My graduate collection ‘Home Comforts’ documents my experience of the COVID-19 lockdown, highlighting my love for home and my need for security and emotional comfort during the uncertain, disruptive times we have been living in.
I have experimented with the juxtaposition of comfort and discomfort to mimic the conflicting feelings felt over lockdown. Johnathon Chapman’s 2005 book Emotionally Durable Design has greatly informed my discussion on sustainable design, “Waste, therefore, is a symptom of expired empathy, a kind of failed relationship that leads to the dumping of one by the other.” (Chapman, 2005, pg.51) Through upcycling soft furnishing materials my work aims to use waste as a resource in order to be more sustainable whilst evoking feelings of nostalgia and emotional comfort.
To disrupt this comfort, my garments are constructed in a way that uses words COVID and LOCKDOWN as shapes for the pattern pieces. My pattern development focuses on the shapes of the words themselves rather than working with the body in mind. Julian Roberts pattern cutting style has shaped my ideas when it comes to construction and concept. The garments don’t sit ‘right’ on the body, making them uncomfortable. The tensions and voids within the garments mirror how the lockdown restricted us and left us feeling unsatisfied and uncertain. To build the emotional connection and empathy between consumer and garment needed for durable design, my garments act as a souvenir for the COVID-19 pandemic, the time where everyone had to ‘stay at home to save lives’.
Mae fy nghasgliad graddedig ‘Home Comforts’ yn dogfennu fy mhrofiad o’r cyfyngiadau symud COVID-19, gan dynnu sylw at fy nghariad at gartref a’m hangen am ddiogelwch a chysur emosiynol yn ystod yr amseroedd ansicr, aflonyddgar yr ydym wedi bod yn byw ynddynt.
Rwyf wedi arbrofi gyda chyfosodiad cysur ac anghysur i ddynwared y teimladau croes a deimlir dros y cyfnod clo. Mae llyfr Johnathon Chapman yn 2005, Emotionally Durable Design wedi llywio fy nhrafodaeth ar ddylunio cynaliadwy yn fawr, “Waste, therefore, is a symptom of expired empathy, a kind of failed relationship that leads to the dumping of one by the other.” (Chapman, 2005, tud.51) Drwy uwchgylchu deunyddiau dodrefnu meddal, nod fy ngwaith yw defnyddio gwastraff fel adnodd er mwyn bod yn fwy cynaliadwy tra’n ysgogi teimladau o hiraeth a chysur emosiynol.
Er mwyn tarfu ar y cysur hwn, adeiladwyd fy nillad mewn ffordd sy’n defnyddio geiriau COVID a’r CYFNOD CLO fel siapiau ar gyfer y darnau patrwm. Mae fy natblygiad patrwm yn canolbwyntio ar siapiau’r geiriau eu hunain yn hytrach na gweithio gyda’r corff mewn golwg. Mae arddull torri patrymau Julian Roberts wedi llunio fy syniadau o ran adeiladu a chysyniad. Dydy’r dillad ddim yn eistedd yn ‘iawn’ ar y corff, gan eu gwneud yn anghyfforddus. Mae’r tensiynau a’r bylchau yn y dillad yn adlewyrchu sut roedd y cyfnod clo wedi’n cyfyngu a’n gadael yn teimlo’n anniogel ac yn ansicr. Er mwyn adeiladu’r cysylltiad emosiynol a’r empathi rhwng y defnyddiwr a’r dilledyn sydd eu hangen ar gyfer dylunio gwydn, mae fy nillad yn gweithredu fel cofrodd ar gyfer pandemig COVID-19, yr adeg y bu’n rhaid i bawb ‘aros gartref i achub bywydau’.