Chin-Wei, Wu l Portfolio 2019/April by Chinwei Wu

Chin-Wei, Wu Shih-Chien University Dept. Communications Design

Curriculum Vitae

Chin-Wei, Wu

(+886) 912-305-346 wuchinweivivian@gmail.com

Shih-Chien University Dept. Communications Design Taipei, Taiwan

I’m Chin-Wei, you can call me Wei. In life, there’s a variety of forms of my works, from weaving, carpentry, multi-media… to interaction device. Further more, I enjoy having different experimental projects, like publishing books, walking barefoot, taking daily photography…etc. The things above sounds diverse, but at the end there’re all “form and content” to tell stories and record life.

EDUCATION

Weebly/ vvnweiwei

COMMUNICATIONS DESIGN Study in Communications design. I started my journey using various forms (ex: weaving, illustration, fashion design, installation, interaction device...) to record import ant moment in life.

instagram/ wei____wu 2019 Facebook/ vvnweiwei

SKILLS Carpentry Weaving

Start learning Kintsukuroi and hand made pottery.

EXPERIENCE 2018 Participant

Story-telling Ceramics

2018 Participant

Arduino 2019

PERSONAL Curiosity

Honorable mention 2019 Judges' Award

Execution Recording life Meditation Exploring life

Using any kind of form to record life. Observe everything around and being consciousness. This is me, in 2019. https://vvnweiwei.weebly.com

Motivation letter

Motivation I’m Chin-Wei who are now applying for DAE MINOR program, the four-part below are my motivations.

Reason applying for DAE 1. Conceptual education environment I'm eager to learn how to “explore perspective, identify the position of designer, and establish core concepts and theories” when working on MINOR program. 2. "Veriﬁcation" of design I’m curious about "how young people in Europe examine the system of the fast-changing society, and how to participate in society as a designer”. Also, it’s excited to soak me into the Dutch cultural system, being in DAE, interacting with young Dutch designers… these are all good chances to verify if design concepts and works can be read and accepted by various cultures.

Reason applying for MINOR program 1. Attractive subjects In Shih-Chien University, we are separated into different departments. However, in MINOR program I can take horizontal view in the field of design by multiple forms and content. See how different aspects of design can be used and at the end find the position designers can play in society. 2. Fascinating ‘material’ to explore I broke a pottery bowl few days after buying it. At that time, I started to wonder about this ambiguous and contradictory material which is thick but fragile. Ceramic has its own texture, extensibility, and has traces on it, which really fascinates me.

3. Curiosity of “system” I’ve just started reading “The system of object” when eagerly want to know how can we view the surrounded element, structure, and system. With the start of research, I’m looking forward to do more research on it and be more “aware of the relationship between human, object, and system consciously”.

Expectation

After graduation in 2020, I will still work in the field of story-telling design and experimental education. My expectations for exchange are concept-building, design possibility-researching, life-exploring. By utilizing exploration of exchange life to enhance my interior.

Learn & expand 1. Material exploration By exploring the nature of ceramics, building more knowledge of its feature and learning the production process, I would like to expand the diversity of my major “Communications” design with this new material. “ To understand how the role ceramics play in our daily lives, and also how can we utilize it rather than what they are right now.” 2. Critical questioning With the opportunity of observing and interacting with various stakeholders, I would like to have a research about the relationship between human, object, culture, nature, and system. This would learn from MINOR classes and observation of ‘life’. 3. Concept building I’m eager to expand building up structural concepts, and meanwhile having interpreted skills for a project. 4. Self identity It’s a challenge for me to explore how to position myself as a designer in society by cultural stimulation, environment, and MINOR program in DAE.

This will be a “self-communication” journey in Eindhoven. A good chance for inspection. At the end find my core value and the way to participate in society.

Love me, or not.

Love me, or not. Materiality l 2018 An interaction device for combing the relationship between people.

“ I can't get the clear response from you, so I made a device that’ll tell me answer softly.” How “Love me, or not” works

"Love me, or not" is an interaction design device. Once people pick off a flower petal, thermal printer will print out a handwritten poem corresponding with the petal. The phrases of either "love me" or "love me not" will be printed out for people, which similar the unexpected condition when picking off and counting petals of Daisy.

Ideation process Flowers and leaves are both common materials in our daily life which attracts people through various flavors and colors. By ideating: texture, tale, living environment, instinct behavior, there is one thing I am interested in - "petal" - the natural feature of it. In memory, once finding a flower with lots of petals, I will start peeling them, murmuring "love me, or not, love me…".

Love me, or not.

