Intercultural Design

7/1/2019-22/3/2019 (Week 1- Week 7)
Lee Yu Hui | 0335787
Intercultural Design

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Instructions

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Week 1
Intercultural Design is something interesting that I never really got the chance to get involved in. I was quite excited as we're going on a study trip to Sarawak. For the first week, the lecturers instructed us clearly on what we're supposed to do and we're going to have to submit our proposal to them by the end of week 2, since we're going on the trip on week 3. We were all divided into groups by our lecturers and we started brainstorming ideas for our proposal. We were given "Living with Nature" as our theme to guide us through the project.

Week 2
Since we're all going to Sarawak on the 3rd week, it means that we had to finish our proposal on week 2, and week 2 has been very hectic with all the non stop presentations and assignments to do. For our group, we decided to focus on music for our proposal. We did research on the musical instrument in Sarawak, and we noticed the Sape, which is an instrument found only in Sarawak. We loved it's unique sound that it created, and decided to further our research on it.

Fig 1.0: Sape instrument.

For our final outcome, we hadn't really decided on it yet since Mr. Asrizal advised us to not quickly set on one final outcome. He encourage us to explore on more different possible outcomes, and we took his advice.
After numerous discussions, we came out with our Final Proposal.

Week 3
Finally, our trip started! When we got down from the plane, we were excited to what Sarawak has in store for us. First of all, we're surprised to see that there was little to no cats on the street, despite being in Kuching. We were overwhelmed by the people there as they were very friendly and was very helpful to tourists who have trouble around the area.

21/1(1st day): We have nothing really planned on the itinerary, so we just rested for the day and planned out what we're going to do for the next few days.

22/1(2nd day): We went to UNIMAS, which is a government university in Sarawak. Unfortunately, the school is currently on sem break, hence there was barely anyone in there and the atmosphere was a little eerie. Nonetheless, the lecturers there are very welcoming and friendly, and we were able to take a look at the students artwork.

Artwork and pictures taken in UNIMAS.

Later the day, my group mates and I decided to go visit the Tun Jugah museum, which is located just the opposite of our hotel. There, we were able to learn a lot about the making of Pua Kumbu, which is a traditional making of cloth within the Iban tribe. The tour guide there is also very helpful and told us a lot of useful information while we're there. She even showed us the process of making Pua Kumbu, which we were very intrigued by it.

Pictures taken in Tun Jugah Museum.

23/1(3rd day): Our main itinerary was to visit the cultural village. My teammates and I were quite ecstatic as we know that we're able to do more in depth research for our proposal. Overall, the visit was interesting as we were able to learn more about the culture and facts about the traditions in Sarawak, which is something we might not find in books. The tour guide himself is a Dayak, so he gave us a more in depth explanation about the Dayak traditions and culture. We were also able to find what we're looking for in the cultural village, which is the Sapeh musical instrument.

Pictures taken in the cultural village.

24/1(4th day): For the forth day we didn't have a lot planned, so for our group we decided to visit different museums and places in Kuching. First, we went to Fort Margherita, which is now a museum open to the public. We took a 30 minute walk to the fort, which we all ended up very exhausted from the walk. We were kind of dissapointed when we found out how small the place is, and we had a rough time trying to call a grab. Then, we visited the India street, and it reminded me of Petaling street in KL. The buildings there are colorful and we get to see a lot of  different prints sold there. Next, we visited several museums, one of them being the art museum. We were most attracted to the things displayed there as there were a lot of information about the legend of hornbills. However, we're also bummed out by the fact most of the museums there aren't allowed for pictures, and the main museums are currently under renovation. 

Pictures taken in Fort Margherita and India Street.

 25/1(Last day): Coming to the last day, I didn't do anything much. We left the hotel around 12:30pm
and head straight to the airport. It was a fun trip overall, I enjoy the stay there, and the food was really amazing. I was able to try different local food thanks to a local friend. He brought us around and we're able to try all sorts of amazing food from Sarawak.

Local delights eaten in Kuching.

Week 4
This week we were told to make a presentation about our data collection during the trip. This whole week is another roller coaster ride as we had other assignments and projects to finish. Nevertheless, this is our data collection presentation.

Week 5
We did not have any classes or presentations on week 5 as it was CNY and it was a holiday.

Week 6
This week we're supposed to decide on our final outcome and start to execute our plan. Our group decided to do a shadow box in the end as we really liked the ones that we see in Kuching.

Shadow box inspiration from Kuching.

After getting approval from the lecturers, we then started working on the sketches for the box. To be honest, sketching for the box is quite challenging to me as I'm quite bad at making patterns. Nevertheless, we came out with a few rough sketches using patterns on Sape and hornbill as inspiration. 

Initial sketches for the design.

For the first few initial sketches, the lecturers rejected our idea because it was a bit too straightforward. Then they suggested us to make designs that are more subtle. After a few days of changing and playing around with the patterns, this is our final design.

Our final sketch.

Week 7 

We decided that we would do laser cut in Taylors, we manage to book a session and do our laser cutting there.

Laser cutting in Taylors.

After the laser cutting session, we were very happy with the design outcome as it looked very nice and it definitely reminds us of the days in Kuching. 

Laser cut outcome

We made two different boxes: One of which is flat sided, which is shown in the picture above, and one with a jigsaw pattern, which was much easier to assemble. We ended up not using the flat sided box as we miscalculated the width and we weren't able to assemble it like the way it should.

Assembling the shadow box

Our idea is to place a light source into the box so that it would lit up in the dark and we'll be able to see the patterns in the dark. Hence we decided to put fairy lights inside as we thought it would look really nice. 

After the box is assembled, this is our final outcome!

I'm really happy that I got the chance to do this project with my friends and even go on a study trip for it. I really had fun in the process, and I cherish the process and the opportunities that were given to me. I'm really happy and proud with the outcome as we have put in a lot of effort into it.