Armour #1 ‘No touch’ policy*
Blooming the Bio-Culturals: Making change at the intersection of bio-diversity and cultural diversity.
Speculative Design
This wearable set of hard shell objects are speculative design experiments in embodied empathy. They are imagined as ‘everyday armour’ where, starting in a woodland setting, we make visible and tangible the emotional landscape of prejudice and its impact on restricting our comfort in daily life.
‘Everyday Armour’
These objects might subtly or overtly protect us against known and unknown threats in woodland spaces.
I’ve designed and constructed these objects to make emotional responses to discrimination, discomfort, lack of belonging or disconnection with the woodland environment, both visual and tangible, and to consider what adequate protection might be.
The research aims are robust consideration of the intersectionality of bio-diversity and cultural diversity, and the catastrophic impacts of diversity loss - both biological and cultural.
Construction: Rough plaster casts, leather buckles, adjustable elastane straps, vegetable tanned leather offcut.
Material qualities: Fragile, rigid, restricted, impervious, insulated, on the mend.
Emotional keywords: Defensive, pre-emptive action, no desire to engage without safety.
Good for: Sound insulation, Physical protection from prickling, heavy branches or blows, Easy avoidance of eye contact, Pushing aside brush, Creating sound effects against natural objects, Protection of neck, hair and arms from crawling creatures, falling leaves.
Bad for: Freedom of movement, Airflow, Spatial awareness, Natural acoustics, Blending into surroundings.
Materials selected to be rigid and protective while comfortable inside for the wearer. The design is informed by vintage leather-strapped straight jackets from secure mental health facilities, using the visual language of mainstream fashion and equestrian pursuits, from which most people are excluded.
*The name references the ‘No pick policy’ designated for funghi in Highgate Wood, London.
More armour experiments:
Armour #2 soft shell ‘Protect n Respect’ pullover
Padded helmet protects against branches, or attack, insulates against unwanted sound
Rigid chest plate helps push through brush, restrains arm movement and bending, feels secure over padding
Rigid forearms push past hard branches, knock nasties off surfaces, seal arms and hands from crawling creatures
Grazing foliage in crash helmet safely releases scent and sound.
