We will make a teddy bear of the future.
Concept
In the future, despite advanced technologies and a changing world, there are certain aspects of the human condition that are consistent with what we experience today. Currently, children usually have comfort items like teddy bears and blankies to calm them.
In the future, these comfort items are increasingly used by adults. Because everything has become smooth (phone screens, glass buildings, computers), people need textured sensory stimulation. To have a break from scrolling and interacting with smooth, flat, cold glass, people have tactile toys to give them a break. These toys are therefore made with rough, angled, warmer fabrics and textiles. Rather than a smooth teddy bear being calming today, people find spikier and rougher objects comforting as a break from the smoother, flat objects they interact with all day.
Materials
The textiles of the future are largely synthetic, colder, and uninteresting to the touch. These are easier and cheaper to produce than the natural fabrics of today. Therefore, in the future, people long for rough cloths like linen, cotton-seed, denim, burlap, and wool. Therefore, we will be using these rougher natural fabrics in our project.
Idea Summary
We will be making a teddy bear out of these rougher materials to symbolize this shift. Teddy bears have been used for centuries and are associated with warmth, love, and childhood. It’ll be stuffed with synthetic cotton balls, but the exterior fiber will be all natural and rough to the touch.
Essentially, we are making an uncomfortable teddy bear by our modern standards.