Creating sensations

Creating Sensations is focused on the connection between the body and nature. When we touch the skin we activate areas of the brain associated with memory and pleasure.

This project explores the ways in which we can use the natural environment to activate senses and generate feelings of wellbeing. The designer has looked closely at how natural matter can be further used to deepen this beneficial connection, designing a collection of stimulating tools made from locally gathered natural matter.

The proximity of nature is a widely accepted benefit to human wellbeing. This was something experienced personally by designer Irina Diana Flore after she moved to the green spaces of Oregon, USA. A desire to further understand the connection between her immediate environment and wellbeing was the starting point for the Creating Sensations project.

Irina has explored the sensation of touch, gathering natural materials from the landscape around her and turning these into handheld tools. Each tool utilizes a different texture and is intended to be used with a different gesture. Close attention has been paid to how the tools may be held, their experience on the skin, and the sensations they may illicit: “The shapes and materials have been chosen intentionally; each tool creates a different touch. When we scratch the skin, we activate areas of the brain associated with memory and pleasure.”

Dried materials were chosen because they proved efficient to gather. They also became symbolic of the fragility of the local environment - it is dried material such as grasses and pinecones that are especially susceptible to destructive seasonal wild-fires in the Oregon region. Finally, the tools’ clay handles are covered in a layer of sand, also from the local region. 

A green environment, even in the city, feels like an invitation to contemplate and enjoy nature. We all know the feeling of grass tickling our feet, but maybe we no longer enjoy this sensation as often as we could - I hope that these objects are an invitation to get closer to nature.

Part of True Matter, digital exhibition by Dutch Invertuals Academy