Category: Carrier Bags

Artificial and natural products

My Starter Kit explores the relationship between natural products and artificial products. They all have memories of living with me, and they are also related to each other.

Natural products:

Blue planet – The poetic name of this kind of flower with round bulbs reminds me of the mysterious blue planet. However, because their bulbs are all thorns and hard to reach, they warn humans not to easily destroy the beauty of nature.

Young girls from tianzhu – This plant has an anthropomorphic name, and it reminds me of a dancing girl. Its volatile nature makes me smell the vitality and confidence of a girl. The interaction between humans and nature is so amazing!

Eucalyptus – Such plants can exude a natural aroma. The leaves contain leaf oil. Through processing, it can be used in cosmetics, food, industry and other fields. Like its flower language, it is a gift of nature, so we have different memories of it.

Artificial products：

Art books – This art book is ” The Absence of Two ” in Yoshida’s photo book. In this work, the author used a camera to record the lives of his cousin and grandmother. This often reminds me of my family, and makes me know and reflect on life again. I think this is the power of photography books. Without words, just use pictures to resonate with people. This is why I like to record my life with pictures.

Aurora Lodge – A small group of people under the glass cover looked at the plants and the Aurora Lodge. The principle of the house is an optical prism, and the transparent house presents a rainbow-like light under natural light. Watching the gifts of nature together is a great thing and my dream. This cottage gave me a lot of encouragement and inspiration.

3D glasses – 3D glasses can deceive the eyes by transmitting light in one eye and opaque in the other eye and forming a 3D image through the brain, which is very cool. At the same time, I like to watch 3D movies, so these glasses are very important, and my artwork usually produces some 3D images.

Twitchable film card – Film cards are also called film negatives, and they are also important for printing. I like taking photos and printing to leave a mark on my life. The geometric figures on the card are overlapped and interlaced by twitching to generate new images. Combined with the word Aleph on the card, it refers to the novel by the novelist Borges. This is an infinite universe, and I want to record this infinite universe in a simple way.

Coffee – Instant coffee, which looks like a green flying saucer, gives me infinite energy and curious imagination.

Scissors – My indispensable magic tool, I can use it to create the shape of any object, or use it to process my own imagination.

Cigarette – The nicotine in cigarettes is extracted from plants, but cigarettes are manufactured artificially. Humans depend on substances extracted from this plant. It can be seen that artificial products are very popular, but long-term inhalation of large amounts of nicotine can affect human health, so this is not a good invention.

Carbon – Carbon has the effect of storing odours. I want to record these images and odours related to my life, so the image can always retain the taste of my memory, not only for everyone to watch, but also to feel through smell.

My starter kit is presented through images, containing plants, light, carbon and water, which produce photosynthesis, so that everyone can experience my life energy immersively and visualize the energy conversion in nature. Let everyone pay attention to the connection between natural products and man-made products. While protecting the ecosystem, use design to make some sustainable changes to human life.

• The main character in the Starter Kit is the computer – it is the primary tool for producing digital works and an important medium for communicating inner thoughts to the outside world. Technology is the driving force of innovation, and I still believe in the power of technology.
• IPad & Apple Pencil is the first productivity.
• Books are my professional guides.
• The spinning pen is my faithful companion.
• Stationery is the assistant of design practice.
• Sticky notes are recorders of my thoughts.
• The sketch book satisfies my desire to create and deduce the design scheme.
• The kraft paper in delivery boxes is recycled to create my works, which is eco-friendly.

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Around these tools, I want to express the four kinds of thinking I need to participate in the course through my Starter kit. It includes spinning, expanding, connecting and flowing.

1. Spinning – The continuous rotation of the pen between my fingers reminds me to keep thinking and learning new skills.

2. Expanding – The expansion of paper indicates that we not only need to pay attention to the things around us, but also need to look around the world to see whether our design can be copied and extend its applicability.

3. Connecting – A folded sticky note is similar to the shape of word ‘people’ in Chinese, and the community consisting of people has become smaller and more personalized. Each community is like a small island for self-innovation. In the future, small islands may form a new sustainable continent in a new way.

4. Flowing – Based on the technical support of different devices and the Internet, there will be greater mobility among people and they can be connected in real time, which will contribute to the establishment of distributed organizations to facilitate the efficient flow of information and resources.

‘Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first, and the lesson after.’ – Oscar Wilde.

Wilde’s words are nothing but truth; without experience, we do not have the ability to learn. We would lose the life lessons that we need to progress in life to form individual thought, emotion, and even personality. Sometimes these experiences are meant to challenge us, to confront our inner vulnerabilities. My Nan would often defend this by coming out with lines such as ‘God never gives one anything they can’t handle.’ Which is fantastic, her support and belief is incredible. Unfortunately for myself, I was never religious enough to take this on board to create an impact on me when I struggled.

I have always seen the world as a chaotic schism of positive, negative and neutral experiences. All of which are powerful. They can show us the path to love, happiness and connection, to change our world and make things just. Regrettably, some of the most dominant experiences in this universe aren’t the ones that light the way, but the ones that cause division in our world. Between rich and poor, black and white, gay and straight, disabled and abled, that list goes on. This is wrong and this is what needs to change.

Essentially my collection here is a story. It is a story of my personal experiences in life that have moulded me into the individual I am today. I am a graphic designer, yet I am more than that, I want to change the world, if only a small part, through the simple tool of communication and story telling. So it seems fit, that at the start of this course; I tell my story.

