Jewellery and Storytelling

As part of a research based teaching project, 11 students from the Accessory Design programme at Design School Kolding have interviewed elderly women in their own home – and received some very personal and moving stories.

-The stories are interesting because they convey the common values that our accessories represent. Values that have a deep connection with who we are, who we were, and who we want to be. They represent memories and stories that are important to us, explains PhD student Trine Højbak Møller Gøttsche.

Trine is a PhD student at Design School Kolding and has taught design students to understand the sense of belonging that elderly have with their personal accessories. Through semi-structured interviews the students mapped the emotional values of the women’s personal accessories to understand their (everyday) lives.

- What was striking was the women’s eagerness to share the memories and stories connected to the accessories. They really opened up and shared intimate and personal stories.

Trine’s PhD project studies the combination of accessories and welfare design. Wearables is an object that has an integrated computer or other piece of hardware small and light enough to carry on your body.