How culture-specific ideas and mindsets could be translated into a physical design?
Ripple effect tea table is part of the Jeonghwa Seo’s degree project 'The geography of objects' at Eindhoven Academy.
The tea table attempts to deliver an interface for analyzing the way of considering cultural differences in psychological level through the process of design and form. Business organizations need to be culturally sensitive when entering new markets or tossing out new products. On a similar note, we here want the design fraternity to consider cultural nuances and mentalities when designing in order to make design more poignant and meaningful.
There is a belief by Asian people that small changes in an individual's life can have an impact and have a certain effect to the whole community, which in a psychological term is called a "ripple effect".
Hailed as the “Ripple effect tea table,” the table blends Eastern ritual with the social relationships. Each time you place the cup on the table surface, the ripples can be seen speeding up on the surface of the body.
The process that takes place when the ripples are formed and slowly expands to disturb the whole water layer then becomes the visual symbolism of a deeper psychological understanding of what we are trying to articulate in the design of this tea table.
Give the fact globalization is shaping the future of World Economy, a deeper understanding of a region’s culture and cultural differences as against other social structures will help one get on top of the heap.

Material _ ash, plywood, earthen ware, pure water
Dimension _ 120 x 50 x 35 (cm
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