Intimacy could mean a plethora of things depending on who you are asking. It could mean the close experiences between family members, creating a strong familial bond. It could mean two lovers sharing a passionate experience with each other or it could be love of the self. Intimacy does not need to be a physical experience either. It may take form mentally, emotionally or intellectually as humans are complex beings that define things differently, including intimate moments. In

whichever form it takes, everyone desires some form of intimacy.

However, intimacy is not physical to me. I do not long for the intimate moments shared between two people. I mostly have an _aversion for being vulnerable with others, making it hard for me to desire intimacy with another. Instead I have been on a journey, one whereI will be able to achieve philautia, intimacy of the self. Intimacy to me is being able to

listen to my own feelings, put myself first and being able to acknowledge my value as a person. It’s about being present. It’s about talking through my insecurities, FEARS and worries and being vulnerable with myself.

To be present with me as I go through the good and bad moments in my life and as I struggle and find myself lost some days. I find that I am intimate with myself in those crucial moments in my life.

With the previous research I did before coming to the item design task, I really wanted to make this theme have more meaning to me and my identity and not be as surface level as my previous concepts have been. That is why I made sure to include my own items that have cultural significance to me, masks that have cultural meaning and poetry and writing that speaks to me on a personal level in terms of intimacy.

For the identity phase, I want to look into how my feelings, emotions and parts of my culture

morph into new physical forms and how I could incorporate this part of my identity into this phase.

Like using the shapes of the masks as silhouette inspiration or using the lining that appears in them so often. I have also looked at how the poems make me feel and have tried to make them appear in movement and flows of the designs I have created.

As well as having big or sharp aspects in the items that represent the rejection and projection of fear or being intimate with others.

For identity, I want to explore a feeling in which I was hesitant to due to how I reject this part of my identity. I want to look at how things sometimes don’t feel real or as if I am on the outside looking in. As if I am not in my own body and everything feels synthetic. I am aiming to find a visual representation of this feeling as I have trouble finding a physical form for what this is. As well as my own journey with my gender self expression, a part in I have accepted, I would want to explore these identities of myself.

To me, adornment comes in the form of culture and traditions. As someone who was raised in South Africa, a country with 11 official languages and such diverse cultures, I was surrounded by people constantly adorning themselves.

Many African traditions use beads to create jewelry that has cultural and traditional significance when put on.

Each piece has its own meaning such as young girls who are unmarried versus women who are getting married that adorn
themselves with jewelry to show their importance on their wedding day. Adornment is used as a form of expression or to convey a message to others without having to verbalize it.

As for myself, I use adornment to stay in touch with my roots in order to keep that connection to my home, as well as to define my traditions. I also use it show the confidence I have in my own culture as well as distinguish myself as it is not part of the norm to wear my traditional pieces in the western fashion scene.