â&#x20AC;&#x153; In classic German legend - Dr. Faustus, Margaret also predicting the love of Faust by picking off daisy petals.â&#x20AC;?

https://vvnweiwei.weebly.com/--love-me-love-me-not.html

Love me, or not. When we ended up peeling all the petals, the answer is a sign, which gives us prophecy. In traditional Taiwanese culture, people pray for god and draw out the sticks which correspond to different "fortune slips" in the temple. Fortune slips visualize and make it clear the "imperial decree" of god. Therefore, I started thinking about how to visualize what the flower wants to "tell" us more clearly when peeling petals. By using handwritten poem with "love me, or not", we can READ what the flower's mind without ending their life when peeling petals.With those poems, memories and stories can just be packed in the works.

â&#x20AC;&#x153; Let's go there together; there'll be stairs at night.â&#x20AC;? 5

Love me.

Concept 01 Memory Recorder This work tries to record the memories of someone. For example, the memory of meeting someone at the age of 18.

02 Relationship comber I try to translate the words he(she) had said into poems just like fortune slips. Besides, adding "love me" or "love me not" under the poem in order to help people figure out the ambiguous relationship with someone they love.

Love me, or not.

How “Love me, or not.” works

Waiting for the whisper from flower...

1. Asking Margaret for the relationship with someone "sincerely" 2. Pickoff a 3D printed petal 3. Waiting for Margaret, they have something to tell you 4. Tear off the slip 5. Read the poem and also the answer to "love me" or "love me not" 6. Keep the slip in your wallet. No matter what answer you get, it will bring good luck and lead people to find the right suitable person.

He doesn’t love me?!

“ I do hope this work could record the short relationship between us before we forget those days.” For Eric

They’re exchanging different poems on slip

https://vvnweiwei.weebly.com/--love-me-love-me-not.html

Brew a pot of memory

Brew a pot of memory Sound l 2018 A series to extend and lengthen the form of memory.

“ Memories are constructed by fragmentary objects or sensations.Once we have one of them, then the whole will extend at that moment.”

How “Brew a pot of memory” works In our daily life, memories are evoked through incomplete pieces. The series has two projects.

The first project is a book that contains dried flowers. When people read the book, not only can they read the illustration but also rip the page, getting some material. Then use the bottle with hot water to brew it. Materials will bloom with visual expressions and smelling of tea. The second project is consisted of interaction devices. The device will sound like cicada call; And the Light device will reproduce the flight path of fireflies; Both of them are in order to wake people's memories by sensation.

Brew a pot of memory

Ideation process At first, I made the automatically sound making device. The sound comes from the friction between straw and mini-fan and just like the cicada call or tooth drilling. The sound device has its form, sound and mechanical operation frequency which drives people to guess what it is. All associated ideas come from my time in elementary school, my trip to HuaLien (a place in Taiwan) and my experience with my family to find insects in a starry night. Those memories are all stirred up. I tried using some illustrations to visualize and some poems to textualize the memories.

https://vvnweiwei.weebly.com/--brew-memory.html

Brew a pot of memory

2018.10 Bangkok

Concept With the ideation materials, I try to figure out the relationship between people and memories. 01 When we receive an irrelevant sensation in our life, people will try to match the old and the new memories in our memory database. Then we are immersed in the past time and space repeatedly. 02 "People will collect new objects related to their old experiences. We can piece together those new objects, and go back to the past days again." For example, after leaving Bangkok, I took some pictures in Taiwan and found all of them have the color of Thai milk tea since Thai milk tea is one of my favorite drinks when i lived in Bangkok.

"Nostalgic people are mudlarks. ďźťThe pastďź˝seems like the broken but attractive existence for them." At that time, the ideas of completing this project exactly came. "The farer the time past, the drier the memory is. If we have a memory fragment, we can extend and brew it as if we return to the past."

Brew a pot of memory

How “Brew a pot of memory” works

In project 1 First, you can tear off a kind of dried plants stored in the handmade book and put it in a bottle. Second, add some hot water and the dried plants will stretch. Third, Its smelling, color and special movements all show up when you make plants as making tea.

Project 2 is consist of interaction devices. 01 In the dark environment, the light sensor will be triggered. At the same time, the light device will reproduce the flight path of fireflies. 02 The wind will trigger the sound device to make the sound which is similar to the cicada call. 03 Making the dried plants is a symbol of recalling the old memories. The senses of "light" or "sound" of the device symbolize "the process of stretch tea.” You’ll see the change of smell and color of the tea.

“ Both of them are in order to evoke different memories of people by sensory stimulation.”

https://vvnweiwei.weebly.com/--brew-memory.html

Back home

Back home Man & ﬁeld l 2018 An interaction device for bringing memories of the sound along the way home

“ It is human beings that give life to the train. Because of human beings, the train started to have direction and destination.”

