"Xaman Ek' ": How the Mayas named the north star. One of my projects from my time at University of Arts Braunschweig. The task at hand was simple: use only ONE material and process it in different ways to create a product and/or art piece that shows off how versatile set material can be. The project was also focused on crafting and prototyping, as we were supposed to develop everything with the help and council of expert craftsmen/women.
My material of choice was wood, specifically ash wood. Ash is a magnificent type of wood for several reasons; it is not only hard and strong, but its structural properties also allow it to be extremely flexible when it has been properly processed.
For this project, sketching and planing wasn't as relevant as the building process itself. That's because I allowed the wood to bend the way it "wanted" to be bent and not force it to a specific shape. The tool to make these complex bends took much more thought and planning than the product itself.
