Share Your World – Page 2 – Wearable Studios

October 14, 2018November 10, 2018

Share Your World – Ang Xin Yee & Rachel Teo

OHWAX’s Story World

The human race has reached the epitome of laziness
Nobody leaves the house anymore and everything is online
Physical stores are obsolete
The world is increasingly superficial because of social media
Thus, people still want to look beautiful

Rachel’s Microfiction – Beauty in Space

In the year 2×92, we now live on an orbiting space shuttle that’s approximately 180,000 miles away from Earth. A glance out of my window and I can see the beautiful planet that we once inhabited. Though I heard it used to be even more beautiful. I learnt that Earth was once a place filled with so much nature and life. After that catastrophic event in history, Earth was left uninhabitable, and everyone pretty much escaped into space.

My guess is that the governments then pretty much predicted it coming, there’s no way that they managed to create such a large scale, fully functional, liveable, space stations in a short amount of time. We were never educated about what happened. The older ones never spoke a word about it, it was against the rules to do so. There are eyes and ears everywhere.

Today is just like every other day, I am fully packed with appointments, and I can only hope I have spare time in the middle of the day to grab a bite, unlike yesterday. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job, waxing is something I enjoy doing, but travelling is such a chore. I heard that in the past, businesses operate via stationary shops. But due to the lack of space, businesses and professions became mobile. We bring the products and services to customers instead of them having to come with us. I’m lucky though, brow waxing does not require much equipment, everything fits into my handy little bag-pack. I don’t always visit homes, I sometimes do brows-on-the-go too, on trains when anyone needs a quick-fix when they are on the way to an important event.

Xin Yee’s Microfiction – Beauty on the plane

It is 2035 and Amy, labelled the future Heidi Klum, is travelling around the world for the World Fashion Month. Since the only time for rest during their hectic schedule and when they are traveling, only during then can beauty treatments be done. Thus, there is a specific plane for all models to take: Beauty Airlines. In this company’s planes, models can receive facial treatments, body massages, beauty services and have all their other needs met by services on the plane. Every seat will have a control section for the all services they need and more than one service can be used at any time by just pressing the buttons.

Amy requires a waxing treatment on her flight today. As soon as the plane takes off, Amy presses the ‘waxing’ button on the control section. The attendant for the waxing service makes her way down the aisle to Amy. The attendant is equipped with just a small backpack of equipment so as to not block the aisle.

The backpack includes all equipment such as a wax heater, applicators, cloth waxing strips, pre-waxing and post-waxing beauty products, tweezers and make up brushes, and cotton pads. The wax is heated up through a mesh conductor in the wax heater, using the heat energy from Amy’s body as she places feet on the conducting point, within a minute. The entire procedure is done in 5 minutes. Amy decides she should get a full-body massage since walking on the runway all day has caused body aches.

October 14, 2018November 11, 2018

Share Your World – Allison & Vashon

Practitioner: Food Rescuers

Current Trends:

By 2050 humanity’s ranks will likely have grown to nearly 10 billion people. In a scenario with moderate economic growth, this population increase will push up global demand for agricultural products by 50 percent over present levels projects The Future of Food and Agriculture, intensifying pressures on already-strained natural resources. (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2017).

Key Takeaway

Scarcity of food may become a reality in an extrapolated timeline towards the future.

Storyworld:

The world has officially run out of actual Food.
Former agriculture and food industries have turned towards manufacturing a processed substance called Blobs that have become the staple diet (only for sustenance) for the everyman. This is provided for free, but contains little nutrients and tastes very bad.
To make these blobs taste good with flavors and to add essential nutrients, people purchase and add Additives (Adds) to the Blobs after which they can be called Food.
Therefore, these Adds also contain special properties that replicate essential nutrients such as Vitamin C, etc. and due to their compostable nature, they also expire over time if they are unused.
Adds vary in price, so some poorer members of the population cannot afford them all.

Issues:

Ecological Problem
Social Problem

Revised Story

The Rescuers entered the marketplace, and Jaime their leader, started to give her orders.

“All right everyone, thank you for coming today. Before we begin, let’s check our equipment,” said Jaime, as she took out a random Add vial from inside her coat and scanned it with her CON-VIAL device.

Some beeping noises, and then the data appeared on her device’s screen.

[Results]

Edibility – O.K.

Magnesium — 20%

Zinc — 40%

Iron — 40%

Perfect, mine’s working, she thought to herself. She walked around and ensured that everyone else’s machine worked too.

“Alright, everyone has their inventory?” she asked. They nodded and gave a thumbs-up to her, waving their list of necessary nutrients the team was to collect that day.

