Thresholds

threshold: 

[thresh-ohld, thresh-hohld]

any doorway or entrance
the starting point of an experience, event, orventure: on the threshold of manhood

any place or point of entering or beginning: the threshold of a new career

We have now been introduced to our Objects and Context project, Thresholds. We started by discussing what the word meant, and we found that the best way to describe it was the point of transition between two things. 

The projects asks us to map our experiences as we cross the threshold from public to private...where is this threshold? How do we behave differently in the threshold as apposed to how we behave in public and in our private spaces? How does it make us feel? What objects do we have in our thresholds? Does our threshold change depending on weather, season, days of the week...our mood? And as a result of all these things, can we design something to enhance the user experience?

First I started by mapping my journey physically from outside to inside my home: 
(image from sketchbook here)

We have discussed the idea of territories, feelings of safety and also social boundaries, and have revealed that thresholds is all about transitions. As we cross certain points in our journey home, we begin to feel differently...for example, my journey home from uni is split into 3 sections - walking from uni to the train station, the train journey then the walk from the train station to my house. As I complete each section, I do certain things and begin to become more and more relaxed, so you could say that my threshold is perhaps at some point in my journey, rather than the obvious threshold of the door to my house - maybe there could be stages of the threshold? My commute home usually takes me about an hour door to door; I generally complete the commute on my own (unless I may meet someone I know on the train home) so for that hour, all I have is myself to keep me company. Sometimes on the walking parts of my journey I listen to music, or the radio and on the train I may read the newspaper or a book. You could say that my commute is part of my threshold, as on my morning journey to uni, I spend the hour waking up, reading, thinking about what kind of day I have ahead of me...preparing myself for the day...on my commute home, I am thinking about what I may have learnt that day, writing down in my notebook any ideas or things I need to remember to do, switching my brain from uni mode to home mode. Mentally, a lot happens on my commutes, its a great opportunity to gather and organise my thoughts. Many people ask me why I don't drive to uni, but if I did I wouldn't have this personal thoughtful time, I'd be concentrating on driving and probably be getting rather stressed in rush hour! I really enjoy having this hour alone (twice a day!) forced on me, with very few major distractions. I don't know when I would do this kind of thinking if I didn't do this commute.

In our lecture from Jane Webb, we started to think about the theoretical side of the threshold, and how we see and treat public thresholds and private thresholds differently, we also thought about the object-ness of thresholds, in specific doors. In 1940's and 50's, after French designer Le Corbusier reinvented the weight bearing in large commercial buildings, which meant that glass could be used much more in architecture for outside walls. Doors were made to look like part of the windows and walls; automatic doors completely blur the threshold, pushing the threshold out into society. Revolving doors are interesting because they are neither open nor closed. 

Entrance to the new Manchester School of Art building

Entering Uni, I completely forget that I am even walking through a door when I arrive in the reception. I was thinking about how this affects the work that is displayed here...you would imagine that it would be a great place for work to be seen by many people, however I actually think that this doesn't quite happen as successfully as one may hope.  I find that the work displayed gets ignored. When entering the building, you are too busy packing your iPod and head phones away, taking off your hat or gloves and perhaps going to the loo before figuring out which room you need to walk to and what is the most effective way of getting there. I couldn't tell you what work is currently being displayed in the entrance hall as Im too busy thinking of other things as I enter the space. With this new way of designing public buildings and the blurring of the threshold, you loose the ritual, you keep moving and your thoughts don't get interrupted. You consequently don't concentrate on the act of crossing the boundary from outside to in.

French anthropologist Marc Auge describes these places as non-spaces, and they result "in a profound alteration of awareness", I think this perfectly describes the majority of modern public building entry ways just like the one at uni. Other non-spaces include motorways, supermarkets, shopping centres and airports. Auge says the world has been invaded by these so called non-spaces. The idea that a space can be something we perceive, but only in a partial and incoherent manner explains this breaking down of the threshold in public spaces. Our ever growing need for the instant, our super fast paced lives call for ease of user experiences, and this is slowly making places and spaces less personal and more universal. For example the Trafford Centre, you don't go because you want to, you go because its efficient and its easy, as all the shops you need are under one roof. When your inside the Trafford Centre you could be anywhere in the world, as it doesn't have any personal or individual identity.

