Ana Grynberg
Personal Exoskeleton- Using linear materials
Class of: 2026
Major: Communication Design BFA
Medium: Wearable piece made of wire, cleaning pipes and envelop pins
Faculty: Aviva Maya Shulem
Prompt: We as a community are being closed, and we are standing on the outside of their shells. We are asked to shelter in space available to us and stay within. A cell inside our body might have been invaded by a parasite manipulating our cell production within. Our inner world of thoughts and feelings has been invaded and impacted by new realities outside our bodies. This project investigates relationships between the inner world and the outer world. In our new daily reality, each of us experiences an inside and outside of spaces in entirely new ways. Physical spaces, we found a temporary home. In this project, students are tasked with developing a body part cover inspired by exoskeletons’ anatomy, and it explores forms of protecting ourselves from their world. How is this shell a metaphor for our state of mind? Our emotions? Our physical being? Etc.
I used linear materials to design abstract shapes that follow the hand outline and go above the hand, forming an abstract shape. The project is supposed to represent ‘a new skin’ to our hands and give the person a different sense of touch. I decided to work with the exoskeleton of coral reefs, and I intended to design a piece that would bring awareness to the issue of climate change and how we perceive our environment. With that in mind, I wanted to design a hand wearable that would change our sense of touch and bring different colors to show the bleaching process caused by the climate crisis. Since the whole purpose of the piece is to generate awareness about climate change and the coral reefs, I created these mock-up magazine pages as an example of how I could use my project as both a fashion piece and a fight for an environmental cause. In conclusion, I loved that the project enabled me to use my creativity, work hard and learn skills.