Research Stage II- Environment state

  OverpopulationFood Demand

According to the data from the ‘2013 GAP Report’ at Global Harvest, there will be a sharp increase on the population of China by 2030, from 1300 millions to 1600 millions, therefore bringing the overpopulation. There is no doubt that the food demand will witness a dramatic growth as well, and these will lead the food price to a higher level. Meanwhile, the severe air pollution and the water pollution had seriously reduced the livability of the soil. As a result, these states will lead to an inevasible food shortage issue in the later future in China.

Research Stage I-Experiments & Material Test

Inspired by the case studies and the data above, I proceeded to brainstorm, trying to find touch points and design opportunities in the big topic. The methods I used includes Rethink, Working condition, Future senarios, Adjustment and Transformation.

In this stage, I started doing some material tests and experiments from the environmental perspective. Firstly, I collected the liquid of the polluted water in the most polluted cities in China and then mixing them with some ink or food oil, therefore trying to produce some jewellery accessories throughout placing these liquids into transparent materials such as the crystal or the acrylic.

By doing this, the polluted liquid inside creates new patterns as it moves and most importantly, it reduced the environmental pollution to some extent.

As a consequence, I hope it will generate a new stage of the jewellery industry in the post-Anthropocene age. In this process, I recognized the relationship among the Anthropocene, fiction and the speculation, human’s behaviors influence the environment and then the environment reflects back to the human, as a result, this allow human especially designers to imagine the later future in a fictional scenario, then speculate and generate the new outcome of the society.

 

CASE STUDY- Washed Up

Artist Alejandro Duran collects countless bits of trash that washes up from locations around the world. So far he has discovered plastic devris from dozens of countries on this shore of the Caribbean coast which he utilizes for site-specific installations for an ongoing project titled Washed Up.

By creating aesthetically pleasing landscapes from a disheart-ening medium, he hope to create a harsh juxtaposition that draws attention to the global catastrophe of ocean pollution.

Case study

‘Lightscapes’ is an experimental work by London-based designer Troy Hyde that takes satellite images of some of the most lively cities in the world and transforms them into flickering animated images. The series takes an extremely zoomed out look at these landscapes at night that are spectacularly lined and illuminated by lights.

Much like someone on earth looking up at the night sky to admire the twinkling stars, this collection reverses the perspective of the viewer as though they are in the sky looking down at the sparkling dance of manmade lights on our planet. Each flicker seems to signify a sense of life and movement.

The artist says, “The impact of human industry is visible; the work captures a contemporary, transient vision of earth which is different from it’s past and will inevitably change. The work engages with the issue of light pollution, but is intended to be observational, encouraging the viewer to experience the beauty of the lights cape simultaneously with the uncomfortable recognition of the uncertainty of the future.”

Research Stage I Case Study

Airwaves Shanghai

The AirWaves mask is a contemporary-styled pollution mask with the addition of particle sensors. Not only does the advanced mask filter our more pollution, but it also keeps track of the air-quality levels in real time.

Connected with the wearer’s mobile device, the mask shares the data with the entire network. Users can access maps for their neighborhood and city to check levels for places they want or need to be. Having this information can help residents avoid particularly hazardous areas. The data can also be used to track and improve air quality over time on a local mask.

 

SMOG FREE PROJECT Analysis

‘smog free project’is a new form of the jewellery accessory, which is made throughout putting the air pollutant into the transparent acrylic. It is aimed to purify the air in the later future throughout providing the proactive solution.

The most attractive part is the tangible jewellery, that is created from the residue of the collected smog. These smog consists of gas emission which is compressed into high-end jewellery such as the smog free ring. By doing this, each piece of jewellery contributes to the purifying of 1000 cubic meters of polluted air. In this design process, the pollutant attempt to be a new form of the jewellery accessory and it is a forecasting of the later future of the fashion industry.

Speculative Design Research Stage I

From Quartz

From US Atlantic News

SHANGHAI, CHINA – NOVEMBER 07: (CHINA OUT) A man practices Tai Chi at the Bund as heavy smog engulfs the city on November 7, 2013 in Shanghai, China. People were advised to stay indoors today as the Shanghai Environment Agency measured air pollution levels at five out of a possible six. (Photo by ChinaFotoPress/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images)

The environmental state in China

Collaborative Project—The state of Autism

The definition of Autism

Autism is a spirit and mental disease, children with autism have neurological challenges struggle with expressive and receptive language skills, motor planning, as well as sensory processing. It means eople with autism typically have difficulties in relating to the social world, developing communication skills.  Unfortunately, the state of this lifelong developmental disability is that it affects 1% of Uk population and at the same time, it keeps its high incidence and show a dramatically increase from 1996 to 2003 .

According to LAURA GEGGEL (14 NOV, 2013), the prevalence of autism among 8 years old children remained relatively stable from 2004 to 2010 in the U.K., reports a study published 16 October in BMJ Open. But experts say the study may be underestimating autism’s rates in the general population.

The stability in prevalence follows a period of rising autism diagnoses in the U.K. The number of 8-year-old children with an autism diagnosis increased fivefold between 1996 and 2003 but plateaued later that decade.

There are some iconic performance of autistic children that I have researched online.

 

 

 

References:

1. Taylor B.et al. BMJ Open 3, e003219(2013) PubMed

2.  Hagberg K.W. and H.Jick Epdemiology 21, 426-427(2010) PubMed

3.  Laura Geggel (14 Nov, 2013)  Large U.K. study reports stable rates of autism