charlotte bombel

In developing SCOPE, I explored ways of reproducing how natural light illuminates our homes very soft and evenly, after being reflected by numerous matter and therefore being scattered into countless smaller beams.

Within the design I focussed on three key points that I believe have to be considered to humanize indoor lighting: height positioning, color and reflection.

Light influences our sleep, productivity, cognition and general wellbeing.  

Acknowledging lights impact on humans is ever more relevant in recent years and especially current events like the Covid-19 pandemic, as the home has extended its purpose. From once being a place where we predominantly eat and sleep, it has evolved into a multifunctional hub for rest, work and leisure. As a result, we require light objects like Scope that adapt to a broader range of needs in an intuitive, understandable way.

Photo I by ©Ronald Smits

This is a children's clothing concept that uses knit as a handcrafting technique to extend the size and therefore lifespan of garments.
By now it is common sense, that there is an urgent need for more sustainable ways of consumption. This lead to a shift in the values of many consumers to feel more responsible and therefore the will to actively participate in the making and maintenance of garments.
Especially in the field of children's clothing, it can be a real challenge to reduce and buy less, because children quickly grow.
Extendables, enables the consumer to continously adjust and customize the size of a garment and to individually react to a child’s needs and wishes.
Due to the unique nature of knit as a technique the pieces are endlessly extendable and also completely reversible.
The edges on the cuffs and body, that will extend over time, are marked with a coloured rim. By picking up the last stitches around the edge of the garment, missing rows can be added at home.

Drawing inspiration from leather of the amazonian PIRARUCU fish, I wanted to recreate the repetative, three dimensional and flexible pattern.

As a result I developed a way to give paper this simple but beutiful structure that plays with translucency light and shadow.

Inspired by the technique of slipcasting, these vases challenge the natural behavior of latex:
it‘s instability. Using the shape it self as the skeleton to keep the vase standing gives them their playful look.

The semi transparency of the latex allows it to interact beautifully with the light. Taking latex out of it‘s fetish image into the livingroom.

When thinking of luxuriousness, one of the first associated materials is marble.
As the material of choice for ancient sculptors and architects, it has long been a cultural symbol of refined and exquisite taste. Its beauty has never fallen out of fashion.
Because of its rarity and price, craftsmen came up with an alternative: stucco marble, an ancient technique that combines plaster in a way that mimics the natural sedimentary layers in marble.

The basic ingredients, mainly plaster, are not only cheap but individually hold no association with luxury. Only when treated by a craftsman it becomes valuable due to the transformation by the expertise and my interested in the contrast between cheap ingredients and luxurious results grew.

I want to open up the question, on which parts we really need a perfect finish because we really come in contact with the object, and where raw untreated materials can be beautiful left as such.

Applying marble as a cultural symbol of luxury to a contemporary stool aims to emphasize the value of craftsmanship and the beauty of the difference between a smooth finish and the raw material.

In this early project, I researched the phenomenon of pattern recognition in humans.

Our brain’s tendency to complete complex patterns result in visual relaxation. It let‘s us comprehend complex structures in a matter of seconds.Looking into the development of patterns, which the automotive industry uses to hide new models wile test driving, started the interest in altering or irritating shape by using a pattern.

I played with perception of depth, focus and shadow within new designs as well as famous recognizable pieces as a reflection on how the absence of shape informs our understanding of an object.

Venomous is an alternative treatment tool set for Bee-Sting-Therapy also called Apitherapy. Bee Venom has recently gained in popularity to help treating medical issues from autoimmune diseases to arthritis.
Hearing from the experiences of a multiple sclerosis sufferer, I wanted to create Venomous to simplify the process through designing a full kit of appealing objects to help begin therapy.