INNOCENT IRON

In this project I researched iron. In this project there was a lot of experimenting involved. I worked with chemicals consisting iron and experimented with other chemicals to see how it would react with the metal. I noticed iron or metals in general are quite intimidating materials, mainly for people who never worked with them. This is something I found interesting to play with, therefore I looked into the less intimidating side of iron. I knitted and crochet iron wire. The title partly comes from this finding. Because when you learn how to work with iron, one notices how innocent the material is, rather than intimidating.

The other innocent part in my project has to do with the fact that iron is not a eco-friendly material, since the mining is so highly energy intensive, it causes pollution. Therefore, in this project I did not want to use any new materials. Everything I used I found or I bought second-hand. In this way I could surprise myself with unexpected objects and thus unexpected outcomes.

Finally it was necessary to link my project back to graphic design. Here staples and paperclips were my big inspiration. Aesthetically it is interesting but also it serves as a quite literal connection between graphic matter and metal. The function to organise papers was something I wanted to take on a bigger scale. Eventually I constructed a 1.7m high instrument, serving as a presentation tool. So all my process and experiments could be shown through my result.

After this I placed my device in the garden of my father. It is a playground for birds and a remarkable piece to find hidden in the bushes.




Throughout this project my love for working material-based increased highly.