“Perfect, let’s spread out and cover as much ground as possible!”

And off they went, with each Rescuer going towards a store of their own.

Jaime approached a storekeeper whose signboard read, “MUSHROOMS & OYSTERS”.

“Hi there, do you have any vials that will be expiring soon?” she asked politely.

The Storekeeper looked at her and grunted. “A Rescuer, eh?”

“Yes,” smiled Jaime. “One of the nutrients we need today is Zinc, so your store sign kinda screams that.”

“Yeah, yeah,” grumbled the Storekeeper. He walked around the back and came back a few seconds later with a few Add vials.

“These are the ones I couldn’t sell because mushroom flavours went out of vogue recently with the higher echelons,” he shrugged.

Jaime began to scan the Add vials one by one with the CON-VIAL to ensure they contained the nutrient they needed, and to check if the contents within the vial itself were already rotten.

After proceeding carefully, she concluded that the entire box was safe.

“Thank you sir, we will be putting these to good use,” beamed Jaime.

“Be sure to say hi to them for me,” said the Storekeeper as he sat down and went back to reading his paper.

***

“Jaime!” exclaimed a little boy dressed in ragged clothing.

“Hey Andy!” replied Jaime as the little boy rammed himself into her. Not one to waste time, Jaime began to test the boy with her SKINSENICAL device by tapping it on the boy’s skin.

The device read: ZINC DEFICIENCY.

“What did you bring us today?” asked Andy, excitedly.

“Mushrooms!” Jaime responded, as she prepared the Add vials she collected with her team earlier that day. “Give me your blob, Andy.”

Andy handed Jaime an odorless, grayish matter. She took it gently, then swung her machine bag around and placed the blog into her TRANSMUTATOR. A whirring noise occured and then a resounding ‘ding’.

“It’s ready Andy!” said Jaime as she took out the blob again, this time with a different color; it was a brownish-red. She handed it over to Andy.

Andy immediately chomped down on it and remarked, “MUSHROOMS ARE AMAZING.”

October 14, 2018November 6, 2018

Share Your World – Vashon Tnee

Microfiction 1 (Giving Day)

“It appears your family has a zinc deficiency ma’am,” said the rescuer as he raises his test device from the woman’s skin. He glances over at her child.

“It could mean growth retardation for her as well,” he continued.

“Yes, it has been difficult to purchase that particular Add recently ever since prices for it went up because of the recent demand in the upper echelons for mushroom flavoured items,” said the woman.

The rescuer nodded understandably.

The rich has often, in their own possibly unknowing way, influenced the overall market with their purchasing power to determine the demand and supply of the types of Adds that become available in the market. That is why it is up to him and his crew to take leftovers from stores where older Adds have gone out of vogue and give them to the needy who require Adds more for its nutrients rather than its flavour.

The rescuer smiles at the woman.

“Not to worry ma’am, my friends and I have collected some older versions of Adds, which contain the Zinc you need.”

“What flavour is it?” asked the child. The woman hushes her.

“It’s all right,” waved the Rescuer. “Today, you guys shall have oysters!”

With a press of a button, the machine on his chest starts to whir.

Microfiction 2 (Collection Day)

“Here take these,” said the storekeeper, handing over a couple of Add vials.

“Watch and learn, Rookie,” said the larger one with the Rescuer machine strapped to her.

“First, we test it for any anomalies, this is important. We need to make sure that it is still edible for our recipients.” She pulls out a device which scans the Add for any anomalies. A beeping sound occurs.

“Hey Storekeeper, I am afraid we can’t take this one,” she calls out. “Our machine reads that the compounds in it have begun to rot.”

“But it’s before the expiry date,” said the storekeeper.

“Yes, but unfortunately, we have to be extra careful with the items we give to our recipients.”

The storekeeper grumbles. “Fine, hand it over I’ll see if I have any others out back.”

The Rookie looks up at her senior with admiration. “Do you think that machine will be able to fix spoiled food?” she asked earnestly.

The senior looks at her with a thoughtful look upon her face. “You know what, I think you just gave me an idea.”

Microfiction 3 (Dumpster Day)

“This is gross,” called out one of them.

“But necessary,” chimed in the other.

Two silhouettes are rummaging in the dark through an open dumpster from a small alley.

“You know, as the Dumpster team, we really have it way harder than the Collection team,” said the first.

The second shook her head. “It’s not that difficult. All we have to do is find vials and scan them for edibility.”

The first just shrugs. “Hey I found one!” she calls out, raising a purple vial in her hand.

