EXPLORATION ON STRAW Master thesis
2013
Graduation project, Social Design Master 2013, Design Academy Eindhoven NL.
Straw reflects the evolution of our society, from its more ‘natural’ beginnings to an increasingly synthetic environment. In the western world our attitude to natural material changes and its valorization is disconnected from its daily uses.
To explore straw and its cultural contexts I have built a STRAW COLLECTION composed of a variety of images of straw artefacts from different origins and times. I have reinterpreted them by mixing each image with my own knowledge and experience, creating a partly imaginary collection which blurs the contexts and usages. This collection inspired my design process, during which time I explored crossovers between different artefacts. In one example, I researched European straw hat-making techniques and the resulting hat’s daily decay, which I transformed into a series of bags.