Pebble is a small furniture set that provides companionship for international students. The aim is to explore the possibilities of personal relief from loneliness and to allow international students to face their mental and physical health from their own inner, rather than just going out to socialise as a brief relief from the loneliness of being in a foreign country.
Story 01 - Normal life
Storyboard
Steven and Trancy are an unmarried couple in a long-distance relationship. When pressure from work and school is not so heavy, their lives are on an even keel and they communicate mainly through video chats and messages to exchange their lives. And they will be in daily contact in a time zone where both time zones overlap (shadow area).
Story 02 - Disconnections
As the college deadline approaches, Steven stays up late due to the heavy project workload, causing him to have to sleep during an overlap period when he should be in contact with Trancy, who feels disconnected, worried and angry that she cannot contact Steven. She has no other means of contacting Steven except by mobile phone.
Story 03 - Trancy's expectation
"I wouldn't worry so much if I could know he was still sleeping. I hope that one day the connection between us will be more than just seeing each other's faces or hearing each other's voices, if one day I can feel his presence from far away, even if it's just a little bit, that would be wonderful for our love" — Trancy
The current pebbles can interact with three parts of the human body: the toes, the joints and the hands. By taking the shapes of intimate body contact from real-life interactions and classical paintings, they are transformed into pebble prototypes and made into breathing hollow pebbles by silicone moulding.
The project “Pebble“ originated from the project - “Sleep Rhythm”, which triggers the physical and mental memories of insomniacs, simulating their slow descent into a sleep accompanied by the rhythm of others' breathing.
Sleep Rhythm allows the user to feel the care for their sleep of others through the auditory and tactile feeding, and on the other hand, the person shows their own emotions towards the feeder - in the form of missing, which is more pronounced when they are in different areas.
I kept exploring the relationship and connection between presence and absence and determined the audience for my project - international students. By working with and observing them and continuing to develop the project to the new stage: the loneliness among the international students.