Sabrina Yazid
spaces, narratives, thinkings.
A child-at-heart designer; fascinated by the art of fantasy worlds and creating imaginative stories through space and characters.
Crafting Narrativity, introduction
“Everything in the unconscious seeks outward manifestation, and the personality too desires to evolve out of its unconscious conditions and to experience itself as a whole.” – Carl Jung
Design trains us to be problem-solvers, while the arts encourage us to be dreamers. The conventional notion of interior design programmes us to craft spaces pragmatically. But why can’t we be dreamers too? I believe there is more than what meets the eye; the manifesto of the unconscious, hidden stories, a “dream” reality etc. This project explores how through the art of narrativity, spatial experiences can be crafted – bringing a new lens on how we approach spatial design. Beginning with an expressive dreamscape manifesto, the craft is then explored in a stage design (where art and design marry) and finally to a more pragmatic setting celebrating a place’s identity.
1 Manifesto: dream home
The beginning speculates how an unsonscious reality can manifest into a dream-like physical realm. Taking the personal journey of my home, I obeserve the symbolic relationship between myself, the surrounding objects at the current home environment. This unconscious notions are then amplified and manifested into a new form through a series of process and explorations.
2 Charcoal Boys, the theatre
A fictional narrative is crafted into a performing stage set through the art of scenography, observing the marriage of the arts and (spatial) design. Theatrical stage and scenic design are the creation of the visual and the aural: illustrating our unconsciousness. Unlike the manifesto in 01, the stage supports and extends an idea of a given narrative (in this case a performance). Through the art of scenography, the stage ‘action’ design is kept minimal; letting the stage narrate along with the story.
The fictional narrative is based on a haunting children’s story by Roger Mello; Charcoal Boys. Narrated by a wasp, Charcoal Boys follows a young boy working in Brazil’s charcoal mines. The boy’s strength and resilience shine through the darkness in this moving condemnation of child labor.
the crafting process
3 City of Dreams
“We are not just spectators of our reality, we are co-creaters.” – Katharina Grosse
Narrativity is deeply rooted in culture. Culture defines as the “stories that members of a culture measure their identities against, consciously or not.” This final part concludes the idea of crafting narrativity in following a local context; the creative culture in Bras Basah Complex. The aim is to show how the culture (narrative) can be elevated and experienced in a real communal environment.
Bras Basah Complex was known as the ‘city of books’ in the 80s, popular for its niche business in art and educational resources. Sitting humbly in the heart of Singapore’s Civic District, the creative culture is still prevalent today, however quieter. Books, art, music, antiques, galleries and more house in this 4-storey commercial building. Architecturally, the complex’s prominent features are the open voids and corridors that stretch along the shops. The fabric installation aims to amplify and celebrate the ‘hidden’ narrative; highlighting the collective sonsciousness and peeking into fragments of dreams.
The complex is a performing stage. The people performer. The installation highlights and becomes the performance.
