Handle with Care

I am a graphic designer focusing on materiality and design history. I use visual communication as a way of exploring design thinking. My practice sits at the intersection of handcraft and communication to explore issues of historical legacy. My project “Chinese Perfume Pouch” includes handmade embroidery that people used in ancient times as a traditional personal adornment. Through my practice, I aim to expand the idea of materiality and design history. I stand across the historical and the modern, to re-examine the pouch's history, culture and value. In the making process, I have experimented with different materials and technologies, for example using jeans, and wearable technologies, to make the traditional shape of the pouch also with small invisible electronic components like lights and buzzers. This experimentation tests how technology can bring traditional culture into the present.


https://www.instagram.com/elvalynn_/

Photo credit: Jiayan Lin