Summary of project and outcomes

At the very start of this project Covid-19 was very new and was around for just a month. We were given three 13 themes to create a project around back then; Open Design & Covid-19, Material Activism & Archiving or Home Faber’s Tools. I tried not to think in these frames. The first thing that got my attention was the fact that ‘Material Activism & Archiving’ and ‘Home Faber’s Tool’ already gave a clear format of what to do and which medium to use. With ‘Open Design & Covid-19’ I found less restrictions. After talking to different people about this, incl. my mom. She came up with the initial concept; The ‘Datekleed’. A friend of her is single, wanted to see someone and still observe the 1,5 meter -rules. Around this time my mom came up with an rug which shows the lines of where to sit or not to sit. So her friend was still able to date, but in a safe way. I chose this subject because of the following three reasons;

- I was convinced it could be a serious issue in the future. - I could create a rug; which I find mostly the most fascinating objects in expositions, because of its sizes and painting-like feeling. - And finally, I wanted to be around my mom a little more. This would be a great way to connect and together we could developed the concept and final product.

In the midst of the process the seriousness of institutional racism came to awareness for a wider audience then ever before (including myself). This caught a lot of my attention for some days and now is a more stable activity I find is important to get myself educated about. During this time I was convinced this project did not matter, because there are more important issues in the world relatively speaking. I needed quite some time to think out a way in which I could justify this project to myself.

With all the protests going on I found these signs of separation between people. Eventually I cam to the conclusion that a lack of empathy is a big part of what people separate. This counts for the handling of Covid-19, just as much for BLM and Kick Out Zwarte Piet and also on a personal level. Through this project I want to spread the ideology of spreading awareness in every form or shape possible and so raise empathy. See the Keys to Rather than Guide Rather than Instruct for how this could be done.