Project Overview

The Changing Room Ting is the most recent iteration of Studio Chamber, the retractable textile room.

It is made in a light blue Shetland Wool tweed with a duchesse satin ‘ceiling’ visible when shrouded by the structure. For Tent London I decided to make additional comfortable seating to sit underneath, that would reinforce my intended use for the piece – to offer relief from the demands placed on our attentions at trade shows, in this instance!

Organisation

Tessa Brown

Project Brief

I decided to make Changing Room because it was time to experiment and refine what I had started with Studio Chamber. Shetland wool tweed and duchesse silk satin were my chosen materials. It was the best so far. So I invited Tent London to offer me a large enough space to show it adding that I felt sure it would attract attention. I was not wrong! I received enthusiastic enquiries from architects, interior designers, promoters of luxury products, therapeutic centres, product designers and investors, and events organisers.

Project Innovation/Need

Quote by artist Marg Duston;

“… The rickety ephemeral childhood den is synthesised into something beautifully crafted and engineered but still retains some of that – can’t think of word – precariousness – in that it hovers – it isn’t a dead space – there are slight movements as it responds to what is going on outside. As the telescopic crinoline shape descends over your head a perceivable shift occurs as the sensory overload of the outside world is transformed into a calm and meditative space – there is still an awareness of the outside world but its dominance is filtered out. Perhaps an hourglass is a better analogy in terms of referring to time passing and the potential effect of making you more mindful of time in terms of the now. Maybe it is not until the structure ascends when you are once again assaulted by the auditory and visual noise of the everyday that you are truly aware of the respite you have just experienced.”

Design Challenge

I am an artist with a background in bespoke garment making and with a passion for textiles and all that they can effect in the world.

The first large, immersive structure I developed was in response to the quest of a collaborating sound artist, who was tired of presenting sound work in galleries dedicated to visual art. A site specific gallery for listening was how we termed it. It worked well. See MAOS 1 and MAOS 2 on my website for details.

Intrigued by this structure which was designed for a park, I wanted to try an interior version, and install it in my studio, adding a system whereby it could be raised to release the space when I needed to use it. See Studio Chamber. Presented in an art context, this piece received a lot of attention and I realised that it had a wonderful ambiguity-It was both dynamic sculpture and architecture. Object and not an object, an experience, a thing, a phenomenon. Nothing quite like this exists in the world yet people are comfortable to engage with it. I registered it as a design at the Intellectual Property Office. Registered design no.4031969