Talk over tea
Problem. The challenge was to explore design interventions that could empower non-native pregnant women in The Netherlands to improve their pregnancy experience in a foreign culture.
Approach. Being a very open assignment, the project began with interviewing non-native women who had given birth while in The Netherlands about their pregnancy experience. In my discussions it was clear that these women had to deal with many cultural differences during their pregnancy. A lack of a shared social and ideological structure seriously deteriorated the pregnancy experience. I took this as a starting point and as a step in creating this shared environment, I decided to design a shared ritual through which such women might exchange their stories and reflect upon their personal place within this cultural conflict. I chose to focus on the existing social ritual of tea drinking as a domain to create this ritual.
Results. The tea set brings back the participatory idea behind a tea ceremony. The four spouts immediately amplify the teapot's function as a shared object and invite participation and social interaction. This tea pot demonstrates a case where a simple product can be transformed into a very context specific innovation by concentrating on the way products shape our experience in context.
