Sorina Bejinaru

The title of my fmp is ‘My Grandpas Shed’, I chose this title because my grandad was a very skilled craftsman and carpenter, and he always used traditional Romanian ways of crafting. After researching, I realised all my topics of interests have one thing in common, how culture affects the meaning and form of the material. Fundamentally all materials are the same, whether it is wood, ceramic, cement etc, they are just building blocks, but we give these materials meaning and form based on our culture and tradition. A project that pops into my mind is wild exchange’. It is all about using traditions craft ways and shaping materials based on the culture and craft, and searching for the original and history of these traditions. As my final piece for FMP I have designed a lamppost BBQ. Inspired by the integration of Romanian culture in London, and Romanias love for BBQ, this is a grill and table to be used outside of butcher shops in Burnt Oak high street, also known as “Little Romania”. During the summer, the Romanian community in London populate the area of Burnt Oak due to all the Romanian shops and butchers. The butchery will usually have a small BBQ for customers to taste the meat, but this always results in crowding around the shop, with little to no access for customers, so my Lamppost BBQ is a way for the butchery to hold their BBQs away from the shops door, but still close enough for customers to have access to the butchery.  My ideas did change a fair amount along the way, due to researching and finding out information I didn’t anticipate on finding out. For example, I did not think I would look into cultural fusion and cultural appreciation, but after l researched and realised that many cultures ‘borrow and trade’ their craft with each other, I realised that it would be very relevant to look into the fusion of culture. This discovery shaped my project in a different way to what I would of imagined.