Memory is shifting, in terms of form, function and meaning. Memory is personal, not record of history but reconfiguration of the past by an individual’s present thoughts. Memory is discontinuous, a mixture with reality and void. The void is often refilled with imagination; however, limited by the recording methods, reality is also interwoven with imagination since one can hardly perceive all. Because of the individuality of memory, the presence of an object shifts in different scenarios. In a painting, an object is flattened to 2D, while the back side of this object persists unknown as a memory void to be filled. The scene in a painting is curated intentionally by a painter who creates a collection of objects which might not exist in the same time or space. The individualized memory, a combination of reality and imagination through time and space, lead to dissimilar typology of design of diverse scales. From an object to a built environment, the shifting typologies mutually influence each other and alter the functionality, aesthetics and meanings of the memory itself.

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A kitchen strainer on a 17th century still life painting of Clara Peeters is redesigned three-dimensionally in this proposal. The front of the strainer is refined within the same typology but its functionality and aesthetics have been changed, the hidden back being revealed as a heterogeneous structure. The holes on the strainer remain, while the solid part is subdivided, depressed, extruded, remerged… converted to a new form built on the context of the oval arrangement of openings. It’s no longer a flat strainer with evenly distributed holes, but a field that inhabits various species of objects and space. An object scaled multiple times brings about transformation of function, meaning and visual impact. A strainer can be hold without effort by a housewife, but when it is transformed to a fishing tool, a man has to carry it with strength to pull out the fish. Or it could be so big that it is fastened on the deck and integrated into part of a fishing ship.  When it scales up, it transforms to a landscape island that needs ferries or a bridge to reach, an island about the object and its memory of human waterfront activities. The island is the articulation of subdivided solid and void, which becomes inhabitable that people can explore and reflect on the memory of this typology. Oppositely, the strainer could turn small, to be a bubble blower, creating complicated bubbles by its dense texture and multiple openings. When the densification of texture becomes decorative, it draws more attention on ornamentation than its original function, it probably becomes an accessory on human outfit, or an art craft to collect.

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