URMA CLOCK
-THISorder Collection-
CONCEPT
In an age in which time is measured more accurately than ever before (eg. using the new German atomic clock) and often seems to be a barometer of productivity and money, it feels like we are overlooking its essentially organic quality. My aim is to question our perception of time by creating objects that reflect a more empathic and natural time.
The narrative of time acceleration causes burn-out syndrome and a severe desynchronisation with our circadian rhythms.
By deferring cognitive processes clocks, we run the risk of diminishing our ability to think about time, and we also run the risk of using the objects as a materialization of some universal time sense.
Thus, I feel like there is an urgent need to detach clocks from this perception and design alternative clocks.
Urma Clock is a timekeeper inspired by the natural and integrated passage of time
Most clocks display time as a single dot on a grid, however, my aim was to design a timekeeper that depicts time as a continuum, thus the traces of the past, as well as the fragile boundary between present and future, are visible. This alternative, integrated way of telling time is found in several natural phenomena such as moon phases, and timepieces such as sundials.
MAKING OF
Innovative thermochromic material-personal recipe
Urma is designed to resemble a mineral formation. Mimicking Lapis Lazuli and granite was the starting points of the material exploration process. I choose to work mostly monochrome. The transition from black to white has a natural aesthetic and relates best to organic ways of telling time such as light and shadow (sundial) and the overarching theme of entropy
Technology is used as a hidden scaffolding for an analogue and organic process to unfold. In contrast with the clock’s internal mechanism, driven by an Arduino, the exterior resembles a mineral
The design methodology used to create these objects reflects the dichotomy between order and chaos, central to my project. A symbiosis of great accuracy (in terms of prototyping, especially gears and coding) and improvisation, dictated by material limitations and behaviour has been vital.