How “Back home” works

"Back to home" is an interactive device driven by human power. People start dragging the rope and wheels will move, which empowers wood-gear rotating to make noises. Meanwhile, the mini projector will broadcast scenery along the way home. The noise itself sounds like railway clatter, which makes people feel relieved when the sound usually signifies we are on the way home. Visualizing itself offered the "directionality" of home. Both of them want to construct the relieved feeling when people miss their home and drag the device.

Back home

Ideation process This works started from the observation of surroundings and finding a field which makes me feel relieved. The first field I am thinking about is the train cabin. I still remember I usually took trains in the past days when we went home from grandparentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; house. My family and I had lunch boxes on the train. The lunch boxes, the scenery outside, and the "ca-lung, ca-lung" sound of railway clatter are probably the ephemeral but meaningful time for me. When I studied abroad, I still treasure the time on the train every time going back to home. The valuable part of it is the "sound, shaking, frequency." With these three elements, the train was given the symbols of "memory, past, frequency and relief."

https://vvnweiwei.weebly.com/--back-home.html

Back home

Questioning 13

"Where does the relief come from? Is relief come from the sound of the train? Is relief come from the memories accompanied by mom?" I start to clarify the value of train by questions. During the process, I had taken the train several times in order to find out the essential of train. One day when I took the train with railway clatter, it is the moment I felt that "Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m on the way back home." "moving, railway clatter, the direction of home" are main points of this works.

Concept It must be dragged by people Even though train is powered by electricity, this works canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be treated as well. People want to go somewhere, and the train appeared in order to shorten the time of transportation and satisfy human beings. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why this project must be "driven" by man. Once people take the train, they will hear railway clatter and see the sceneries. It must be portable Whenever people got homesick, it is possible to drag this installation when having a walk. The sound of the train and the scenery along the way home will all reappear.

Back home

It is for you For whom also got homesick when you’re living in another country. Please treasure the emotion of homesick, cause that’s a evidence that we both have direction and destination of home.

“ It is human that gives life to train. Because of human, the train started to have direction and destination.”

https://vvnweiwei.weebly.com/--back-home.html

Value

Value Man & object l 2019 An exhibition of our evocative object.

"Just as we are collectors of things, things are collections of meaning." Concept The value of objects sometimes can’t be measured by its price; Objects will have more values after time went by.

Ideation process 15

During the first group discussion, we tried to discover the unique relationship between the owners and evocative objects. Meanwhile, converged all the information into two topics "The bonding" and "The time and space." Since we found the values of the memories could not be clarified scientifically, we tried drawing the timeline of the objects in a rational way. The timeline helps up questioning ourselves and finding out subtle clues between different objects. Is the relationship between the object and the owner very privet? When and where does the "value" come? How to measure the weight(importance) of memory?

How “Value” works We try to reveal "The value of the memory" for viewers by multiple sensations. 01 First, when people come closer to the object, they can hear the environmental sound of objects’ life story. 02 When they pick up an object, the screen will have the stop-motion memory between object and owner. The interaction process reveals our search into "The weight and the value of the memory."

Value

Ideation process

https://vvnweiwei.weebly.com/value.html

Natural Pantone

Natural Pantone Materiality l 2018 A series of natural Pantone with texture.

â&#x20AC;&#x153; Colors generally derive their significance from outside themselves.â&#x20AC;? - The System of Objects

Ideation process The project starts from discovering people who encounter lots of colors in a day, or people who decide which color should we wear. Culture give the symbols of color. However, we are curious about the origin of color? 17

Concept Then we have the idea of this experimental project called "Natural Pantone"- by using color with texture to show its original form in the nature. In the end, with the color in a row, we find colors are given symbol from their materiality. With this Natural Pantone Book, children could know more about color through its natural characteristics. For adults who dive into this colorful world, they will get a chance re-identify color and liberate it from its graphic symbol.

Natural Pantone

https://vvnweiwei.weebly.com/natural-pantone.html

Blanket

Blanket Man & object l 2017 A weaving installation by using woolen to symbolize our memories.

â&#x20AC;&#x153; Time passed, but memories would be stored in different forms.â&#x20AC;?

Ideation

I kept weaving at that time. Weaving has its own identity. The material of weaving is shapeable, but it could also make a firm and flexible structure, making me think about the relationship between people. The connection between people is like silk at the first time. However, as they start to know each other, their relationship become closer and more structural.

Concept "Blanket" is a project to record the memory of my parents and me. They would put me on a blanket and swing in my childhood. I spend a lot of time on weaving, yet the action and time doing it could recall more meaningful memories. and weave those times into the works.

Blanket

https://vvnweiwei.weebly.com/blanket.html

I am totally ready for the half year exchange in Design Academy Eindhoven