Elke Cuppens03. 05. 1996Since 2020 Elke likes to design happenings in the form of participatory installations, She wants people to interact with each other and thus establish new relationships.
These informal happenings are often linked to dining, where conversation is of great importance. She tries to subtly steer this conversation through the actions provoked by the installation itself.
The communal act that the participants must undergo provokes questions about our dependency and proximity. During her bachelor in product design at LUCA School of Arts in Genk (Belgium), she was constantly reminded by the polluting industries of objects and clothing.
She is therefor always looking for second hand materials and tries to never use any glue or other substance that makes the object difficult to disassemble. Most of the time, the second hand materials are giving her more creativity because of the restrictions like form, weight, color,.
Somtimes a material is even the start of a new project, just by looking at it. This way of designing brings her back to the way she looked at stuff while playing as a child. She believes playing is not only for children, this is why most of her work has a playful element.
Not only does she designs objects, she is also one of the founders of Crocodile Boulevard, a tiny house community where everyone builds there own little house with low-key materials.
She believes that everyone should build a house in their life, it's not that hard. And if the house is on wheels, even better!In the future, she would love to make more eating-installations to connect people from eachothers' neighborhood.
A good environment is the most important thing to create a happy place for everyone.