Its interesting to start thinking about the way buildings and houses are designed and how this affects our journeys from out-to-in and in-to-out. Anthropologist Mary Douglas was interested in human culture and symbolism, her book Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo depicts the idea that purity is the centre of all societies ambitions. Douglas believed that dirt is 'matter out of place'. Traditional terraced houses are designed to have the clean rooms at the front (living room, dining room) and the 'dirty' rooms at the back (kitchen, toilet). This idea of only allowing your guests to view specific rooms, concealing the practical rooms at the back of the house is very interesting, and links in with my interests of women having to be both domestically practical yet aesthetically beautiful. Presenting yourself and your home in a certain way that you see as acceptable for the outside world may be different to how you look and live in the comfort of your own home. However I do feel in more modern times this notion is changing slightly, we don't always present ourselves perfectly every time we leave the house...last week I saw 3 girls in Tesco wearing onesies! What would the ladies in the 1940's, 50's and 60's think who would be seen cleaning the front doorstep regularly, portraying a feeling of decency to the outside world!?

I've often thought about the way women present themselves in my practice, but it has always centred around how we present our bodies; housewives in adverts with perfect hair, make-up and clothes force me question whether this is a really a realistic portrayal of the women of Britain. But to now have the opportunity to explore the way we present our homes, I have realised how they closely relate to each other. I've been considering the object-ness of the threshold. A fancy door knocker, hanging baskets and a welcome mat, to intricate decoration on the front of buildings. The Righton building at uni from the front has a very decorative facia, yet viewed from our 5th floor studio you can see it is actually a utilitarian, block building and it is wearing a decorative layer to make it seem more grand. There are many buildings like this around Manchester and many other cities. We also decorate the outside of our homes, and for me, when I come to buy my first house, how it looks from outside will be very important, but why? The majority of my time at home will be spent inside, so why is it important for the outside of the home to look nice? Again it all goes back to the portrayal of ourselves to other people.

The Righton Building

I am becoming more and more interested in the idea presentation, practicality and decoration. A good example of presenting your home in a certain way to others is my Grandparents house. Their house is a traditional end of terrace 'two up, to down'. They have a small front garden and a porch (that is decorated with flowers and other nick-nacks) at the front of their house and a small back yard behind. Anyone who knows them well enough, knows that they never use the front door, the only people who do use it are strangers. So the threshold to their house changes depending on how well you know them. I decided to go and take some photographs of Nana and Poppas house, to have a closer look at the details. As I presumed, I noticed things that I had never noticed before, or perhaps I had, but I hadn't acknowledged them, in the way that Marc Auge describes we use non-spaces. As you walk in the back door the toilet is on your right and the kitchen and the rest of the house is on the right, the walls in the back corridor are decorated with tiles, rather than wallpaper. I found this quite interesting, the room revolves around practicality yet it isn't purely utilitarian; the tiles have a nice pattern on them, there are decorative hooks for keys, coats and hats, there is even a clothes brush and a comb hanging so there's no excuse for Poppa to leave the house looking scruffy!

The front of Nana's house

The back of the house

I also photographed my own hallway at home, and the utility and more themes run true there as well, perhaps even more so. We have a number of things to prepare ourselves for coming into the house, going out or to welcome guests; a mirror, air fresheners, changes in carpets and rugs to prevent dirt being brought into the house - we even keep the hoover literally next to the door in the next room to quickly hoover before visitors arrive.

I am keen to relate the thresholds project to my own interests of women, domestic objects and jewellery, I think it is already heading that way with the idea of thinking about practicality and image, and now its time for me to begin thinking about the threshold in a wearable way.

I like this idea of deeply mapping peoples lives to help you create more meaningful and wanted, and it links in with what I have been learning about ethnographers and social learning in my pathways seminars. Both my Design Intentions and my Objects and Context projects seem to be mingling and this isn't really something I have forced, I suppose when one person has a certain area of interest this is inevitable! Next step...lets make this more 'objecty'!


