Experimental Design
Debbie Poon
Debbie Poon is a visual designer who was born and raised in London. Prior to joining the Information Experience Design course at the Royal College of Art, she studied Graphic Design at London College of Communication, before spending a number of years working for creative agencies and taking up editorial commissions for fashion and art clients in Hong Kong.
She has collaborated with fellow Information Experience Design students Akvilė Terminaitė and Michael Tsang, running a workshop on sensory probes as part of London Design Festival 2019 at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Her recent projects have been part of art and science exhibitions at the Royal College of Art, King’s College and Imperial College.
Debbie uses experiential storytelling and art direction to expand her practice as a designer and further creative communication. Her practice is interested in approaching subjects that are often overlooked or misunderstood and present them in a different light.
By exploring methods in research, visual and experiential mediums of communication, her focus is on making poetic pieces that present the multiplicity of perspectives in the digital era. The relationship between lived experiences and the notion of plural truths has been the basis of her work.
The film is the product of a year-long research into women from Chinese diaspora communities in London and the role that oral storytelling has had in the creation of jade myths, beliefs and culture, where jade jewellery is commonly treated as sentient protective charms. Through the lens of Haraway’s theory of situated knowledges (1989), lived experiences provide an important and enriched perspective on our understanding of the world, and the process of exploring this topic meant engaging with a section of society that is often shrouded by otherness.
This investigation also uncovered personal stories surrounding the sourcing of jade, and its socio-economic toll on those communities involved with the mining or digging of the raw material. Part of film’s dual narrative is based on news articles that were written during the late 2010’s, when the jade rush in Xinjiang (Western China) led the stone’s valuation to surpass the price of gold. This had influenced many of the indigenous Uighur communities in the region to adapt to new livelihoods, and at that time they were yet to feel the full effects from the ethnic riots that took place in the county’s capital city Urumqi.
Juxtaposing this narrative is that of a jade wearer whose strong emotional attachment to their jewellery, have bound with traumatic past experiences to reinforce their faith and comfort from the stone’s supernatural powers. It sheds some light on the magnitude of this belief in Asian cultures and its part in driving jade’s cycle of demand and often hazardous supply chains.
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5'05In Collaboration with:
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Seeking Solace in Stones film website
There is also a contribution section that welcomes the public to add their own experiences into the ongoing collection of jade stories, that will be used for future art and community projects.