Bartosz Soroka - BA (Hons) Product Design and Craft
Myths
My project has basis in systems theory. This theory claims that everything has a connection to something else, creating a system. Essentially, I wanted to create a series of pieces that sit outside our known systems. Unrelated to our history. Not to the extent to where the object is beyond our comprehension, rather for it to be eyed with curiosity, you are meant to ask questions, have the object teach you.
I was largely inspired by Roland Barthes and his work "Mythologies" and decided to make vessels that I creates a myth around itself. To create a myth, you must have a signifier, in this case the words such as “pouring vessel” or “ritual”. The signified image someone may create in their head is that of a teapot; a pouring vessel designed for the ritual of a morning brew. The sign in this case is the real-life vessel I present. However, this is not a teapot. The pieces can have further contextual signified assumptions based on its form, finish and way it acts. These compile into a myth of ancient rituals.
I employed Barthes’ research on semiotics to justify all this; using shapes that when analysed signify why I have coined them to be “pouring vessels” when I’ve stated that they exist outside systems I know. To an extent, I’m justifying their existence trying to compare them to systems that I am aware of.
When analysing the objects you create a myth based on the prompts I’ve used, you immerse yourself in the story and suspend your disbelief.
