TIME PIECES I
CHRONOMATERIALS
Biomaterials as an interface to unveil subjective experience of time
Time Pieces I Chronomaterials is designed to question our relationship with time and aims to unveil our personal experience of time by utilizing biomaterials and ‘the body’ as an interface between us and our experiences to replace our negative perception about the passage of time.
CHRONIC TIME PRESSURE
The advent of industrialisation and its demand for coordinated and calibrated living moved clocks to an omnipotent status and transformed our relationship with time profoundly. Clocks penetrated our personal spaces and started to dominate daily life. Time became the most valuable commodity, and ‘wasting’ time became the most sinful attitude. Advances in technology decreased the average time spent on many practices and conditioned us to do things in a shorter and shorter time. And the negative perception that we keep consuming, losing time every day, and we do not have enough time to accomplish every option available became the plague of our daily life.
Chronic time pressure is a self-deceptive and illusory phenomenon caused by the growing number of choices, causing a ‘paradox of affluence’, in addition to the frantic tempo of daily life. Numerous studies demonstrate that this chronic feeling of time pressure is worldwide and directly related to negative mood, anxiety, and depression. It obstructs to descry what matters to be committed in one’s life and influences the choices of the way one lives. Therefore, it is crucial to overcome this phenomenon to increase one’s quality of life.
TIME PIECES I CHRONOMATERIALS
Nature illustrates the inherent power of time to accumulate and transform things into their most refined iterations as the embodiment of the concept of time. With this inspiration, in 2019, during my MSc graduation, I conceptualised the notion of ‘Chronomaterials’ that refers to the materials ‘designed’ to collect traces of our personal experience of time by taking ‘the body’ as an interface between humans and practice. As in tree growth rings, which present detailed records of a tree’s growth and life story throughout its lifetime, the wearable Time Pieces collect and record the traces of one’s experiences and emotions by irreversibly changing its shape, texture and colour based on the changes in the environment (e.g., moisture, temperature) and your body (e.g., sweat, temperature). Since environmental changes provide valuable insights about your activities, while changes in your body serve as indicators of your emotions. The stored and accumulated traces of the activities and emotions on Time Pieces tangibly manifest one’s experiences, emotions and, ultimately, one's transformation.
Biomaterial
making
process
Helvetica Light is an easy-to-read font, with tall and narrow letters, that works well on almost every site.
Sea shells were used as the main component of the biomaterial concept. During the material experiments, what textures, shape changes, and colours can be achieved were explored to identify the final material design for the Time Pieces.
The material samples were exhibited at the International Festival of Technology (IFoT) 2018 in Delft, and the final concept was exhibited at Dutch Design Week in 2023 in Microlab.
Dutch
Design
Week '23
