Links and Cracks project emphasizes the linkages between interactions within society. 

In the links system, it can’t be opened by one person. To be linked together or taken apart, it needs at least 4 people to move the bars in the same direction and at the same time. Through this process, I want people to think bigger than themselves, and to reflect and respect their interactions within the wider lifecycle and ecosystem.

The brief was to use a mortise-tenon joint 榫卯结构 (a traditional Chinese architectural structure) to design a way of linking, based on a centrally symmetric regular polyhedron. Therefore, the design used NO glue, nails, or fasteners. We were required to design one or two types of components to make the whole item. The components and way of linking them needed to be centrally symmetric. I developed the structure through drafts and making models.

I got inspiration from the traditional Chinese medical therapy of WU XING which summarises the interactions of everything around the world into 2 cycles, creation, and destruction. The linkages in my design are aimed to reveal these two cycles and their interactions.

I designed a multilayer surface in order to make it look aesthetically attractive. The surface of the bar component is deep into the windmill sections. This creates grooves on the surface area. Grooves and fretworks give the project a fractured effect on its surface, to reveal the indifferent relationship in modern society.