of the motto will become disordered and make it unreadable, while the base will collapse within a decade as well. During this transformation period of 25 years, equalling the length of a generation, both designer and nature will be shapers and participants in the creation of form. The special relationship between material, time and natural force, will lead the product to be an atypical artificial form, as well as an atypical natural form, harmonious with its environment. The project questions the philosophical connection between human life and the external world during a product’s use and brings the audience to witness the aging process over time, but always at the same location.