2025 Galleries
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Galleries // 2025 Spark:Spring Student // AUXE-TIN Bowl
AUXE-TIN Bowl
Finalist
Competition: Spark:Spring Student
Designer: Melinda Kim
Design Type: Product & industrial
Company / Organization / School: Chadwick International School
Team Members: Melinda Kim
AUXE-TIN BOWL explores the intersection of material behavior, geometry, and user interaction. By applying an auxetic pattern—known for its counterintuitive property of expanding laterally when stretched—onto a malleable tin sheet, the object transforms a traditionally static material into a dynamic, responsive structure. This approach reimagines tin as a soft, intuitive medium that responds to touch, allowing users to manually alter the shape of the bowl. As the user folds, bends, or expands the surface, the vessel adapts in real time—becoming both container and sculpture. Crafted from tin, a material known for its excellent corrosion resistance and safe use in tableware, the bowl is not only sculptural and interactive but also practical for everyday use. Unlike other reactive metals, tin does not rust or oxidize easily, ensuring long-term durability even when used to hold fresh produce or edible items. This project proposes a shift from fixed design to a participatory one, where the final form is co-authored by the user. It invites reflection on how function, form, and playfulness can coexist in everyday objects, while questioning the permanence and authority of designed forms. The auxe-tin bowl ultimately embodies a material dialogue between control and openness, encouraging interaction, flexibility, and poetic tactility.
