A furry table that needs to be combed and cared for as a way of extending agency in body-object relationships.
Drawing inspiration from a familiar learning environment, the classroom—and modifying a central object within it—the table—shifts the function of the object through material engagement. By altering the materiality of the table and dressing it in fur, it can evoke a different touch or gathering.
The table needs to be cared for, combed, and connected with.
Through caring by combing a connection can be learned in a soft learning environment.
Gæla, or the Pet Project, is an explorative design research studio operated since 2019 by Marta Heiðarsdóttir, fashion designer based in Iceland and Helga Lára Halldórsdóttir, PhD candidate in fashion design at the Swedish School of Textiles. Their partnership explores and suggests a new set of embodied behaviours of care between body and object. The value of care in daily life between individuals and objects is their main focus, and designing more opportunities for people to engage with material objects through acts of care and affection.