What started as a means to get some extra sun and fresh air into my lungs became the beginning of primary research for my final project. Nature has always been part of my life, growing up beside the sea and with a forest a ten minute walk from my family home, uch of my childhood was spent outdoors. With today’s advances in technology and a younger generation growing up with knowing how to operate smartphones and technology from a young age, the this generation are losing out on establishing a connection with nature. It wasn’t until I had begun my research and investigation into the allotment community, under the mindset of finding a problem to solve with a design process, that I happily stumbled upon my final design concept.
The natural progression of interviews, questionnaires, attending culture and growing nights regarding the allotment lead me to understand the power of Horticultural Therapy and from there I began reading books concerned with growing and polytunnels to happen across The Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louve. The discovery that there is a term to describe what my peers think of the current situation with childhood memories of being outdoors and mucking about, is now actually a cause of concern. This led me to evaluate the different ‘sacred’’ places society has established to allow us to connect with nature. Understanding what is available to us as a society to keep this connection alive was vital in the analysis of who was at most risk of Nature Deficit Disorder apart from children. It wasn’t until I began to reflect on the visits I had made that many people spoke about their work lives and how the allotment and the local beach of skerries were places of escape and calm after a hard week in work.
For Assessing the demographic of the working class, with families and little or no time due to work commitments did I establish the market for my concept. Understanding how technology in both the work and home environment is affecting our lives and our overall well being became fundamental in developing my project. I consider EARTHED to be a product based on the psychology of connecting with nature and its endless benefits on our wellbeing as creatures of the earth. By using the locations I visited and the idea of ‘escape’ and what escape meant to people, to influence the visual metaphor the design of the pots. Each pot and its respective name emit the idea of natural materials.
