Living Objects
Lena Balderas
See it On Campus: Level 2
Visitor InfoGiving new life to discarded objects by exploring their embodied potential.
Developed from the notion that all objects have unrealized value and that humans can intuitively respond to their affordances, this project is a continuous practice using pre-existing objects that are on their way to landfill as inspiration for new creations.
The process starts with materials that have almost reached an “end”, rerouting them away from their linear cycle. It is a method of preserving and prolonging existing artifacts that no longer hold their intended purpose.
Primary objects often start with a plank of wood, a roll of fabric, a sheet of metal, but I find myself working backwards when it comes to material. I am drawn to secondary artifacts that have already been manufactured, produced, designed, built, and made. There’s an existing framework to build from.
In a world that has been conditioned to over-consume, it is important to care for what we have before wanting more. My goal is to create objects as a means for dialogue and connection.
“Living Objects” prompts people to:
Imagine an object’s potential
Reframe what is useful or valuable
Reveal how we respond to the objects around us
Shift our values around how we consume
Encourage repair and care
Question the relationships we have with our things
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The process is quite simple and intuitive. Going to second hand stores, or anywhere you can find discarded objects. The objects speak to what they could become.
Informed by their materiality, colors, form, and craft, and this is the beginning of a growing relationship with the objects.
Most of the objects discareded are mass produced, machine made, industrial, fabricated objects.
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By reimplementing the hand craft into industrial objects, I aim to challenge our narratives around consumption and mass production and enhance the mass produced object’s perceived value.
My making included a lot of intuitive craft processes that came from an imaginative visualization of how the materials could be used and manipulated.
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Object 1- Snow Tire Chains
Location Found – Salvation Army Thrift Store
Price Payed – $15.00
Original Function – Snow Tire Chains
New Function – Chandelier
Materials Added – Ceramic, Metal, Aircraft Wire
Processes Added – Ceramic Tile Mold Making, Metal Working
Responding to the way the chains hung and the forms created in the negative space, inspired the shapes for the hanging ceramic tiles.
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Object 2 – Knitting Needles
Location Found – Salvation Army Thrift Store
Price Payed – $0.15/ ea
Original Function – Knitting Needles
New Function – Lamp Shade
Materials Added – Acrylic
Processes Added – Laser Cutting, Mold Making, Heat Bending
The abundance of knitting needles viewed as simple, moldable lines, inspired the opportunity for a repeatable form that in combination, could create a 3D shape.
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Object 3 – Medical Privacy Screen
Location Found – Mother’s Prop Closet
Price Payed – $0.00
Original Function – Medical Privacy Screen
New Function – Room Divider/ Structure for Hanging Lights
Materials Added – Paint
Processes Added – Sanding, Painting
The medical screen gave a perfect opportunity to prolong it’s original function but in a different context. I saw potential in it’s structure to create something more playful. The white plastic panels and cold aluminum frame inspired the opposite: warm colors and textile panels (not pictured).
*Originally, my plan was to create textile panels for the frame made from free wool I acquired and blue/green scrubs I found. I felted the wool into panels and dyed them (shown on next pages) but a challenge with intuitive making is you make to find out, and sometimes you find out the design isn’t working so I have learned to let things go when this happens. So for now it makes a great structure for my 3 hanging lamps.
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Object 4 – Chair
Location Found – Salvation Army Thrift Store
Price Payed – $15.00
Original Function – Chair
New Function – Chair
Materials Added – Wool, Dye
Processes Added – Felting, Dying, Upholstering
The chair already had a lot of visable potential. The frame is what drew me in. Again, an opportunity to prolong its original function. Since moving away from the privacy screen, I still had the panels of wool textile that I felted for the screen and thought the material would make nice cushions for the chair and the colors would pair nicely.
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This personal collaboration and conversation I have with found objects inspires my making.
By adding a part of myself to these objects, together we have created a new life, purpose and value to the once discarded object.
