Looking at the inherent (violence) in some of the language we have around touch. How might we alter the words we use to allow the body to organize itself in a way that is more conducive to the outcome we are trying to generate?

Exploratory methods of somatic idea generation and interpretation. Getting the hands dirty to lubricate the mind. Reflecting on a theme and mark making with the hand to not only find forms, but also, understand subtexts/unspoken aspects of a theme you are ideating around - by observing how the body interprets on its own. At the very least, a meditation.

All further iterations on thought tangents when understanding how I may communicate how to taste touch.

Can a word be formed in taste buds? Can we take the foundations of braille and apply it to alternative ways of tasting?

Can taste buds grow and form different appendages to reach out and caress in a different way? How might our food taste differently if our taste buds were formed in alternative ways?

Flashes of taste made in exploring how to communicate the “Tasting Touch” project.

Goodness gracious, when a mass produced object rejects its mold and finds a way to be playful. A way to wave hello, to dance, to wiggle within its confines.

A digital workbench. Tools, mess, clutter. Organizing the desktop in a grid according to date created is a variation on Tom Sach’s “knolling” (that industrial designers love to love and love to hate).

My workflow almost always involves masking out bodies on photoshop. CONSTANTLY.

Sketches for custom exercise balls. Exploring various levels of textured tactile interfaces. The notches on the sides are so that a platform may be placed around it and held in place when the ball is inflated.

From an early project “The Institute for Technological Grounding” This explored how one might receive a concentrated smell to alter the taste of the food they are consuming.

Sometimes when working with white cis men and you are receiving rounds of unnecessary feedback on things they do not have authority on, you can channel your inner thoughts to graphic representations using the exact layout you are working within. It is interesting that these internal thoughts often take the form of the usual female-leaning placations, just accommodating in order to move on. Hopefully you can feel the drips of sarcasm in the spacing. Really, just frustrations coming out. I used to paint my middle-finger-nail black (only nail painted) for a period of time when I worked at Nike, this internal graphic exploration is perhaps a healthier way of adjusting to the system (in a collaborative setting). But eventually I am looking to get to the point where I have enough authority to just call out these people and shut them down in the moment.

* if you have reached this point and are a potential or future employer, recognize that this is a diary entry.
* If you have reached this point and are a student of mine, recognize that I too, understand struggles with authority.
* If you have reached this point and you are the person who was working on this thing with me and you recognize this graphic, know that I KNOW that you stole my ideas, but it is okay because I have a lot more of them and when you stole them the product you created would have been way better if I was helping.

Early prototype sketches for extra-sensory tools designed to reclaim the sensory experiences of our ancestors. Extra long eyelashes (then hair) to sense space around you. A tongue that can taste topography. An extension of the hand to capture thermal energy yet harnesses. (Sketches done my myself, ideas generated with Greg Beson).

Explorations in how the “SAT: Serious Attention to Touch” chair could hypothetically be made out of giant spun metal. Adjusting and playing with the idea of the planetary system, of our bodies constantly orbiting around each-other (but actually touching).

Cup prototypes for the generation of the “Being in Touch” 3-up cup workshop. Trying to create drinking systems that can only be used when three people are drinking together. Rapid prototype generation and playing.

Further exercises on sitting. How can a material be responsive to our bodies and conform to our different active ways of sitting? How can the substructure of a piece of “furniture” truly echo the active nature of how we move through the world?

A small prototype. A “current day” version of a futuristic cytoplasmic world where we communicate only through touch ( some of this research seen in posts below). How can we communicate touch mediated through a barrier beyond our skin? What can we learn from the clouds…what can we learn from the tides of the ocean…looking for places where this type of communication and interaction happen naturally in our current world.

Studying new proximities.

Touch the things around you only with your eyes.

A hypothetical world in the future where our bodies have expanded and we are living in a cytoplasmic-like jelly. The world mirroring the structure of a single cell.

An ongoing obsession on separating the limbs from the trunk of the body. Amputating to pull emphasis to the small anatomical marvels that reach out into the world and grasp and touch and facilitate so much of our sensory lives.

Seeing your body in a moment in time, frozen in the two-dimensional world. Different colors to show different lights, just brief experiments to make the old new again.