The Timetable in pdf format and has a link to the document on Google Documents.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1woZgzi5y0l66JG9VSfrCY5bymIihJ74E/view?usp=sharing
The Proposal in pdf format and has a link to the document on Google Documents.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SMa5wEoSB1Ga1_tP5YcaUXqFRaLRMVD-/view?usp=sharing
15th March: With the knowledge that research week was going to start, I first went to the Cambridge Botanical Gardens for inspiration. At first I thought, “What could a garden benefit me in my project?” It was then I realised, that I could take elements of it by learning about the different plants, their living conditions, the types of flowers and etc. I could even gain inspiration from aesthetic purposes. With this in mind, I went into research week, taking pictures and drawing out what I thought to be impactful to me. It was not just about gender inequality but also other aspects that called out to me.
Originally, I planned to go to The Now Gallery for the Slices of Time Exhibition, The V&A, The British Museum, The FitzWilliam Museum, The Tate, The Vagina Museum and the exhibition in London where the Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Pharaoh is being showcased as we speak. However, due to the Covid-19 outbreak in London, I was too scared to go to London for my research. I only managed to visit The Tate, The FitzWilliam Museum and The British Museum.
With the outbreak, I found it incredibly hard to carry out my research, hence, I am extremely glad that I still have some pictures from my previous research trip to the V&A, the Science Museum and The Natural History Museum. Drawing in the Museum was pretty hard because there were lots of people and it became really difficult to social distance. I along with CC and Earn, took more pictures than we drew because we agreed to leave London earlier and come back to Cambridge before rush hour. It was a shame that we did not really enjoy our visit there, taking in the artworks and historical pieces and learning more about it in the museums/galleries however, we did have some documentation that we were there in person. I reckon being there in person gives off an entire different vibe compared to looking it up on the internet as we get to have some sort of experience.
The two weeks of planning and researching has actually been quite therapeutic for me. I have a sort of assertiveness and a sense of motivation to start this project. I had no writer’s block as I wrote my proposal and created my presentation with ease. I knew what to research about in the presentation, asking the key important questions that I, myself answered. Compared to the previous project, I am glad that there is more freedom in this project, in which I can choose what kind of topic I want to address and design for. This way, I won’t get easily bored in my project and can show my creative abilities in retrospect.
In this project, I will try to make up for my shortcomings from the previous project such as experimentation and more developments. With this said, I will invest more time into my work and stop procrastinating during these trying times and acquire good time management skills.
6th March: There were so many topics to address that I did not know what to choose. I went into this project, knowing what I wanted to build however, it was not the correct mindset. So, I had to rearrange my mindset, starting with picking out a topic of interest. This project is something that I cannot take lightly because it involves all the problems the world is still facing is 2020. There is a strong belief of mine that all problems are important and relevant problems. It does not mean that I do not care about them however, I want to pick a problem that resonated with me and has affected me personally. With my background, I could be more interested and engaged in this project. Moreover, I could add in my personal experience to this as well.
I thought I wanted to do something that has to do with human trafficking as it seemed interesting and important in today’s society especially in the US. There are a few cases in Malaysia where it has happened and is still happening and every time the news is turned on, I pay close attention because the trafficker has violated all human rights to the person who has been abused. It is very inhumane, so I thought this was what I wanted to do. However, as I delved into the research, I found myself almost drifting to sleep. I was tired and had 6 hours of sleep. To me, 6 hours of sleep is sufficient enough to run my day as per usual; however, while watching several videos about it, I was ready to pass out 5 minutes into the video. I deemed that if I continued the path to basing my project on human trafficking, I would be stuck in quick sand. So, I moved onto another topic of my interest: LGBTQIA+
This one resonated quite well with me as I have a queer best friend. Stuck in a country where her own sexual orientation is oppressed, she is forced to lead a “presentable” and “mainstream” lifestyle to fit into Malaysian society. I believe that the queer people have come a long way since the early 2000s however, it is not where we should be in 2020. I really wanted to do this however, I have already previously based my project in the first year of my Extended Diploma course therefore, I wanted to show how diverse I can be with my topic of interest which is why I moved on to Inequality between Men and Women.
