Pecah

Our aim was to utilize the interesting patterns created by the Iban pottery paddling technique for an interior application. By incorporating the very organic yet beautifully handmade and traditional technique of ceramics with the ever so intricately woven songket textile we could create a new product for the upper retail/interior market. As the product would be situated in a semi-private, semi-public sphere, the aim is to increase exposure and awareness of traditional Malaysian craft and design in the hope to support communities and preserve these beautiful crafts.

Cultural engagement:

By engaging in a cross-cultural, creative enterprise with Unimas and COFA students to design a prototype for Syntropy, we gained a greater perspective of the opportunities of working together, the opportunities of design perspectives and initiative on traditional crafts while also analyzing the negatives of our influence and the possible loss of tradition. Taking all this into account we tried to incorporate both crafts at a similar level, by elevating the iban to a high end level, and making songket easily accessible to manufacture by designing smaller pieces.

Solution: 

Our modular joining partition screen based upon the eight split petal flower design Bunga Pecah Lapan demonstrates the usefulness and aesthetics involved in traditional geometric Malay patterns. Pecah meaning ‘split’ is a screen system that can divide an interior space, provide privacy and showcase two of Malaysia’s greatest creative arts the iban pottery and traditional songket weaving.

Tile Pattern Explorations

The motifs for the songket were based on both traditional songket motifs and the incorporation of iban geometric patterning to create a contemporized and synthesized look between the iban pottery influence and the fusion of songket textiles. As the songket is woven in small pieces, it allows for faster production of the larger modular system. It also means that if a mistake is made it is a matter of starting again a weeks work, not six months work for traditionally woven songket shawls.

Bunga Pecah Lapan - The Eight Split Petal Flower Prototype with Songket Inlay 

Pecah Screen

The materials and joining mechanism used in the final product would differ greatly to the prototype. Fine white porcelain would be used for the tiles, allowing for a lightweight structure. The slip casted porcelain also allows for greater transparencies where the iban textures are located on the tile. This is a highlight of the design. By splitting a room using a screen sometimes you do not get a sense of wonder what is behind the divider, with the Pecah screen, light can filter through allowing the visitor to interact with the space, inching forward to see through or around. The joining mechanism allows for various formations due to the clip on bracket.

Teamwork: 

Working in a team can have its issues, however we found that each one of us brought something useful and positive to the team. We, Adrianna (Applied Object, Ceramics), Kate (Fine Arts Printmaking), Emily (Applied Object, Textiles), Santina (Ceramics, Textiles) and Mahmut (Textiles) could contribute, collaborate and problem solve together. We also separated tasks for efficiency. Ceramic pieces were being made by Santina and Adrianna, while Kate and Emily worked on the textile designs and Mahmud, the all rounder, helped with all aspects of the design process namely computer generating the different formations of the geometric patterning system.

Team Members: Kate, Emily, Santina, Adrianna and Mahmud

Blog Post by Emily.