Ornamental act
My project “Ornamental Act” is based on my fascination for ornamentation and the act of ornamenting. To ornament our things around us we have always done, in all cultures, in all times – is fundamental to us. Still, it has a low status in western society, as it has had since the modernist movement.
My aim has been to shed new light on ornamentation in the design field and identify how we perceive the word and what qualities it holds, in a contemporary context. I have done this by interviews with artists, craftsmen and designers, through my own process of experimenting and reflecting on the values of ornamentation for me and by orienting myself in history and literature.
The cabinet I made is a representation of my approach to ornamentation. The cabinet talks about the person behind it and serves to bridge process, value and aesthetics. It also hides comments on preconceived notions about what ornaments are, and are not. In the aesthetics I have played with the preconceived notion that ornaments only act as stickers onto an object, with its only purpose to beautify it and being separated from function. As a maker, ornamentation and function are for me supporting each other in the act of making. What ornaments apply to objects is not only the mear excitement of form but to me it also works as a bridge between the hand of the maker and the observer. It is about stories and people, sometimes figurative and sometimes hidden.
Through this project I’ve understood that I use ornamentation as a method to get closer to materials and techniques, it provides me with a framework that allows me freedom to explore. The meditative act of making that ornamentation brings into my work has become fundamental for me
Alma.markbo@gmail.com
Instagram: @almaqlaras
