Unforgotten Material Bodies: Raw, Remembered, Waste
Unforgotten Material
Programme of Study
Raw, Remembered, Waste
Material Library
‘Making of’ Raw, Remembered, Waste,
Teaching and Learing Resource
Unforgotten Material
Unforgotten Material is a project that engages in the investigation of marginalised or unconventional material and practice. It aims to create an environment which fosters deep concern for the material landscapes of not only our future, but of future generations to come. At the core of this is a library formed by three interconnected material bodies: Raw, Remembered, Waste. The components of this library demonstrate an intimate archaeological affection in approaching alternative materialities whilst encouraging a space of freedom and experimentation that discourages latex gloves and clean hands. R.R.W. exhibits a set of components whose futures are not necessarily clearly defined, but sits in a liminal place, as a proposal, and question to its audience, of what next?
With foundations in the pursuit of practices rooted in tradition and handwork, the programme aims to engage with multi-cultural histories in order to interrogate the materials that we have come to depend on in the everyday, and question why we use the materials we do, when their materiality demonstrates so little concern for their post-usage afterlife. Unforgotten Material’s initiative aims to demonstrate learning through not only curiosity and experimentation, but a “workmanship of risk”. It invests in greater levels of attention towards the human ingredient of a material body. Encouraging observers to be aware of the embodiment of the human ingredient in a made object; and think on their ability to instil a sense of breath and life within what they choose to create. Recognising that a form will absorb the choreography of movement and even posture held in its making when it realises its final shape. Within the care that is exhibited in the processes engaged with, we note there is of course, a dependency of the material on the body to realise its potential, but also of the body on the material. Working with understanding, in the knowledge that Raw, natural and Waste ingredients are not endless, makers must understand that they must have something to offer back to the material that is offering itself to them.
There is not necessarily a sustainable or innovative goal, per se, as that would imply that these outcomes are new, which in many ways they are not, they are unforgotten or re-imagined; however, innovation and sustainability nevertheless sit at the core of these meditative practices, as the sentiments previously mentioned embed an attentiveness to material specifications, and thus a material’s life beyond the immediate moment, and beyond just human need. In this way, the material also permanently absorbs not only the human ingredient of its making, but also its socio-political surroundings. In working with Raw and Waste ingredients, Unforgotten Material doesn’t wish to necessarily condone disciplines reliant on synthetics or plastics, but to ask students to consider the climate in which we are designing, and more vigorously interrogate what will happen to the form they have created after it has fulfilled its purpose.
Unforgotten Material encourages a space committed to exploration through proactive engagement, playful research and discovery through getting your hands dirty. The space encourages craft, not in its technicality, but in sentiment. A sentiment of care and understanding. U.M. is a laboratory of choreography, our bodies and materials functioning as warp and weft, weaving themselves together with synchronised rhythm, trust and malleability.
Raw, Remembered, Waste
R.R.W is a collection of forms, shapes and materials that represent what I believe to be representative of three material bodies: Raw, Remembered and Waste, that aim to generate a thoughtful and propositional material landscape. The collection is an embodiment of the knowledge and understanding that has been bestowed upon me by different people, all of whom I would call craftspeople of disciples. “Craftspeople”, not because what they all do is rooted in the technicalities of traditional practice, but because of the consideration and love that is embedded in their work through the dedication and care that is taken in its making.
In its current state, it functions as a teaching and learning resource that is designed to be handled, R.R.W. engages with important practices of object-based learning for researchers of the Unforgotten Material programme investigating alternative or marginalised materialities, material histories rooted and forms of making in traditional or sustainable practices. It is an ongoing material investigation which essentially aims to question the ingredients that we focus on as designers and creatives, and encourages others to do the same within their own practice. Stemming from an investigation rooted in traditional knowledge around handwork and the sentiments of craftsmanship, this inquiry dissects hierarchical infrastructures of knowledge of Raw materials as a form of cultural heritage and pursues the potential of these Raw or Waste materials and Remembered practices. In exploring these terrains the collection aims to demonstrate an emotional materiality. In its presentation, it quite literally aims to platform and address attitudes that either sideline or forget these forms of understanding and knowing and place them on the periphery of prioritised knowledge in Western design education.
The ‘Making Of’ section of this collection is the heart of importance. It aims to document every possible dance of hands, and silent music of gesture involved in the processes that took place in the development of the collection. It is my best attempt at communicating the nature of this collection as an organism in constant flux, defining the topography of its materiality in the midst of ongoing movement. The ‘Making Of’ section exists as an open-source platform in order for me to share everything that I have learnt. The knowledge and understanding existing within this space is not mine, but as previously mentioned, was generously bestowed upon me by others, and in many ways, I feel as though I have not only a desire but a responsibility to share what was shared with me. It preserves the interactive elements of the collection, so if there are people, who for whatever reason, cannot engage with these practices but would like to do so in another way, they are to do so either with the publication or online platform, in an immersive and sensorily communicative way.
‘Making Of’ also demonstrates a key element within RRW’s discussion of materiality - the displacement of the body as a tool in itself, referred to in U.M.’s introduction as the human ingredient. The Raw and Waste bodies of R.R.W refer more to physical materiality, whereas the Remembered section not only refers to traditional handwork such as fibre-to-yarn developments, dying practices, stone carving, or colour grinding but also to what was referred to as the “workmanship of risk” in U.M.’s introduction, that represents the sentiment of craftsmanship. The ‘making of’ section aims to demonstrate not only a methodology of working, and the material discoveries revealed in the making of the material library, but also functions as a record of my personal experience and psychological interaction with these processes, as it documents as much thought and feeling I went through as I thought relevant.
The fundamental aim of ‘Making Of’ and the Raw, Remembered, Waste material bodies, is to develop a space that facilitates shared thought, knowledge and questioning, making all three of these sections - Unforgotten Material, Material Bodies: Raw, Remembered, Waste and ‘Making Of’, inextricably interconnected. Throughout history, handwork has most often been taught and shared through word of mouth, gestural communication, and proactive, physical engagement, so please keep this in mind when interacting with the collection.