BLOOMING MOMENTS

Blooming Moments is an elegantly simple home decor collection comprising a bowl, candle holder, and vase. Beyond its significance as an industrial design work, Blooming Moments also serves as a statement of my design approach as a process of conceiving and realizing significant forms.

The spirit of my design
I conceive and realize functional objects with significant forms, drawing terminology introduced by art critic Clive Bell in 1914 in reference to the quality that distinguishes art from mere artifacts. In her 1942 book Philosophy in a New Key, author Susanne Langer further interprets the significant form as one that articulates complexes of feeling. My design approach resonates most closely with Suzanne Langer’s interpretation, and I endeavored to go beyond mere functionality to convey calm portrayals of feeling, rather than outpourings of it.

Unique conceptual forms
Blooming Moments draws inspiration from diverse stages of flowering. This inspiration is translated into various curves to abstract the contours of petals and water lily leaves, conveying a kind of buoyant yet gentle vitality. Although all three pieces of the collection share the same inspiration, each object is uniquely designed with different methods of folding surfaces into petal-like shapes. Despite the uniqueness of each piece in the collection, the design goal is to achieve harmony among them, while ensuring that each conveys emotions with subtle differences.

The simplicity of elegant design
The conceived forms are realized with slotted-bent steel sheets and CNC-crafted black walnut wood. In each piece of the collection, the steel sheet is sandwiched between two wooden pieces securely bonded together, without the use of any hardware. This fabrication process validates the potential of slot bending and adhesive bonding techniques in form creation.