I believe with this topic, I could actually create something more for women. This topic resonated the most with me because my grandmother is very biased towards men because in her era, she was taught that men earned income while women did the housework. Growing up, I could see the differences in the way she cared for my male cousins and my sisters and I, often helping them with their problems while she was stricter with us. In a way, this made my sisters and I have thick skin and strive to prove her wrong, which we did. As much as I love my grandmother, she is still as stubborn as a mule despite all of our achievements. My goal is to change other people’s (like my grandmother) perception of women. There are still men who think they have the power to put a woman down but I believe a woman has equal power towards a man that should not be compromised.
When given an opportunity, women can help build and discover incredible things. For example, Marie Curie was the one who discovered the theory of radioactivity (the theory of splitting an atom) while Stephanie Kwolek discovered Kevlar, a material used in bicycle tires, tennis rackets, racing sails, body armour, frying pans, musical instruments, bulletproof vests and etc. Kevlar is known to be 5 times stronger than steel. Often at times, women are not given enough credit whereas men are known for taking all the credit. Another example of this would be that Albert Einstein’s famous findings as a scientist was in fact a collaboration with his first wife, Mileva Marić who was also a scientist in her own right. Blinded by love and a strong desire to help Einstein with his discoveries, she became broke when she divorced Einstein. Einstein, who cheated on Mileva with his cousin, won the Nobel Piece Prize for his theory when it was in fact a collaboration with his ex-wife.
Women around the world still do not get the proper education they deserve. In fact, they are most often killed because they tried to be something more than that they “should” be. Take Malala for instance. She was shot in the head by the Taliban for continuing her education in Pakistan. She was fortunately very lucky to have gotten help while I cannot say the same for the other women who want their rights for education.
We are progressing however, the progression of this situation is not fast enough. Representation is the essence of solving a problem. This includes Gender Inequality
Once I finished all that, it was time to start using Sketch Up. I first started doing the floor plan as. Ir was quite simple doing it but I think I much prefer drawing it by hand as I’ve gotten used to it. At this point, I still haven’t really familiarised myself with the program but I tried every step of the way. I only had 1 and a half weeks to use sketch up so I was a bit panicky. Thankfully, I had Mahmoud’s help. He helped me get more familiar with using it. After finishing the floor plan, it was time to start building up my model.
The model I did on sketchup is quite different from what I had imagined it to be because of the lack of time I had planned out for myself. I definitely could have done better in adding more details to the rooms however, it was done to the best of my abilities. I struggled with placing the furniture down as it kept moving in the direction I didn’t want it to. Not only that, adding colour to the furniture was quite annoying as it was quite time consuming. In the end, I finished. With that being said, I took pictures of my model, 2 of the 6 pictures are 2 point perspectives. After this, I made elevations. This was quite simple to do but I still don’t know how to make it look professionally well made which is a struggle for me but I feel like it is okay because I got my point across. I will not have this mindset in the future as I have run out of time. I will learn how to plan my time wisely next time, following the schedule of works properly and thoroughly.
There are multiple factors that made me want to be an Interior Designer. Firstly, It is the fact that I love looking at interior spaces and planning the rooms out in my head. Secondly, boredom fills my head whenever I look at the interiors of almost every house in Malaysia as it looks similar to each other. As the planet’s climate is a constant increase in temperature, I want to be able to build something more sustainable. I want to be apart of that change where I can create something new and better for the people, animals and the environment. The final major push that made me want to be an Interior Designer derives from my favourite show called Queer Eye. The Interior Designer, Bobby Berk changes people’s lives by transforming their houses. The look on their faces when they step into the house makes me so emotional that I want to be able to see that for myself and spread happiness like him. I believe I can be an asset.
