Abstract

This paper describes the process of generating creative and innovative design concepts and methods for obtaining clothing comfort inspired by the power of nature. Knowing through experiencing, experiencing through unknowing refers to a person’s deepest feelings coming from the deep impulses of human nature. In this context, the research explored how nature is conceptualised through bodily experience interacting with five elements — water, sand, shadow, movement and body — while attentive to feelings, emotions of immediacy, and the bodily knowing process. Merleau-Ponty’s (1962) phenomenology of perception and Gibson’s (1977) ecological approach to human perception elucidate how our perception is formulated phenomenologically through awareness of body and how far this translates into the reflective experience. Even though this research was linked to theoretical explication, those experiments were not from knowledge based on theory, but from fully sensorial and bodily activities based on the explorative research. This experiment enriched the research by creatively straddling the gap between theory and practice. This paper highlights experiential understandings of certain aspects of aesthetics in interaction, which leads to body-centred design practice. This project contributes to the interactive design field, illustrating how designers can incorporate a phenomenological representation of nature and the value of everyday activities and experiences into their design process.