Hello,

I am a very observant person. I like to look around and figure out how things are made. The joyfulness of everyday objects and the passive interactions we have with them is something that I find very intriguing and whimsical. As a designer, artist, and maker, I tend to gravitate towards elements of function and utility. My work explores the psychology of how humans interact with everyday, domestic functional objects like clothes hangers and chairs. For example: some might consider the modern, mass-manufactured house broom to be pretty boring, but there is actually an overwhelming abundance of beauty and complexity beneath its surface. The modern human has grown distant from the physically designed world around them. As a result, some objects and the actions those objects afford have become so quotidian in nature, that like a white noise machine passively humming you to sleep, they’ve begun to fade away into the background. 

This listless passivity a lot of people have towards utilitarian objects has created a disconnect from the value of simple tools and objects, and their necessity within our lives. So what happens when someone suddenly turns that white noise machine off? The sudden realization that you were hearing a sound you were unaware of can be jarring. You may ask yourself, “Has that thing been on this whole time?” That moment is where I locate my practice. My work is exploring what happens when the metaphorical white noise machine of everyday objects is turned off and how the human brain reacts to the sudden shift in their perception of what's around them.

-James