This story is portion of Image’s May well issue, Homemaking, about dwelling and the several methods we pick to make it.
My bathroom seats are an offshoot from the cell phone cases I make. The notion driving the cellphone circumstances is likely by way of this each day object — there’s not a lot of design and style all-around a cellular phone, even while we use it for so many matters. There’s some thing genuinely beautiful that occurs when folks see a made object in a room wherever they really don’t anticipate it. The exact is legitimate of rest room seats. There isn’t a ton of design innovation close to them, even although it is an each day item that we use many periods a working day, devoid of pondering. We just assume it is heading to look and be the exact as it normally is. And I’m like, why is that?
Bailey Hikawa, “Food and Jewelry” (2024), bathroom seat showcasing silver-plated fork, knife and spoon faux diamond engagement ring genuine pretzels faux diamond earrings and necklaces bogus ketchup packet phony chicken wing genuine animal crackers actual Cheerios pretend milk pretend spaghetti serious Cheetos faux pizza slice Diet plan Coke can fake gummy bears true gummy worms pretend bacon bogus gold check out true Cheez-It fake pearl necklace.
(Bailey Hikawa)
For this toilet seat, I ran with the “homemaking” prompt [of L.A. Times Image’s May issue], which is a wonderful prompt, and a sophisticated and loaded one particular, even while it’s this sort of an outdated, common word. It brought up a lot of issues for me about gender, about who customarily has made a household. In the end, I went again to this tradition of who cleans toilets — ladies clean up the bathrooms, females have often cleaned the toilets. And in this article I am as this new technology of a lady who receives to make the genuine toilet seat. I wanted to talk about gender, about elegance and becoming a female and adorning my overall body — I required to consider about these principles and enable them marinate in the stew of the disgust of a bathroom seat.
What is homemaking? It is a lot of browsing, a lot of cooking, a lot of cleaning. But I also wished to explore the historic principle of homemaking, even though homemaking now is, like, purchasing on Amazon. I wished to at the very least throw a bone to what the previous homemaking was. I was contemplating about feminist artists who are performing with these difficulties, like Judy Chicago‘s “The Meal Bash,” exactly where she would make a area placing for feminist artists. In that area environment, she’s inquiring, what does it necessarily mean to be a woman artist? And who are we setting a table for? I realized I desired to begin from silverware, which is about household arranging, which we really do not do any more. Rather, we are stuffing our faces with pizza and Food plan Coke. We’re feeding our little ones gummy bears on the flooring and Cheerios all about the location. There’s a chaos to ingesting in our modern day earth, which is just the reverse of the regular setting exactly where you make a meal and set a spot for your spouse and children.
For this rest room seat, I ran with the “homemaking” prompt, which is a lovely prompt, and a difficult and loaded 1, even although it’s this kind of an old, common word. It brought up a large amount of issues for me about gender, about who traditionally has designed a property.
— Bailey Hikawa
The jewelry really felt like the icing on major. Shiny objects are so easy to come by these times, just like quick foodstuff. We’re getting them promptly and placing them in our bodies and placing them all around ourselves to make us not come to feel disgusting and management ourselves, our properties. Fake jewellery has something variety of disgusting about it, but it is so glittery foodstuff is glittery and scrumptious way too. A little something about those two points felt right — also in a toilet seat, where we are continuously denying that our bodies are disgusting.
Some of it is genuine food. The Cheerios are serious. I have some animal crackers in there. I did fake pasta, pretend milk. The pizza slice is pretend. The ketchup is pretend. The rooster wing is pretend. I have been wanting to use that rooster wing simply because it is so very good and juicy — it’s a mix of authentic and bogus.
I have worked with food items just before. I’ve produced a BLT toilet seat. The eyeglasses bathroom seat is 1 of my favorites. The watches one is incredibly well-known. There is anything about aged watches that trigger a thing for folks and understanding that they do not work. There is anything there that goes deep into our psyche and it currently being in a toilet seat — the juxtaposition of time and our bodies slipping apart.
I used to make paintings, sculpture and installation. One thing occurred for me when the sculptures and installations had been activated by use. It was a little something I wanted to lean into and observe. I started operating for a set designer, which in a way was starting to merge these artwork spaces with precise use. I realized I required to shift in that path, so I did function in film and Tv set. I do not know, perhaps I’m a people today pleaser, but there is a thing about men and women utilizing an object and having it be in their each day daily life that feels so precious and available.
As instructed to Elisa Wouk Almino
Bailey Hikawa is an artist and self-taught industrial designer residing and performing in Los Angeles. Her perform has ranged from portray to sculpture, scenic structure, immersive set up and efficiency, all mediums that contribute to her interest in the intersection concerning artwork and function. She launched her design studio in 2019 with the launch of a line of ergonomic sculptural Apple iphone scenarios.
