Jueun Seo

Your Ground is a collection of relaxation tools, consisting of a clock, a picture book, home slippers and vests, for people who are suffering from depression.

Back in the days when I was suffering from depression, I could not be a productive person, because I was severely lethargic. Even looking at the clock was a cause of tremendous pressure and guilt within myself. Every moment, checking on the time I had wasted doing nothing only made me feel miserable and useless. I was stuck in an ever-frozen time.

Nowadays, the value of time is mainly represented by means of productivity and efficiency. This notion of time in modern days forces people to chase time to achieve a somewhat better future – and to neglect to embrace the present. The pressure of maximising productivity drives people to consume the present, and this destroys their chances of enjoying and caring for their present. However, time does not exist for a future that has not yet taken place. It is here, now, to be used to witness and to embody the present. It is this perspective on time that needs to be changed, if you want to escape from the pressure of having a ‘valuable’ reality.

The clock and the book are tools for emotional empathy and stability. The clock is for people who have lost a sense of time. It is designed to ground them in the current moment. It doesn't tell you the exact time using numbers, but, seeing the clock's subtle movement, you will only notice that time is slowly passing. It also helps you to realise that your time is not dead or has not stopped, but is moving meaningfully in its own way. In addition, the picture book tells you a story of the time that I experienced when suffering from depression. It was created to empathise and to console people who are going through depression. It also provides an opportunity for people who don't know about depression to understand how people with depression feel.

If the clock and book are for mental grounding, the wearable collection is about body grounding. I designed home slippers and vests, which bring more direct interaction as sensory applications. Although physical contact helps people to stabilise mentally, people with depression tend to avoid such contact, because they are hypersensitive to even the slightest stimulation. Therefore, various physical stimulants were applied to the daily wearables. The slippers have three different stimuli that help your blood circulation by stimulating the soles of your feet. Also, the vest is structured to relax your posture in a comfortable way. Through different stimulations, naturally exposed to the users, these tools encourage people to be fully aware of their bodies and physical conditions – these tools are designed to help the users to ground themselves in the present.