Design/ Jiarui Liu
Photography/ Hang Zhang
Year/ 2016
Interactive tableware -The way to ease embarrassment in arranged dating
Direction1This project aims to enhance the cooperation and interaction between the two people in date, elucidating the dialectical relationship between ‘cooperation and individual’, as well as implying the concept of ‘harmony and sharing’ of their postnuptial life. I designed a series of seasoning tools of western tableware. They have very long handles so that they can only be used with the assistance of the other. They are steak sauce spoon, the container of ground pepper and salt, the container for pouring olive oil and narrow wine pourer.
Source of Inspiration
Design Sketch
Final Prototype
Usage Scenarios
Direction2
In the second design outcome, I aim to present the state
of ‘being forced to date’ in the context of contemporary arranged dating culture, especially the concept of forced cooperation and sharing in future life.
I design unified napkin and table cloth which require the two persons to cooperate to keep a balance. It results in dramatic performance, meanwhile implying the relationship of containment, sharing, and cooperation.
It also includes behavior design, stressing the behavioral characteristics in arranged dating. Based on my research of the embarrassing behaviors in arranged dates, I design a table cloth with an attached bell. The user has to rub the napkin to make the bell ring, which is a new way to call waiting staff.
Inspiration
Designer FRANZ ERHARD WALTHER expressed “the relevance aroused from mutual constraints among people” through a variety of changes on cloth material. This makes me get an idea that “People are bundled so that they have no choice to work together” to express the behavior. The use of the integration of table cloth and napkin means that the blind date is forced by parents, showing “forced blind date” under Chinese blind date culture.
Design Sketch
Usage Scenarios
Behavioral Design
In order to highlight the behavior characteristics of the “blind date” theme. I found the “embarrassing” behavior on a blind date through investigation. I tie some bells to the cloth, the users rub the napkin, and then the waiter can be called by bells ring, changing the original behavior of calling the waiter.