THE SKY IS THE LIMIT?
Wooden Doll and its Housing Student Project
Medium: Oak (Quercus) and Walnut (Juglans)
Finish: Hand-Waxed
Doll: Diameter 45mm x Height 1050 mm.
House: Diameter 11mm x Height 65 mm
The project brief was to make a doll inspired by our personal characteristics, and its housing inspired by eastern elements.
The chaotic and unpredictable grain of the wood represents my tendency to overthink. I often relate my mindspace to tiding conundrums, like the white waves that clash against the grain throughout my doll. However my tendency to overthink pushes me to be ambitious, constantly moving forward. Similarly, the shape of my doll has directionality as it converges to a point above, like how I aim high towards a goal.
My doll and housing exists as three segments, but can also be placed together to be seen as a three tiered Pagoda. Each segment is informed by my interpretation and stylisation of a Pagoda. To me, Pagodas are formed by repetitive basic units- A Chinese roof with curled ridges that overhangs the building block below. So each segment of my work reflects the basic unit, while differing slightly in proportion and with the curve of the “roof” (housing roof most curved, to doll head with straight slanted roof). The proportional progression in my work is also inspired by those in Pagodas, but I exaggerated mine to bring out a bigger sense of convergence towards the top of my work.
Pagodas not only relate to the form of my work, but also its concept. With the evolution in the design of Pagodas, they ended up being very tall and big. As such, they are one of the tallest structures around and to me, they seem to always be reaching for the heavens. I link this to my ambitious personality with the phrase “The sky is the limit” which means there is no limit. Additionally, the changes in architecture enabled Pagodas to become a temple itself without relying upon other buildings to serve the needs of the monastics. This speaks about how in pursuit of my ambition, I like to be self-dependent.
Similar to how Pagodas were used to house important Buddhist relics, my work houses needles and thread. The needles and thread can be seen as important symbols of my personality and are meant to allude to two Chinese idioms- First is “铁杵磨成针” which is a story of how a man filed down an iron rod into a thin needle. This reflects how I try to persevere and work hard to achieve my ambitions, even though they may seem impossible or a lot of work. The second idiom is “一丝不苟” which directly translates to paying attention to every thread. I think this highlights my overthinking personality, how I can’t overlook small details in anything I do, and how everything has to be meticulous.
