Reorient
Senior capstone. Design FOR health and wellness.
EXPERIENCE AND INSTALLATION DESIGN.
HOW DO WE ENGAGE A COMMUNITY IN CONVERSATION ABOUT ASIAN AMERICAN IDENTITY?
Reorient is a community building event that cultivates pride through sharing food and personal stories of Asian American experiences. The project leverages the form of a dinner party to bring people together to participate in personal discussions while enjoying a home-cooked, three course meal.
Documentation culminated in an installation in the Jacob Lawrence gallery, which showcased a video, quotes from dinner guests, and the menus and place settings used at the event.
AWARD: Best Capstone, awarded by UW Division of Design Faculty
PARTNERS: Andrea Kang (IXD), Charity Seid (VCD)
INSTRUCTOR: Professor Tad Hirsch
DURATION: 10 weeks
SPECIAL THANKS: Professor Gonzalo Guzmán, Professor Kristine Matthews, Emily Zimmerman, Robin, Naomi, our guests Alex, Alok, Carmen, Cassie, Joy, Kevin, Key, Nicole, and our volunteers Andrew, Ginger, Mack, Misung, Sami
Dinner
From the visual branding, to the hand-crafted place settings, to the seating arrangements, we designed the evening to encourage conversation and community building.
Guests
We gathered a diverse group of ten strangers and five volunteers who all identified as Asian American to share their stories and experiences.
Menu
Block stamped menus described the food and posed crafted questions to help facilitate conversation.
Food
The dinner featured dishes that were personally meaningful to the hosts and represented the range of our Asian American identities. Before each course, we shared personal stories about the dishes to introduce discussion topics.
Choreography
To bring our guests together in a an organic yet intentional way, we prepared various seating arrangements for each of the three courses. We served the appetizer around a standing table in the living room, moved the guests to the dining room at small tables of three or four for the entree, and returned the group to a circle around a coffee table for dessert.
A highlight of the evening: guests facilitated their own group discussion over dessert. All ten guests listened to each other speak one at a time.
Installation
As part of the UW Design Show 2017, we displayed our capstone project in a room in the Jacob Lawrence Gallery.
DURATION: 7 days
Process
Between the three team members, we represented each major in UW's Division of Design. The entire project was truly a collaborative effort and labor of love. We each poured our time, hearts, and sanity into this project because we really believe in the importance of having these important, intentional conversations.
