Introduction
For the masters elective course Zen Product Design I created the Soji set. This set of products allows couples who are out camping in nature to wash each other in an intimate way. The course focuses on designing a set of products for a certain ritual, following the Japanese 'Zen Principles'. The ritual I chose was 'Romantic partners washing each other in a sensual way while being out in nature'. Following, the Soji set will be presented in more detail, starting with a presentation video.
Video explaining the elements and functionality of the Soji Set
The Process
Rituals
The project was kicked off by determining the so-called lost qualities of the chosen ritual. In the case of the ritual ‘Romantic partners washing each other’ the lost qualities are physical care taking, intimacy, effort and attention. These qualities are reflected by the Soji design. Turkish hammam rituals have been a great source of inspiration to this project.
The ritual of Turkish hammam
physical care taking - intimacy - effort - attention
Collages
The method used for this project could be called ‘reverse designing’. At first the envisioned qualities of the product were determined, secondly the expected emotive and memetic expression, and lastly the actual physical embodiment. To communicate the emotive and memetic expression, two collages were created. The emotive collage visually shows the feeling a person should get when using the product. The memetic collage shows materials and shapes which the envisioned product should consist of.
Emotive collage
Memetic collage
Ideation
Lots of different shapes and configurations of the different product elements were explored during the ideation phase. The sketches and images show an overview of different exploration activities during this phase. Exploration was done by sketching as well as by physical prototyping and testing. Lots of trial and error, and unintended discoveries lead to the final design.
Final design
The final design consists of a double water container made out of steel, two towels, a bamboo mat, a massage tool with a soap basket attached to it, a small container in which foam is created, a solid soap bar and a knife to slice the soap. All elements can be stored within each other, so it folds up to a handy package which could be attached to a backpack. The following images show an overview of the final design.
The Soji set, packed
The Soji set, unpacked
Pouring water
Sprinkling water
Scraping soap flakes
Soap flakes in soap basket
Getting water
Foaming up soap flakes
Foaming up soap flakes
