CHIKANA 2023

This Winter Term I am taking PD 301 Objects and their Impacts with Professor Wonhee Arndt! Going into this class, I didn't know what to expect so it was quite a surprise to learn that our first project was to design and develop two prototypes of a utensil set including a knife, fork, and spoon.

I have been in a 90's runway fashion kick lately and have always been obsessed the A-line collection from Christian Dior. Looking at the silhouette and feel of the a-line, I wanted to develop a set that was sleek and chic. Doing this out of wood would prove to be quite an interesting task.

The last time I worked with woods was in Tom Bonamicis PD 240 Designer Tools last winter where I made two large stools that I loved so I was very excited to get into woodshop again and create on a smaller scale. I have found that I LOVE handcarving. I could sit there in the studio for hours with my headphones and carve the little details into my utensils. I tasked myself to fully hand carve one set and use sanders, bandsaws, etc. to create the second set.

Oddly enough that first handmade set proved to be my favorite and I ended up modeling and rendering that set in Rhino 7 CAD later. I did cut my fingers during the wood prototyping process which lead to some rather messy clean-ups but after oiling the final wooden prototype set, the feeling of getting to use the set to eat a small cake with my friends on Valentine's Day was incredibly rewarding. I can't wait to get more creative and see if I can use some recycled wood I have to create more small items. Maybe some earrings. The world is my oyster!

- Saachi Poddar