Kares
2020 // Ongoing
Shown at IDSA Junior show
Afro Pick + Rattail + Hair Accessory
Black Hair is Beautiful.
This styling tool is a personal love letter to Black hair-itage and culture. I wanted to explore the relationship and intimacy of intersectionality with natural hair and identity, as one cannot exist without the other.
We deserve to be caressed, appreciated, and valued. Especially through our relationship with hair.
Kares works as a detangling tool for all curly hair-types.
The original concept: Recycling from Plastics
Kares started as a project for our program’s sophomore curriculum, in which I hand-sculpted and carved the form from a PVC pipe. I tried to just experiment with the material with an unplanned design.
As ancestors have carved to create hair combs, so this became a modern technique of refinement and patience.
However, I wanted to try again to see if there was anyway to refine the form further, thus I re-addressed the project my Junior year.
Final Adobe Illustrator Vector.
Polystyrene is made by stringing together, or polymerizing, styrene, which is a building-block chemical used in the manufacture of many products. Ideally, I would have liked to use a more sustainable material, however I learned that it is the easiest material to cut on a laser bed, and as my design is one that needs precision, it was my best option.
Kares got to be in the front display of our collaborative showcase with our sister school. This was a high meaning within the heart to see how my expression of identity was shared as soon as you walk in the door.
Junior Showcase.
