FINAL YEAR THESIS
UMBUL-UMBUL
2023
@ Division of Industrial Design, National University of Singapore
as seen in EMERGE 2023 exhibition @ FIND Design Fair Asia, Singapore Design Week 2023
BRIEF
Could traditional craft be a tool to meaningfully interpret contemporary technology? This project is a personal manifesto of me looking back at my culture growing up in Java, a region where traditional craft is an integral part of daily life, and speculating how this “ancient” heritage could actually be a powerful, albeit unexpected, tool for innovation, as seen through the lens of my current practice as an industrial designer.
DESIGNER(S)
Cindy EVANGELINE
under the guidance of Assoc. Prof. Christophe GAUBERT
DOMAIN
material design, product design, discursive design
I based this project around my long-time fascination for traditional craft and everything handmade. Craft has always been naturally evolving and reinventing itself, which led me to question the irony behind the image of craft as being an old-school practice, that one does not imagine being at the forefront of innovation.
This encouraged me to return to my roots being raised in Java, a region where craft is prevalent and a natural part of daily life, and seek out one that resonates with my proposition.
In Java and Bali, locals believe that the long, cascading leaves of the tropical palm is a medium in which prayers and blessings are exchanged between the earth and the heavens, with ʻdivine lightʼ running through their veins. The craft of janur-making is born to reflect this sentiment, where young palm leaves are often gently dried to achieve a golden hue, before being woven into monumental structures and intricate wearables for weddings and festivities.
It is interesting to consider the palm leaf as an organic fibre, whose veins symbolically carry light, and then to swap them with a technological one — optic fibre — which actually transmits light.
This parallel led me to the creation of a composite material by sandwiching fine optic fibres between sheets of rice paper, therefore fusing a traditional fibre with a contemporary fibre. The modular nature of this composite is also a translation of the janur being built from strips of palm leaves.
Through continuous experimentation I refined both my choice of materials (eg. base material and diameter of optic fibre, type of adhesive used) and methods (eg. ensuring the fibres are parallel to one another, extent of abrasion to the fibres' surface), and eventually created a custom loom to optimise this specific manufacturing process.
PROPOSITION
Umbul-Umbul is a system of lighting modules made from an optic fibre and rice paper composite. By distilling and reinterpreting the principles of Javanese janurs (palm leaf sculptures), a switch is made between the organic palm fibre, whose veins culturally is believed to carry divine light, with a contemporary light-transmitting fibre.
I adapted this luminous composite material into the format of a lighting object, giving tribute to the original concept of the janur as a beacon of hope and blessing to its owners. In the prototype above, each “leaf” is attached onto a custom PCB (Printed Circuit Board) and woven around a frame to form a portable lantern / table lamp.
Umbul-Umbul is exhibited as part of EMERGE 2023 Exhibition under FIND Design Fair Asia, at Marina Bay Sands Singapore, as part of Singapore Design Week 2023.
Photography by Clarissa Edeline YU & Studio Periphery.