I am currently doing my second year of my Extended Diploma course in Cambridge School of Visual and Performing Arts which is recognised by the UAL (University Arts London), studying Interior Design. In Cambridge School of Visual and Performing Arts, I’ve learnt a series of subjects such as Fine Art, Contextual Studies, 3D Design, Graphics and Illustration, Textiles, Critical and Contextual Studies and Life Drawing/Visual Studies in my first year at college which has proven to be very useful in my dispense as it subjected me to different techniques and methodologies. In my second year, I chose Interior Design for my major subject. Before this, I studied for my IGCSEs in Sri Kuala Lumpur International School in Malaysia, taking Business, Maths, Additional Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Physics and English. I am blessed to have grown up in Malaysia as I was immersed in many things. For instance, I can communicate in 3 languages (English, Malay and Chinese) and 2 dialects of Chinese (Cantonese and Hakka). Not only this, I was able to participate in many sports like Basketball, Badminton and Volleyball. I even represented my school in Volleyball (I played as a libero) as my team played in the district and got away with a silver medal. I was a March Past Captain for my house in school. Although we got third place out of fourth, it did teach me that discipline is very important and that when things do not go your way, I must try to make the best out of the situation without panicking. I also made a close bond with my fellow marchers which taught me connections like these are very important.
Besides the academic and physical scene, I’ve actually helped out in an animal shelter (PAWS MALAYSIA), feeding cats, taking the dogs out for a walk, bathing them and providing the shelter with necessary materials such as animal food. In my spare time, I enjoy watching design shows like Queer Eye, Amazing Interiors, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, Abstract: The Art of Design and the World’s Most Extraordinary Homes. I even look at interior design books like New Asian Interiors by Massimo Listri which I gain lots of inspiration from as it features countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Cambodia and etc. Another thing I do in my spare time is look at Japanese Interior Designers like Kanji Ueki as he makes minimalism fill the entire interior. Moreover, he manages to incorporate a lot of clean, sustainable materials. He has designed the interiors for Hotel Shilla in Seoul, South Korea. I absolutely loved the way he designed the hotel, especially the reception area where he made use of light in the dark reception which was mostly made out of dark brown wood.
I believe that the UK is home to many well-known universities and will help me get to the best of my abilities. I feel like the courses here are well thought and caters to the students needs better as the quality of teaching is good and can be understood easier.
I have applied for the Interior Design courses for all the Universities. In Malaysia, there is a lack of Interior Designers as people (mainly the Baby Boomers of my country that are used to not having designs into their homes but rather practical things) there believe Art is the lowest and most useless education there is. This is one of the reasons why I wanted to do Interior Design. I wanted to break the stigma that the Boomers of our country have set up. By the time I graduate, I would be 22-23 years old. My generation (have strong individual personalities) will want to move out and make their house their own. There are also many apartments now currently being built as well as existing empty apartments standing. I will be working more with clients my age who want to express themselves. Of course there will be other clients who I’ll happily design for in terms of their preferences because they only want the best as I do for them. With my degree, I can be an interior designer, an exhibition designer and a production designer on sets for TV/film. I could even be a product designer with the furniture I would be looking into. All of these career opportunities would be amazing as they are different yet very similar between each other. These are the career opportunities after graduation however, I am still very content in exploring deeper into the culture whilst getting to know my clients so that there is diversity in all of them.
The first university I went to was Kingston University. The interviewer said that when he first saw me, I looked closed off and shy but couldn’t help it as I have a bad resting face however, when we sat down and got to talking, I delved into my passion and slowly forgot my nerves. The interview was driven towards why I wanted to do Interior Design and who were my inspirations from. I finished in less than 10 minutes while the others took longer. I thought it was a bad sign however, by the end of the interview, he told me that he’d accept me into Kingston. I was ecstatic. I felt almost too comfortable talking to him.
For Middlesex University, I felt a bit calmer however, when my name was called however, he wanted to know more about my work. I was more alert this time because it was different. The interview lasted for 20 minutes. I talked about my work. This interview was hard as he threw questions at me, demanding an explanation. I delivered it well. It was almost like a debate with the judge instead of the opposition team. In the end, he told me that my portfolio lacked 3D skills but I recovered myself by saying I wanted to improve that here. Questions were asked at the end of the interview and I would say, based on the questions I asked him, it made the interviewer want to accept me that moment.