Books to find & read:
Mary Douglas - Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo

Irene Cieraad - At Home: An Anthropology of Domestic Space (Space, Place & Society)

Joanne Hollows - Domestic Cultures (Issues in Cultural and Media Studies)

Marc Augé - Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity

Pathways Seminar Epiphany

The pathways seminars, delivered by Jane Webb have really started to affect the way I have been thinking about my practice and future ambitions; I've been introduced to so many new theories, people and words...I've really been enjoying them! 

The journey that design has taken through time is something I have found especially interesting. The evolution of the designer from the person who designs society, to the person who designs through collaboration with society. This idea of designing not just objects, but people...and the way this then influenced the classes is something I have started to evaluate in my personal interests of feminism. People experience things in different ways, depending on their age, class or the time in which they live...like I have discussed in an earlier post (Material Matters), nothing comes without context, and it is this context that allows us to engage and understand how people and objects touch and alter our lives. 

Ethnography; the study of people and cultures embodies this whole idea...and I have discovered that I am in fact, an ethnographer! Its very important to me that my jewellery in relatable to the women I am addressing in my narrative, and without these women's stories, there would be no influence to my designs. Its the human contact, the human interaction that is of upmost importance to me, thats why I love and am so passionate about jewellery, as historically and contemporarily (...great word!) the nature of jewellery completely revolves around people.

Histories impact on design...
You don't often get the chance to be given an overview of designs history in the space of a two hour seminar...and Jane Webb was clearly concerned about the amount of information she has been giving to us in her deliveries, however I have found this condensed version really inspiring. It allowed me to really get a grip of the timeline of design, the influential landmarks that shaped how we see it today.

From the god like control that designers had in the 1700's, to the hostile world of the Industrial Revolution, where people were being made to live in darkness and poverty, working like machines; to the Modernist movement of the 1900's where society was condensed into The Modular system designed by Le Corbusier, who believed he was creating a better environment for people to live in...then the existentialism in a new world, where society began to be seen as people, as individuals and as something to observe and celebrate.

The charm of the everyday was contemplated by designers and writers. Here began a working class power/revival (and where I begin to get excited!)...during the 1940s Barbara Jones set about documenting the everyday throughout Britain in her book The Unsophisticated Arts and exhibition Black Eyes and Lemonade. She put objects in museums that had never been seen in this context before, I like this idea that she wasn't afraid to break certain boundaries. In the 1950's and post war years, people had a new sense of revolution, women were liberated with their new sense of being needed, and began to be seen as more than just housewives.

Despite this seeming revolution of artists observing and relating to the lower, working classes...I can't help but wonder whether it was all a little patronising? The working class ways were seen as novel...did the higher class artists and designers actually relate to the people they were documenting or did they just find them unusual and amusing? 

I watched a recent program called 'Posh People: Inside Tatler' which displayed upper class 'britishness' and eccentricity. The documentary was portrayed in a very humours way, this new way of viewing the higher classes in the novel way that the working classes have previously been viewed, and having each accepting and embracing the humour was refreshing to see. I think it is important when making social comments in your work, that it doesn't get too heavy and serious, I particularly like to see the humorous side of things. We need to realise that people are different, classes and culture are different, men and women are different. It doesn't make one variant better or worse than another, its just interesting for me to investigate and explore the ideas and point out bits that some may relate to and perhaps spark response, thoughts and conversation.

The reason I have titled this post as 'Pathways Seminar Epiphany' is because I feel like that is what I have had as a consequence of these lectures. They have flicked that light bulb above my head brightly on...during my BA, I always found great pleasure in the research side of my practice. I love reading, learning and discussing my interests with others, I feel quite passionate about craft, design and jewellery. I've known a long time now that I want to be a teacher, but I was never quite sure exactly where or what I wanted to teach. I still love to make and create, but I feel that to enrich my making, having an in-depth theoretical knowledge will only help me, and I now am beginning to wonder whether in fact this theoretical side is something I wish to take further and really specialise in. I am enjoying writing this blog especially now I don't have to, I am doing it because I want to.

I want to be an expert in my field...now hand me that book, I need to read!