Pleasure in Scarcity
enjoying scarcity to foster negotiations for change
Graduation work in the Master department of Social Design at Design Academy Eindhoven
2020
bamboo, metal wire
2018
Domaine de Boisbuchet, France
Tools for Pleasure in Scarcity are rocket stoves which produce a reason to gather. They produce collective explorations of how a future of scarcity could be pleasurable.
This work is based on the conclusion that pleasure is a far better motivation to enact change than fear.
Since October 2019 I produced an evolution of 18 functional rocket stoves. In the process, they are either left in their original context, augmented and modified, or dismantled and re-purposed.
The structure was created on the grounds of the Domaine de Boisbuchet. Initially thought for small scale woven objects made of Rattan, I applied the technique to locally harvested bamboo. Thereby I was able to create big triaxial objects on an architectural scale. Out of several hundred meters of bamboo, I weaved a structure of more than 3 meters height, to create an outdoor space to sleep under the stars.
Change has to be approached and negotiated together, it can only be enacted collectively. I realised that the oven could do so much more than merely bake bread. It has the capacity to become a centre piece, a catalyst for collectivity that facilitates collective gathering and produces examples for embracing change with joy.
The structure was created on the grounds of the Domaine de Boisbuchet. Initially thought for small scale woven objects made of Rattan, I applied the technique to locally harvested bamboo. Thereby I was able to create big triaxial objects on an architectural scale. Out of several hundred meters of bamboo, I weaved a structure of more than 3 meters height, to create an outdoor space to sleep under the stars.
Read about the project in-depth here: Tools for Pleasure in Scarcity
Find the thesis writing it is based on here: http://pleasureinscarcity.com
These rocket stoves are the outcomes of a collective on-site construction with context-specific available resources in different places in France and the Netherlands. The objects are based on the simple idea of People coming together, building things they need and enjoy using, exemplify how in joyful simple acts of creation change can occur.
Each rocket stove is an oven responding to different conditions in different contexts, ever-evolving and moving on, thereby capable to become a different version of itself.