My life, for a long time, fell under the negative experiences of the schism I earlier described. I lost people I loved through tragic circumstance, I saw how addiction could tear individuals and families apart, battled sexuality and the incidents of an abusive relationship. Those experiences go on, and deeper than are necessary to explain at this stage. Although, my hardest struggle, was the most personal. I was born with a complex medical condition that will never go away. A condition that nearly, and could of taken my life in 2017. A risk that could always come back. For now, I live with the complications, surgery after surgery, procedures, tests, medication and medical staff. I didn’t however just survive, I live, and I thrive.

I guess all of his probably sounds depressing to you. I want to implore that this is quite the opposite. My experiences are my empowerment. My strength. My courage and confidence. As well as the ink to my creativity. These is the toolkit that has led me to see the world differently to others, and I can use that to make a world a better place, for those living with invisible disabilities, to carry on my work around grief. To be loud, political, and bold. Most of all, keep telling stories. This masters is the beginning of a journey for me, a journey I am more than excited to take. A chance for us all to change the world together.

‘I can’t say that I can change the world, but if you let me, I can change a world for us.’ – Lyrics from Renaissance – Paolo Buonvino / Skin

Abi Chapman – Graphic Design & Communication – Interests: Research, Psychology, Sociology, History, Design, Human behaviour and interaction within design and communication..

What do I have in my starter kit?

“Insulation Cup”-preserve temperature and maintain the ecological balance of nature.
“Marker pen”-a tool we often use, it highlights problems, hides information, waiting for us to discover.
“Notepad”-our brain, a transit point for ideas.
“Kiwifruit”-vitamin supplements, supplement ideas.
“Plant”-each of us is like a leaf on the Chlorophytum, as the Chlorophytum grows to explore the unknown world wantonly.
“Plastic gloves”-I use plastic gloves as an example to express that plastic creates a barrier between us and nature. It not only protects us from dirt but also separates us from the world.
“Spring clip”-integrate things together, students communicate with each other, and ideas merge.
“Hand sanitizer”-care for our health during the epidemic.
“Handmade Knife”-portray your own work as you like.
“Post-it notes”-convenient, record new discoveries anytime, anywhere.

In food we get energy and happiness. My favourite.

◇”Super Me Adapter” – Just came from China and ready for new adventures, I am like the adapter, which is adaptive and flexible, using the energy to do some exciting stuffs. Long time ago, I perceived “supreme” wrongly as “super me”, which is a lovely mistake: super me, super brilliant. I put them together to show I am going to be a super nice adapter.

◇”Magic Pot” – We can put everything into the pot and it will pay us back with magical food. Like wise,  I am also not a picky-eater，I like everything and want to put things in my head as much as possible, I am always on the way of doing magical things.

◇”Chicken Leg Power” – I was intending to use chicken legs to express a sense of executive, motivated, but it was very frozen. That is okay, it can still have a meaning that I am READY to work executively.

◇”Love Happy Cola” – The Chinese character “囍” is usually used on weddings, it means “double happiness”, and I think it is doubled because of love. “Love” is what I am pursuing and respecting. Also Cola means “worth to be happy” in Chinese. This combination means love, happy and optimistic.

◇”Sweet Cream” – Cream is warm and lovely, me and my work should be like that.

◇”Angry Chili” – However, the world is not always warm and lovely, we need to keep alert, sharp, and have the right to be angry, and do things not just catering to the strong ones.

I tried many media and learned lots of skills of visual arts, but I am not specialized at each one of them. So I just put out my personal characteristics that may facilitate my work. Still, I shall keep learning to fill and sharpen my starter kits.

This is a photo of unwanted clothes, the plastic wrapper of Nestlé mineral water, the chicken (and newly settled insects) left in the yard to feed the fox overnight, and the fallen leaves in the yard.

Since my undergraduate degree is in microbiological engineering, I will be more inclined to the direction of pollution-free, life-sustainable circulation in design projects.

I hope this photo can remind myself to remember this heartfelt heart, embrace the world, and consider not only people but also what impact this project will have on nature and other species in the subsequent project design.

There is breakfast recipe in my Starter Kit~

This breakfast recipe is one that we often make because it’s convenient and can be done very quickly, and of course it’s delicious!

I put this breakfast recipe in my Starter Kit because breakfast is quite vital for our health, and I also very enjoy the breakfast time with my family members.

In addition, I care about where the food we eat comes from, how it’s transported, how it’s made, how it’s returned to the land.

In today’s networked world, especially in China, where the digital economy is flourishing, we can quickly get food (online shopping or takeout) by tapping our mobile phones while sitting on the couch, can we still imagine hunger anywhere in the world?

But it may be hard to say whether this digital development is negative or positive, because it creates a lot of jobs and opportunities for businesses, and of course increases the carbon footprint of food and the packaging waste .

During the COVID-19 outbreak earlier this year in China, when we were asked to stay at home and isolate ourselves. At this time, many families worry about whether there is enough food in the house for the whole family, and plan their daily food needs and planned shopping. It was then that I paid more attention to food. Starting to plant tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, peppers and other vegetables in the garden with my boyfriend, which alleviated our anxiety during the epidemic (maybe this is the power of plants!). It also gives us a new understanding of how the foods we know every day grow

We joined the online planting community, met many new friends, shared planting experiences and exchanged seeds, and learned that many people started their home gardens during the COVID-19 outbreak.

So I want to take this recipe and share delicious food and food stories with more people～