From lingerie to table football – The inclusive design exhibition of Deák17 Gallery
With the increasingly widespread adoption of design, inclusivity is gaining ground, exploring the creation of techniques, structures and utility items to help persons with any disability live their life to the fullest possible. The ambition is not just to keep on creating items with new forms, but also tools that can provide widely available assistance. The Encounters. On our paths: With you 2 projectseeks to address these issues. The exhibition was created in a joint effort by MOME, the Hungarian Paralympic Committee, the EGYMI Movement Development Primary and Secondary School, Budapest, and House of the Hungarian Millennium, and features product design items that are linked to experiences that people with no physical disability take for granted.
We often fail to realise how large a part of these experiences is inaccessible to those living with disabilities. The Inclusive Tools initiative is designed to create items and furniture to help advance the integration of people with impaired mobility. The original idea was conceived during a university course, when Mátyás Galavits G. and Bulcsú Berzsák had the opportunity to work together with a Paralympics athlete. During the conversations it was mentioned that though he was not much hindered by the missing limb any longer, he was only able to participate in table football games as a spectator. Bulcsú and Matyi saw this as a specific and remediable problem and set to work accordingly. The resulting football table has arms designed in 3D to enable controlling with your elbow as if using your wrists. The concept has outgrown itself, the team grew, management was taken over by Enikő Gosztom, and MOME’s Proof of Concept programmes provides professional support and funding for further development.
Lili Pázmány’s work UNOBSTRUCTED represents a similar design approach. The inspiration came from the unique clothing needs of people with reduced mobility. Lili wanted to create outfits specifically for wheelchair users. The resulting items are designed to help with getting dressed and mobility, and are at the same time stylish and modern, because everyone should be given the chance to feel confident and attractive. Perhaps the most extraordinary pieces of the collection include (wheelchair) accessible lingerie, with variable solutions and magnetic fastenings for increased comfort for those with reduced mobility.
The exhibition also features a backpack that was also invented by Bulcsú Berzsák. It may seem like a conventional bag, which is precisely the goal. The twist lies in the specially designed straps which also function as a posture improving brace. Due to our sedentary lifestyles, slouching and poor posture is virtually endemic, potentially leading to scoliosis later. Medicine offers posture correctors which most people choose not to wear because of their sterile appearance. In this case, the brace part is hidden inside the backpack, making it unnoticeable. At the 27th Scientific and Innovation Talent Recruitment Contest for Youth, the jury specifically commended Bulcsú for his invention.
The gallery is worth a visit as in addition to the individual items, the exhibition also features a detailed description of the collaborations between MOME students and the students of the Movement Development Primary and Secondary School, the methodologies used, and the structure of a part of the exhibition material.
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The project was coordinated by Ábel Djogni Sédégbé and curated by Kinga German
The exhibition is open until end of November
