Operation Cork Twenty Twelve

description

Operation Cork Twenty Twelve
- a joker in the edifice consumption model

“Operation Cork Twenty Twelve” is project where discarded wine corks are used to investigate the ethical, social and cultural implications of the product-production-consumption paradigm. Originally a natural resource from Portugal, cork material has been displaced around the globe through its product life-cycle in the form of bottle stoppers. I question the model of manifesting value of matter by reconstituting it into new products and wish to antagonize the role the designer plays in perpetuating this cycle. It is an investigation into the behaviors and rituals surrounding material consumption as well as a search to disentangle subverting concepts that may influence the role of the designer.

Distinguishing between design as a discipline and design as a trade, the intent of my research and practice is to generate and disseminate knowledge about design as a field. In this particular project I apply a critical design lens for the problem space,  a design approach that questions the way in which people see and experience the material world and elicits change through debate. As a designer, I am submerged into a practice based research that provides a strong conscious connection with matter. I see the rate of production and consumption today as an interference with the consciousness of matter.
Simple acts and models of behaviors can be convoluted or clouded by a paradigm. As designer’s we can either accept and turn a blind eye towards status quo, or we can actively position our design praxis and use our design skills to shift things around.

coringa
- evocative impulses of consciousness

The first tangible design to come out of this project is coringa,  a physical model that reconnects the matter-consciousness relationship in an alternate way than through reconstituting matter straight back into the product cycle. Contrary to the efficiency and fragmentation enforced by the industrial paradigm, coringa slows it down and invites participation. On a behavioral level, coringa interrupts with the recycling, collection or consuming rituals: by luring you in with its unanticipated form, by asking you to make an active choice about material afterlife and by demanding your physical investment.

coringa is designed to entice curiosity and evoke a conversation about the consciousness of matter. As a critical design experiment it is intended to inhabit a hypothetical space, aiming to trigger reflection over who actually carries the responsibility that comes with creating even the simplest one-off solution. By making the process more transparent, reframing choice and opening for a transformative experience with materiality, the interaction triggers a series of questions concerning a range of aspects that inform how we consume, use and discard today. Performing as a testament of what could be, coringa is a proposal that defies status quo, yet is dependent on its limitations. coringa subtly challenges the boundaries you’ve taken for granted, yet remains speculative, open-ended, experimental and unaccountable.

coringa will continue to be part of the constructive design research project “Operation Cork Twenty Twelve” where design becomes the medium to stimulate discussion amongst people. As such, coringa will be touring a variety of spaces and contexts around the city the coming months.  
Please visit my website to learn more about the project.

I would like to thank my collaborator Christian Huizenga for his generous work in helping me develop and design coringa, and Ian Simpson from Cork It for introducing me to cork recycling and presenting me with an opportunity for research and design challenge.