Overview
Background
In my sophomore year of college, I was tasked with creating a liquid pouring vessel that could express an emotion without having to talk about it. Throughout this process, I learned the importance of looking at objects and the way it is shaped to see what expression it gives. I learned to really hone into the vessel and make it work. After this project, I have learned new techniques on how to work with HDU foams and how objects can bring out an emotion to each one of us.
Objective
Create a liquid pouring vessel in the form of; a teapot, a teacup or a pitcher. Find an emotion to then try and express that emotion from the vessel itself.
Mood Board
My mood board shows pitchers with uneven shapes and strange forms that twist the familiar into something unsettling. Their unpredictable shapes create the exact feeling I wanted, dread, turning a liquid vessel object into a reason for tension. Holding one feels uneasy: the weight shifts oddly, the awkward curves invite mistakes, and the pitcher itself feels barely contained and wrong, making the ordinary seem dangerous.
Ideation
My ideation page was an experiment on random ideas that I had. Some ideas are asymmetrical, like a limb misplaced. There are handles that split into multiple fingers. Each variation shows disproportion, showcasing how unsettling it is.
What I’m after is that off-putting tension where something recognizable looks normal just long enough for the viewer to realize it’s wrong. Here, the pitcher becomes an object of unease — a household vessel that refuses its role and, in refusing, demands attention.
My top ideas cluster around pitchers that bring out the senses: a glass vial filled with a bunch of holes, a large rectangular hole to pour, a spiky one with holes in each one, and two different variants of the same concept that shows a creature like as the handle and controlling the body. Each piece resists the simplicity of being held — the weight feels uncertain, and pouring becomes a gamble: will the liquid pour normally or in an unaexpect way? The thrill comes from that ambiguity, from designing things that make you hesitate, inspect your hands, and question whether you should pour, or leave it as it.
Iteration
Final Concept
Final in Context
