PROJECT
FLORA OBSCURA
2022
@ Division of Industrial Design, National University of Singapore
as seen in La Nature des Choses exhibition @ Deyrolle, Paris & France Design Week 2022
BRIEF
Why do we feel so far away from nature when it conditions our very existence? We are fortunate in Singapore to live in a “garden city”, yet our windows often remain closed, preserving our artificial way of life, cutting us off from the actual climate and contact with neighbouring nature. This project consists of designing objects or devices that open a dialogue with nature that surrounds us.
DESIGNER(S)
Cindy EVANGELINE
Kalinda CHEN Yuxuan
under the guidance of Assoc. Prof. Christophe GAUBERT
DOMAIN
product design, discursive design, ecodesign
Light pollution, especially in developed cities like Singapore, has altered the way we perceive the dark; and we subconsciously translate the mere loss of visibility into something dismal and frightening. As a result, we often overlook the beauty of nature at night, simply because we cannot, or perhaps, refuse to see it.
Yet nature still thrives at night, as shown by the blooming of the tropical moonflower Ipomoea alba (shown above), whose petals open at dusk and fade at sunrise. This flowering vine produces multiple white sweet-smelling blooms every night, luring and feeding nocturnal pollinators. As the alter ego to the familiar diurnal morning glory, the moonflower becomes a testimony to nature's unceasing beauty even in the darkest of nights.
With our allegory of the night as a mysterious yet charming dark envelope over nature, we got inspired by vessels that cover, hide or mask away their contents from one's sight, and to translate such forms into a vessel for the moonflower. This format also reflects how the moonflower exudes its presence not by sight but by smell.
A significant portion of the moonflower's naturally sweet fragrance is due to the chemical compound linalool (C10H18O), which has been scientifically proven to promote relaxation and improve sleep quality. Our aim is to create a vessel for the moonflower to thrive in an indoor setting, hidden from sight while allowing its sedative scent to be amplified and circulated throughout the room during one's evening downtime.
We thus explored the principles of fluid dynamics, focusing on how passive (natural) ventilation can be achieved through a pressure difference, which for our case can be achieved by manipulating the vessel's volume or temperature.
PROPOSITION
Like a pinhole camera, Flora Obscura is a dark ceramic vessel, a peek into nature that comes alive in the dark through the perspective of the tropical moonflower Ipomoea alba. Using heat from its natural respiration, the established convection current carries its soothing scent molecule linalool, circulating it into the external urban environment.
Eventually, we settled on a form that resembles a closed bud, enveloping the live moonflower inside. Its edges overlap one another at the planter’s opening when viewed from the top, elegantly outlining the silhouette of a blooming moonflower over the watering funnel and illuminated in the purplish hue of a grow light.
Flora Obscura is exhibited as part of La Nature des Choses (The Nature of Things) exhibition at Deyrolle, a French taxidermy institute situated in Paris, as part of Paris and France Design Week 2022.
Renders by Cindy EVANGELINE and Kalinda CHEN Yuxuan
Photography by POH Yun Ru
