Toelichting door SOOWON CHAE - With red ochre, early human beings had dragged out various functions for a natural coloring agent, curing wounds, tanning leathers, and protecting skins from the sun. So, I not only use ochre as a coloring agent, but also as a tribute to the curiosity and creativity of the prehistoric man, and the respect he showed for nature.
And the second main ingredient is gelatin which is often regarded as a kind of ‘inferior’ residual product of the meat-processing and leather-making industry. So, by creating a sustainable material with gelatin and ochre, I wanted to show a new conceptual and sustainable furniture series which is questioning the value of standardized mass-products of today.
As anima means rational soul, life or intelligence, signifies ‘breath’, Ocragela is coated with only natural wax without any chemical coatings, so it is not 100% water-proof but water-resistant. However, from the other viewpoint, it means that these furniture are still breathing and reacting with us in our life as nature does.
