Augen zu. Eine unsichtbare Designsprache

DESIGN: Alena Halmes

Switzerland

make me! 2020

A theoretical field study tried to answer the initial question: “What is beautiful if you can’t see?” The opinion of the visually impaired and blind participants was strongly influenced by acoustics. With “The Sound of Things” there’s a perceptual experience, seeing people literally overlook often. How do birth blind people imagine movements, when hearing sounds? How does the world of forms in their head look like? Water is falling onto the hot plate, it hisses. Birth blind people describe the movement and shapes of the sound of water, which are untouchable. Their imaginations are formally interpreted in order to create a new form language. The haptic, acoustic and playful experience of this setting, consisting of 5 glasses is based on a new design approach, which is inspired by the perception of the blind. This approach is seeing blindness as a chance to integrate the non-visually into the design.