Material: Earthenware
Dimensions:
Cubit: L 54cm W 7 cm H 6 cm
Handbreadth: L 20 cm W 8 cm H 5 cm
Finger: L 12.5 cm W 6 cm H 2.5 cm
Foot: D 10.5 cm H 5.5 cm
Establishing a standardized system for units of measurement and weight, one of the earliest technologies, represented a step in establishing a cooperative human society. Standards for measuring length and width in ancient times relied on the measurements and movements of the limbs of the human body, and evidence of these techniques are still to be found in use around the world.
I wished to investigate and apply this law-like regularity by designing measuring tools which are based on the dimensions of the human body. I am not concerned with historical elements but rather with a set of archetypes which establish new relationships or which reconstruct primal relationships between man and his environment.
The project consists of four measuring tools, each one tailored to standardized terminology and related to the measurements of the human body: Cubit, Handbreadth, Finger, Foot.
LICC Award: London International Creative Competition, 2011