ResearcH
“design a tool to help people to reconnect with
nature.”
To begin this project, I was tasked to research as widely as possible different routs I could follow in order to find inspiration for my soon-to-be designed ‘tool’.
I started my research with a simple mindmap, looking into areas of life that I felt either lacked nature, required nature or showed nature in an interesting way. Although I am a person who is very interested in hills and natural landscapes, city life stood out to me as it was so starved of these very views – I was motivated to continue down this path.
After assessing some issues of city-living such as litter and animal cruelty (by speaking to my sister who lives in edinburgh), I found that I was most keen to explore why there was such little space for nature in cities – and more importnatly, how I could create a tool to tackle this problem.
- I considered using naturally formed rocks coated in a shiny polish as plant pots and terrariums – but found that the product had been done prieviously many times and also lacked the impact I was looking for.
- I also thought about creating man made ‘trees’, which when placed around you’re home, not only creates a feeling of a natural atmosphere, but also a natural scented area.
Every idea I came up with seemed to lack the interest and potential to develop to excite me and motivate me to pursue it further – although eventually, I found one.
Miniatures
Somehow, within the wild web of the internet, I managed to stumble across miniatures. Detailed, hand-painted characters and props used mostly for tabletop gaming and collectables – the items had a clear sense of sentemental value and preciousness, which was something that caught my eye.
I began to consider how I could adopt this value and affection shown to an object in my own design – discovering that the size of the product partnered with the hand-crafted style made the objects so appealing and possesive.
From this moment onwards, I knew that I wanted my ‘tool’ to be small… and adorable.