SHIFTING PERSPECTIVES explores how personal cultural perception can be translated into designed objects. It engages with Dessau and Germany as spaces perceived through multiple cultural lenses, diverse cultural background, experiences and interpretations.

The goal is a development of a porcelain product.

Porcelain, as a culturally charged material in Germany, becomes a medium to explore how perception can be translated, negotiated, and materialized.

The outcome: 

- may function as a give-away, artefact, or speculative merchandising ob ject,

- but does not need to follow conventional expectations.

- it should be reproducible in small editions.

- all together we create an alternative souvenir shop

You are new to Germany and are experiencing Dessau with fresh eyes. Things that are taken for granted by others may seem unfamiliar, surprising, or special to you.

Within this project you will draw on your personal cultural perceptions as a student in Germany especially in Dessau and translate your experiences into a designed object.

Is your approach critical, poetic, ironic, analytical, or narrative?

How does your object communicate meaning beyond function?

Can a give- away carry complex of conflicting meanings?

Can misunderstanding be productive?

Who is your product intended for?

Where could it be sold or distributed? Why is it attractive / special?

First Steps:

-Learning about the manufacturing processes

-Research

-Designing a three-dimensional form / Completing a model

-Creating a plaster mold

-Implementing the model in porcelain

Requirements:

-Interest in porcelain as a material

-Striving for analog design processes and handcrafting.

-Participation in practical exercises: mold making / porcelain casting /

-Independent work in the workshop

-Willingness to experiment

-Intensive and systematic approach

Process :

April 24: Introduction to the theme and technological aspects of porcelain design

May 8:   Excursion Berlin: Kunstgewerbemuseum / KPM

May 22: 1. Presentation, draft models

May 29: Model and project development

June 5: Mold making

June 12: mold making and implementation in porcelain

June 19: Porcelain casting

July 26: Porcelain casting / finishing

July 3: Glazing

July 17: Set-up & presentation for DDS