My design work varies from the poetic to the pragmatic. With self-initiated projects, I tend to design for the domestic sphere, at the scale of the individual, and often without a lot of technology. My academic projects involve greater ethnographic research and participatory methods and tend toward systems-, service-, and strategic-design. The images below represents the "making" aspect of my design practice, often in collaboration with Stephanie M. Tharp and our studio, materious.
The pillow and shuttle attempt to more deliberately engage the user's conscious life with the subconscious world of dreams. The padded shuttle can hold a dream journal and fits inside a pocket in the side of the pillow. The pages onto which dreams are subsequently described become steeped in the actual dreams themselves.
DREAM CATCHER
Pillow and shuttle pouch for dream work
Cotton fabric, fiber filling, foam
1995
To inspire a specific dream, a special missive, note to oneself, or other object may be placed within the pockets of the pouch. The act of filling the shuttle and knowing that this particular object rests at the epicenter of the pillow, just below the head, may be able to arouse the subconscious mind into performing the desired dream work.
"The dream is the liberation of the spirit from the pressure of external nature, a detachment of the soul from the fetters of matter." — Sigmund Freud
"By exposing the hidden dream-thoughts, we have confirmed in general that the dream does continue the motivation and interests of waking life, for dream-thoughts are engaged only with what seems to be important and of great interest to us."
— Sigmund Freud
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