In last’s weeks class Zuleika did an exercise with us in which we were supposed to go on a search in the library and find books that had nothing to do with our project. As soon as we found some we were asked to find connections between the books and our own project. I found interesting books that are connected to Mexican and Japanese culture that show the country’s fashion, different patterns, as well as interiors. Another book I found also gave an insight into the tattoo culture in Tahiti. Below you can see photos of the books I have explored in the session.
After taking photos of the most interesting pages, I investigated further and tried to make a connection. Looking at the Mexican interior, I realized flowers were placed around the altars which reminded me of the Vastu Shastra plants that I started investigating. In the images, I also saw the flowers hung up from the top and created patterns. As I want to create pattern projections myself, I started thinking to do that with healing plants. In the Japanese fashion book, on the other hand, I recognized the floral patterns and patterns connected to nature, which I could use inside my Tipis I once thought of integrating as a safe space too. But most importantly, I noticed the soft fur that was attached to the coats, as well as the baby’s bed in one of the Japanese books (see images 1-4).
The fur made me think of integrating elements people can touch and that are soft just like the fur in the Japanese images, within my hospital space. I immediately thought of satisfying material to touch, such as sand or soft rubbers people can squeeze. This can relieve stress and is a great inspiration for my escape room at hospitals, which considers smell and light integrations, as well as touch now too.