It has taken me awhile to sit down and write a bit about what I have done so far so this post will include the last few weeks.
1. Nature - looking at growth pattern shapes/the lifespan of a plant.
2. Transcendental - definition: surpassing the natural plane of reality or knowledge; super natural or mystical.
3. Idea - how ideas can be formed with a single thought and can either take hold and grow rampant or immediately die. Compare it to trend.
4. Memory scent - memory can be jogged by certain scents.
After much thought and debate, I thought it was best to go with transcendental but infuse it with surrealism in hopes of creating a collection that could be whimsical, fantastical and futuristic. I needed strong visuals which was missing from transcendental and so nature seemed to fit at the time. Surrealists used nature as a huge source of inspiration. They developed "biomorphism" which basically is using abstract forms that evoke the living. "Art that focuses on the power of natural life and uses organic shapes, with shapeless and vaguely spherical hints of the forms of biology."
Research is probably the most crucial part of the whole process because it is the jumping off point. You have already decided the concept and now it is time to get waist deep in learning more about your topic(s). Since beginning this stage I have edited my concepts to only include transcendental and surrealism. After mind-mapping I found that nature only made my thesis more broad and less able to edit myself and my designs. I will still use biomorphism since it is a part of surrealism, but in less of an obvious way.
Transcendental. This will be the word to describe my thesis. The literal meaning of transcendental is (courtesy of dictionary.com):
–adjective
1.transcendent, surpassing, or superior.
2.being beyond ordinary or common experience, thought, or belief; supernatural.
3.abstract or metaphysical.
4.idealistic, lofty, or extravagant.
5.Philosophy .
a.beyond the contingent and accidental in human experience, but not beyond all human knowledge. Compare transcendent ( def. 4b ) .
b.pertaining to certain theories, etc., explaining what is objective as the contribution of the mind.
c.Kantianism . of, pertaining to, based upon, or concerned with a priori elements in experience, which condition human knowledge. Compare transcendent ( def. 4b ) .
To explain transcendental in my own words in relation to my collection has started as a jumble of words that hopefully by the end will be ironed out to only include the necessary. So far it reads:
As Helmut Lang put it "It's about the known unknown and the unknown know." Tangible yet unfathomable we strive for something beyond us, a world full of endless possibilities. it is then we reach our limitless limitations.
And the research has begun...
I have been very lucky in having a whole wall to work with while doing thesis so here are some of the posted swipes I have collected to look at how other designers are breaking the rules and how they are doing it.
Here is a picture of my mood images which like everything else in design is subject to change.
After soaking up as much research as time would allow it became time to start doing ideations.