“Let’s scan it,” said the second.

The machine strapped to their backs comes with a scanner which looks like an artifact from the past where they used it for barcodes. Scanning the vial, the machine crunches itself with some noises.

“Alright, this one has Zinc, Calcium and Magnesium,” said the second proudly. She scratches off the items from their inventory.

“Perfect, now we have collected enough nutrients to start giving!”

NOTES

I came up with these three micro-fictions, but decided to take parts of them to create the revised story together with Allison’s selected pieces as well. We will be posting our revised story that comes with the full research on our storyworld and the accompanying graphic together in the next post.

October 14, 2018November 11, 2018

Share Your World; MicroFictions – Allison Kapps

Story 1 (My edited selection)

From my tiny and mostly bare apartment, I can see the hoards of them.

Lining up along the street waiting for their turn to get what they need from the Shapeless Shack.

I fiddle with a tiny vial, the ruby red liquid shines against the sunlight coming through my window. My jacket feels heavy, lined with dozens of other multi-coloured vials. I adjust the long trenchcoat again and sigh.

The reminder system in my apartment lets out two quick beeps. 15 minutes left until the Shapeless Shack closes and there will be hundreds of hungry, unsatisfied souls left walking the streets.

A large electronic billboard flickers to the right, overlooking an overpopulated square. “An add a day keeps the doctor away,” reads the sign in bright, crisp yellow letters. An apple sits proudly in the center.

I feel a spark of frustration. In tiny, black letters the ad reads $100. Expensive, I think.

I turn from the window and go to the door, where I put on my shoes. Then I pick up my converter, a large oven shaped device that I hang on my neck. The weight of the vials and the converter make my back ache, but I have no choice. I walk to the elevator and it makes a quick sound as it arrives.

Outside, a sour smell permeates the air. I make my way over to the Shapeless Shack, and as I do Anderson recognizes me.

“Jaime!” He exclaims, running towards me “Finally!”

Anderson’s tiny frame hits my leg. For an 8-year-old, he’s light as a feather. “What do you have for us today?” He asks.

“Let’s take a look, what are you in the mood for?” I ask in return, with a smile on my face. I open my jacket just a bit and show him all the vials inside.

“Wow.” He breathes, eyes bright with wonder. “So colorful!”

“Yep!” I tell him, “Do you want to see what you need?” I ask.

“Test me!” “Test me!” He chants. So I pull out my SkinSenical from my pocker and touch his skin with the cool metal tip of the long hand held device. ‘Citrus’, the monitor reads. “Some oranges, then?” I say.

“Hurray!” Anderson exclaims, excited to eat oranges for the second day in a row. He holds out his share of the glob. “Better than plain Glob,” he says in a half-whisper.

“Agreed,” I laugh, and take out a vial with bright orange liquid inside. I take his glob, and place it inside the large rectangular metal converter that hangs around my neck. Time to make some oranges, I think.

“Delicious,” I say, as I pour the bright orange liquid all over the glob, and it slowly transforms into an orange.

“Enjoy, Andy,” I say with a smile as I hand the orange to him.

Story 2

My shoes make loud, clacking sounds as I walk the pristine white aisles of AddCentral. Not a speck of dirt in sight, or a vial out of place.

I think about Anderson, and how thin he looked the other day. I make a mental note to get more Citrus Add since I know its what he needs the most.

“Ouch!” I hear someone exclaim from below me, followed by the sound of a wailing child. It’s a boy, perhaps aged 8 or 9, sitting on the floor of the store. I take note of his chubby cheeks and his clean blue overalls. “Mommyyyyy!” The child yells, disrupting the silence of the large store.

I hear the fast, relentless click-clack of heels approaching. “What happened, baby?” A lady asks, worried.

“He stepped on my hand!” The child exclaims.

The woman whips her body toward me, her beautiful white leather purse swinging around to follow. “Excuse me, but you should really watch where you’re walking,” She exclaims with a scowl.

“Right, sorry,” I say, distracted by the vials in her hand. I’m familiar with them, they’re some of the most expensive anyone can buy in the store. They’re each valued at $2000 dollars a vial.

It’s no wonder her son looks far from hungry, I think to myself.

Story 3

I observe the shopkeeper from afar, contemplating my approach. He’s talking to a client, having a conversation about the contents of a vial.

I hope he’s in a good mood, I think to myself.

The lady purchases the vials, and the shopkeeper smiles at her. He’s approachable, I decide.

I walk over from shelves nearby and approach him. “Excuse me,” I say, to get his attention.

