Queering a traditional object

Gender Design Award Volition 2023, given by iGDN e.V.

Re-coding of objects to embrace gender-diversity

In the design research project “Crafting Desire: Queering the Red Sleep Bed”, young designer Rising Lai revisits the famous slogan “The personal is political” to discuss identity, family values and the material world: Through critical making, they transform this artifact from assisting patriarchy to embracing gender diversity and therefore receives the Gender Design Award in the Category Volition.

Rising Lai studied Industrial Design at the Tatung University (大同大學), Taiwan and came in 2020 to finish their Master at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK). They weave a variety of personal perspectives and experiences into their work – the Taiwanese heritage and culture, the perspectives of a queer person and an understanding of material and its values that highlight the transformative character of material and crafting. Piece by piece, this project takes steps to break down the patriarchal system for reconstructing a more diverse and inclusive future. Lai used the skills and methods of design to manifest their vision. The work was being exhibited among others at the Dutch Design Week and it is accompanied by video-stories.

In this project the designer explores how an artifact carries on group consciousness arranged in the domestic environment. Narrating from a queer perspective, Rising Lai aims to reveal the untold, oppressive stories of the Red Sleep Bed, which is a traditional Taiwanese bed furniture. As a dowry, the craft of the Red Sleep Bed documents the ideal projection of marriage from family and society – gender role, patriarchy, fertility, heterosexuality. As a bed, the design of the Red Sleep Bed entangled with Taiwanese languages, customs, and religions, affording a standard way of living. By reconfiguring the elements used in the Red Sleep Bed, they build a queer heritage to reflect and respond to the exclusivity in material culture.

The jury was convinced by the original curated process, the strategic way to work with queer perspective, as well as by the particularly gender-sensitive video stories and exhibition that express it. There was no doubt amongst the jury members that such a genuine and sharp project had to be awarded the iphiGenia Gender Design Award 2023 in the category of “Volition”. https://graduation.kabk.nl/2022/rising-lai