Desire Paths - Let's Picnic!

Design for Pleasure

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You lie in tall grass,
watching the clouds drift by,
each shape stimulates your imagination,
provoking you to spin tales.

Or on a sunny afternoon,
you spread out your favorite blanket and dishes,
invite your friends over, and have a picnic.

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Desire Paths is a carefully crafted picnic set: a woven blanket and ceramic bowls. It’s designed for sensual pleasure and a medium for social gathering and interaction. We have created this project out of a longing for carefree, unhurried, warm afternoons. Our goal is to celebrate flavours and each other's company at a leisurely pace.

Why “Desire Paths”? It’s a term describing paths created by users of urban spaces, often beyond and in spite of the architect's intentions. They are “desire lines”, traces of instincts and spontaneous reactions to the world. “Desire Paths” was created to fulfill the need for pleasure in the creative process.

Design for Social Interaction

There are some hidden gems here! It is a picnic set and a party game at the same time. The cotton blanket is designed as a game board. Its eclectic-alchemical symbolism encourages to stretch your imagination by discovering the meanings behind the symbols. The ceramic bowls serve as “pawns”, but also as vessels for plant-based snacks, wine or herbal infusions.

The project has a travelling, nomadic character - the set can be packed into a handy bag. As a travelling exhibition, it can be used to explore local potentials and contexts and provide a space for informal dialogue. The project was created using local, natural materials (cotton and vitrified clay), in collaboration with local designers, Panama Studio and Dawid Fik. An important component of the project is the role of pleasure and celebration, both in the design process and in the experience itself. Also embedded in the creative process is a research process related to plant resources, seasonality, and the cyclical nature of celebration.