He whips his head up from his computer and focuses on me. “Can I help you?” He asks, expectantly.

“Yes, actually. I’m from an organization called Add-Me-Too, and we collect expiring or unsellable vials. Do you have any that you don’t plan on selling?” I ask, hopefully.

“Hmm…I think I might in the back. You’re here at a good time, we haven’t done a dumpster run for the day.” He replies

Great! I think. Hopefully, this batch has some good content.

The shopkeeper returns with a big cardboard box. “Here’s all we got, be careful they’re delicate.”

“Amazing!” I exclaim. “Thank you so much for your help!”

I look inside the box and see 10 vials. Not too bad for one store, but no Citrus for Anderson. I make a mental note to visit Henry at Add supply after packing up these vials.

October 13, 2018November 6, 2018

Share your world – Chia Li Hui

In this world, everyone wears a wireless earpiece and listens to the same music. Music becomes a drug of choice and no one will be walking anywhere without the earpiece. The music depends on what is played in the location, e.g. in coffee shops or in the library (silent disco concept). As long as there is music playing in the location, the earpiece will be connected automatically and will play them.

It functions similarly to a solar panel (but instead of sun, it will work when there is the presence of music). People can choose to disconnect from the location’s music and engage in a conversation with another party by connecting to a virtual chat room. Parties can hear one another through the earpiece. When TVs or radios are detected, users can also choose to connect to them. It can also store music in this earpiece.

Whenever someone loses or damages their earpiece, he or she can easily collect another one in any nearby train stations for free.

Addresses accessibility and the reliance on this earpiece in this world.
Addresses social class issues → Something that everyone has, regardless of social class

Summary of the functions:

Plays any music that is playing at the location
Will function whenever any music is detected
Disconnect to background music
Connect to a virtual chat room to engage in a conversation (face to face)
If it detects any TVs or radios, users can choose to connect to them
Store music
Sets music of the location
Do not need to charge (like solar panel)

The story will focus on a male who is passionate about pottery and would like to perform street pottery to promote this underrated art. He uses a pottery wheel that works functions based on the music playing at the location. Whenever he reaches a location where there is no background music played, he will plug in his earpiece to the pottery wheel and sets the music of the location. This way, people who walk pass will be able to hear the tune he is creating his pottery to. As music consist of different tempos, there will be a stand to help control the stability of his hands which will help him to draw and carve the pottery in straight lines.

Sketch:

October 13, 2018November 14, 2018

Share Your World – Brenda Tan

Practice
Ceramic Art

Microfiction Story
In the year 2500, global warming is now almost fully eradicated. In order to stop the accumulation of heat, governments worked together to eliminate not just carbon dioxide emissions, but all greenhouse gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide. Deforestation and other harmful land uses that affect the Earth’s energy balance have been successfully reversed. As a result of this, the Earth is experiencing drastic climate change and now has an average temperature of -18°C. The weather in countries all around the world is now colder and drier than ever. Flowers are at the brink of extinction, and the Earth no longer looks as vibrant as compared to decades ago.

Our protagonist, Eleanor, has always been very passionate about ceramic art and she is now one of the very few ceramic artists left. Her family used to own a ceramic art cafe where people can either attend ceramic art workshops or just enjoy the ceramic art gallery while sipping their coffees. However, as the climate on Earth started experiencing drastic changes, the clay that they used could no longer withstand the low temperatures and started to harden very quickly during the throwing process. The chemical reactions between the mineral contents in the clay bodies during the throwing process is not controllable by the human hand. Thus, Eleanor’s family cafe was forced to shut down.

Eleanor’s biggest dream is to bring ceramic art back to life and she is unwilling to send it down the lane of banality. Therefore, she has been on a journey to educate others about ceramic art with her trusty one-of-a-kind convertible ceramic on-the-go backpack.

New technology
Eleanor’s convertible backpack includes the following functions:

Removable top compartment that converts into a ceramic art apron that holds all the tools she need
Heating element at the bottom that keeps the clay at optimal room temperature
Portable potter’s wheel box attached to the top of the backpack with atmosphere that mimics room temperature to facilitate the throwing process. Attached to the top of this box is a:
Retractable tablet that stores all the photos of the past that inspired her ideation process: the tablet can be connected to the potter’s hands through his veins, which enables the potter to shape or design the clay based on the photo selected through electronic signals that are sent to the bloodstream

Sketches

Close-up of portable potter’s wheel and retractable tablet

October 10, 2018November 5, 2018

Share Your World – Teo Zi Lin

Background information of storyworld

Practice
Traditional Teochew yam mooncake making

Sociological issue
Dying tradition of Teochew/dialect pastry bakeries
(read more: https://www.tnp.sg/news/singapore/keeping-traditions-alive)

