COMPUTERARTS.CREATIVEBLOQ.COMDESIGN INSPIRATION JUNE 2019
The more I learn about meditation, the
more I see that it was always a part of
my work and my world.
It started with panic, when I was aged
14, attending school and surrounded by
others in varying states of confidence and
confusion. Desperate to find isolation I’d
escape out the windows. Swinging myself
out and up, I’d scale the old, cold ceramic
tiles to sit on the prow of the building, a
leg dangling either side. It was my place of
solitude: a space to get into my adolescent
angst about the things that were bothering
me, ranging from the ephemeral nature
of our existence to the pain of having not
been invited to some girl’s party. I’d really
dig into my issues, spending my time alone
focusing and observing every moment,
savouring each morsel of embarrassment
or pain, over and over.
It was a long, ongoing, journey from that
time to now, where I am – for most of the
time – pretty bloody happy. I spend
30 minutes of every working day sitting
in a place of solitude, except that now
I spend that time alone focusing and
observing every breath, emotion or
physical sensation, over and over, while
practising mindfulness meditation.
How did I get from the roof to the
meditation cushion? When I was six my
brother showed me an anime film called
Akira. It blew my mind and I started
devouring all the books and films to do
with Japan that I could find. My mind
began to fill with stories of Japanese
noble women lunching under cherry
blossoms that were beautiful only
because they were ephemeral, together
with tales of finding pleasure in the
smallest of actions: in the feeling of warm
water when washing one’s hands, or
drinking cold water on a hot day.
As I became more interested in design,
the mindful use of materials and clarity of
structural elements moved me: images of
Zen monks, of exquisite tea ceremonies
and silent temples began to fill my mind.
I went to Nagoya on a university
scholarship in 2009 and brought many of
the stories into reality.
I still felt the need to escape, which
inspired me to create the HUSH Pod in- At the time I thought it was just
about creating privacy from our densely
populated urban environment, but now I
know that it’s also about providing retreat
for solitude and reflection in our hyper-
connected reality. The more chance we
have to share and stream and connect, the
more important it becomes to have time
alone to think about what it is we want to
share, stream and connect.
In 2015 I was awarded my second
chance to go to Japan, this time as a Daiwa
Scholar. I used this as an opportunity to
finally allow the seed of interest planted
by those images from my earlier years to
come into fruition, and set about seriously
investigating meditation.
I conducted the enjoyable experiment
of trying as many types as I could.
I explored Gong Yo with a friend. I studied
Tea Ceremony at an ancient temple in
Tokyo – never before or since has tea
PEACE OF MIND
Freyja Sewell’s furniture designs place
a strong emphasis on well-being and
mindfulness, and use traditional construction
techniques with cutting-edge technologies.
http://www.freyjasewell.co.uktasted so overwhelmingly good. I sat
crossed-legged and endured being struck
with a wooden stick at a Zen meditation
class. I walked across hot ash at a Shino
purification ceremony and built an
installation inspired by the occurrence in
a traditional wooden house in the country
side. After two years I returned to the book
I’d brought in my suitcase, finding that- perhaps unsurprisingly - mindfulness
meditation worked best for me.
Although my interest in meditation
began by looking into the past, the reasons
for continuing are set firmly in our present,
or even our future. The ever-increasing
quantity of neuroscientific evidence
for the benefits of meditation drove me
to make real space for it. Its ability to
counteract many of the negative effects
of technology consumption drives me to
help others make time for it in the future.
Here’s just one example: high MMI users
(man-machine interface users – people
who spend more time on their phones
and computers) were recently shown to
have reduced grey matter in the anterior
cingular cortex. This is a part of the brain
associated with ethics; pretty scary if this
trend is allowed to continue. Meditation,
particularly loving kindness exercises,
have been shown to increase empathy and
altruistic behaviour.
It’s logical that increased empathy and
altruism would make more conscientious
designers and consumers. People
are more likely to choose the non-
environmentally damaging washing-up
liquid, the vegan option on the menu and
the T-shirt made by the adult employee on
a wage that meets the cost of living.
So I started to meditate for all the
above reasons, but really only one reason
matters to me and gets me to sit down to
it (even though I’m really not in the mood
sometimes), which is that it makes me a
little happier, every day. Simple.
Freyja Sewell designed the HUSH Pod, constructed
largely of industrial felt made from recycled PET.