With the furniture layout done, I needed to draw some free hand sketches to get a feel of the room. I even designed some furniture for the different areas. I showed the cafe, private dining area and the restaurant. I designed the furniture according to my concept. They honestly were not the best drawings I could have done due to my poor judgement of time however, I annotated them quite well so that it could be better understood. I looked at some inspiration from my second home, Penang, Malaysia as I am always surrounded with culture and art. I hoped it could inspire my thinking and it did. The murals on the wall made me think of the kind of room I want to design in terms of making it my own and making something unique. For example, the cracked concrete walls in Penang have been painted on it to show a reminiscing past. I want people to reminisce their childhood in a way it invoked mine. So I wanted to find a medium where people could relate to the restaurant-cafe as to I did.
I wanted to use wood that can be easily found here instead of using bamboo or rattan to give it more of a cabin english house overall however, the private dining area, I wanted to take them to Malaysia. It is very common for restaurants to have a private dining area with a karaoke inside however, little to none are as luxurious. The karaoke and private dining area I created will immerse people into my culture in that room, making it exclusive to them only. It will seem as if they have been transported to Malaysia.
I thought doing 5 schematic drawings were too much however, I felt like they were very much necessary in the end. The schematic drawing allowed me to play with different areas thinking of the best possible outcome. I wanted to do something different; something that hasn’t been done before or thought of. I thought of separating the restaurant area and the cafe area since there are 3 doors. I want to make use of the doors instead of taking it apart. I also wanted to put the toilet in the middle because it would be too much of a hassle to go back and forth to look for the toilets. I always hate it when I have to ask where the toilets are. It makes me uncomfortable to ask the staff where it is. I prefer it to be visibly seen. With it being visible, I am going to need double doors. It can also be a divider depending on the size of the room and whether if there are enough spaces or not. I deemed the last schematic drawing the best due to the Private Dining Area which is hidden to most people. I plan to camouflage the door with the wall using horizontally placed wood on the walls. The kitchen also has access to a door which is very useful for deliveries.
With the schematic drawing done, I then put in some furniture. It was quite different from the last. Instead of just making it randomly, I decided to try and improve the layout, trying newer shapes for the tables. I did this on the iPad using Procreate. I loved that I could copy and paste some things because it is less time consuming.
With the proper research material finished, I then found my rough drawing of Hugo Boss to be insufficient so I went back. This time I asked if I could take the measurements of the area because I was tired of hiding. They said I couldn’t so I came back 2 days later just to be safe and secretly did it. When I came out, I had proper measurements of the area which I was extremely happy about.
With the Site Survey done, I moved onto concept research. While doing all the research, I wondered what my concept would be. I felt like just doing sustainability was not ambitious enough so I looked to the client brief. There were people who wanted various things. I then realised that I can’t please everyone so, I decided to take one thing in common within all of them and stuck to that for the concept. People wanted minimalism. I felt that minimalism is common ground for everything so I took a subject quite complicated which I knew quite well and transformed it to minimalism. My concept which is quite literally home to me is Malaysia. There were a bunch of things I could think about. The most obvious would be food. If not food then it would be the diverse range of people we have and our culture. Relating back to culture, this thing can be shared amongst most Malaysians which were born from 2004 and below due to the growing generation of technology. People wanted a laid back place where they could chill and not stress about electronics. I get that now. I didn’t before due to convenience issues. This was one of the reasons why I chose this concept which is Malaysian Traditional Games. These Traditional games are widely played in South East Asia which is something we have in common. These games are driven towards the Islamic/Malay culture. Back when the Indians, the Chinese and many others had to seek refuge in Malaysia, the Malays taught them how to play. This is why I created a mood board with Islamic designs which often feature geometric shapes and patterns. I made another one to show the types of games and how it is played to invoke inspiration when I see it.
I really liked the mood boards that I did because it will remind me of the relevant things that I put there like pattern, geometric shapes, woody materials, rattan, the environment it was played in, the colours and the movement of the games. I think this would greatly help me in my research.
YiLinKohCSVPA 