Technological development
Wearable thermoelectric generators for human body heat harvesting. Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a new design for harvesting body heat and converting it into electricity for use in wearable electronics. The experimental prototypes are lightweight, conform to the shape of the body, and can generate far more electricity than previous lightweight heat harvesting technologies.
(read article:https://news.ncsu.edu/2016/09/wearable-teg-heat-harvesting-2016/)
(read research paper: https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/science/article/pii/S0306261916312594)

Storyworld genre
Dystopian

Storyworld description
A discriminating and divided society where heritage tradition practitioners (traditionalists) are scorned and ridiculed by modernists who think they are too cool for traditions. Exacerbating the issue is a law that ruled all forms of traditional/heritage arts and crafts illegal. As a result, all physical spaces and shops for such practices were seized by the government. Passionate traditionalists who refused to succumb and let their practices die out developed a wearable studio for their own practice. They continued to hone their crafts in the dark, while being wary of the modernists and heritage breakers (police force that apprehend traditionalists who carry out illegal practices) constantly hot on their heels.

Selected microfiction of the 3

A hot piping traditional Teochew yam mooncake sits in the middle of Yun’s palms, warming her hands as she wrapped her fingers around it. It is December, and the murky water of the underground sewage was still as rock, frozen. However, Yun’s heart was warm. “There is nothing like home and heritage,” Yun muttered under her misty breath, smiling as she gazed earnestly at the traditional pastry that she is so proud of.

“Damned traditionalists!” A hostile voice pierced through the silence and broke Yun’s gaze of fondness. Without hesitation, Yun packed up her equipments that she used to make the mooncake in mere seconds. When she developed her own wearable studio for making traditional Teochew yam mooncakes, she has already prepared for the worst scenario, and made sure that the design allowed her to keep the items quickly and efficiently while escaping from modernists and heritage breakers. Yun ran in the opposite direction of where the voice came from. However, she was soon surrounded by a team of modernists who left her with no escape route in the dark.

“Stop!” Yun cried to no avail as the modernists seized her wearable tools while pinning her to the ground. One of them took her glove with thermoelectric generators, attached the sensors that harvest human body heat rapidly to himself, and started burning her equipments while laughing menacingly. Yun can only watch helplessly amidst the tears forming in her eyes. “You are next, vermin.”

Complete revision (background information)

Storyworld genre
Utopian

Storyworld description
In an idealistic world where weaponry and militarism are obselete, when conflict arises, people settle their differences through a battle of traditional heritage pastry making. The one who is better at the craft wins, and the other accepts defeat without argument.

As a result of such conflict resolution methods, traditional heritage pastry making became the gentlemen’s arts. The trend of making traditional heritage pastry revived and went rampant. Everyone wants to hone their craft so that they can win during challenges. Seeing an opportunity for consumerism, a capitalist company, The Hare, developed a wearable studio and tools, called GentleHare, for making traditional Teochew yam mooncake. The wearable studio and tools were an instant hit and sold like hot cakes. People can now battle one another on the go in the streets to resolve conflicts, instead of being restricted to the kitchen.

Complete revision (microfiction)

“Let’s settle this like gentlemen, and let our craft speak for itself,” said the man in front of me. I nodded my head, straightening my GentleHare fedora and vest, ready for battle.

I was out to buy a birthday present for my Mum. While picking out a pendant in the shop, another man eyed the same piece of jewellery and both of us reached out to it at the same time. Unfortunately, that pendant was the last piece, and I really wanted to buy it for my Mum. I figured that the other guy must have really wanted to purchase it for his loved one as well. Unable to reach a compromise, we knew that there was only one way out – to settle this like gentlemen.

“10 minutes start now.” I proceeded to make a traditional Teochew yam mooncake, confident in my skills imparted to me by my Dad. After all, my Dad is a renowned chef and pastry maker, dubbed as the “Gentleman of all Gentlemen”. He has never lost a single challenge. To add on, I have the latest edition of GentleHare that boasts improved thermoelectric generators for harvesting human heat more efficiently. This allows me to save time off the deep drying process to focus on the other steps. There is no way I would lose. I remembered my Dad’s words like the holy grail, and made sure that every single step of the mooncake making process is flawless. As I stole a glance at the other man, he stumbled over making the spiral shape of the mooncake. At that moment, I knew my victory was secured.

Cover art

Teo Zi Lin – A0160163R