Jasmin Druffner

Interchangeability. While we all need to carry our things around with us, there is always a better and more efficient way of doing so.

For this project, I was compelled to look into an ephemeral material with a traditional, long-lasting aesthetic. Inspired by old-school rucksacks that my Dad has used in the 70s to go to school or hike the Swiss Alps; I wanted to create a compostable backpack that would resemble aggregated culture and history, while also being user-friendly to the modern urban dweller.

What I came up with is a backpack made of only three ingredients: organic cotton, jute fiber, and aluminum buttons. There is no use of glue or superfluous hardware or plastics.

The biggest challenge within this project was figuring out how to create such a minimal backpack without compromising functionality.

Use your rucksack in the city or nature, and when you are done take apart the buttons. Throw the backpack on a compost pile and recycle the buttons, or save them for your next rucksack.

Kere is named after Kerepakupai Merú, or "waterfall of the deepest place" in native language Pemon. Also known as Angel Falls, this is the World's highest waterfall. The strenght of the water mimics the function of the grinder.

Through extensive research I have found that many coffee grinders that are on the market are not designed to last. For this project I focused on designing a grinder that is fit for the outdoors and makes sense within its form and functions for the user and its ever-changing environment.

Common reed (Phragmites australis sp.) is an invasive plant in Denmark. Although it has been used as a natural material to construct roofs in the past centuries, nowadays there has been little to no use for this incredibly resistant and durable plant.

When becoming aware of the large amounts available of this material, I became interested in its properties and if it could be used in industrial scale. The intent was to create a bio-degradable material that could help with controlling the population of this plant species. After many trials, a new material was born: using only common reed, recycled flour, salt and sugar.

The common reed material proved to be easily molded by hand when wet, and very strong yet light when dry. As a proof of concept for the material, I designed raffe øre – a biomimicry inspired passive amplifier.

The reverse-engineering implemented in this passive amplifier mimics the ear structure of most mammals, but especially the giraffe-ear. The sound waves being emitted by the phone are propagated when they impact an area that is bigger in scale than the waves. This effect is ultimately enhanced once the shape of the structure continues to funnel outwards.

In order to develop a functional passive amplifier, the shape and the surface treatment of raffe øre had to be very specific. The surface of the area has to be even for the sound waves to reflect, and because the original surface is sound-absorbing, beeswax was used as a finish - thus creating an even surface, and also making it water-resistant.

Ikebana is a Japanese tradition that dates back to the 6th century. The Japanese art offloral arrangement is deeply entangled with their culture and social norms. There are many rules that apply to this form of art, such as color combination, size and placement composition. Ikebana is a detailed and manicured design that serves to enhance the beauty of the death of flowers. It is a symbol of time, and interaction of dominant, sub-dominant, and subordinate components. Through my research, I was inspired to develop a narrative about family, and the female strength within a family and community.

Carrie Mae Weems is on of my favorite photographers. She is well known for the Kitchen Table series (1990), in which she explores a valid portrait of an often overlooked subject, in this case, a modern black woman. The images trace a period in the woman's life as she experiences the blossoming, then loss, of love, the responsibilities of motherhood, and the desire to be an engaged member of her community.

Through this project I felt urged to develop two pieces that would both inspire and challenge the user. My main aspiration was to propose floral arrangements that could hold a conversation within the two vessels.

A small stool has been passed down from my greatgrandmother to my grandmother, then to my mother. One day I asked my Mother why she has kept that little stool for so long, and what it meant to her. She told me that she would regularly use the stool to step on to and be able to argue with

my Father eye-to-eye since he is much taller than her and she felt like she needed some leverage.

Dialogue in my family has always been very hard because we are all opinionated people. I decided to create a stool that could be a conversational piece about the passing down of womanhood, but also a place to sit, converse and dialogue instead of a stepping stool for argumentation.

My grandmother loved deers and would collect album figures of local wildlife in Germany in the 1940s, a common hobby at the time. I have kept her figure album very well since she has passed away and wanted to imprint these animal forms and childhood memories in my work, as a reminder of what is kept after we pass away and what is left to the next generations.

Interested in developing functional housewares for ceramics, I studied various shapes of handles and ways of holding the perfect tea mug, until I created the wind-up mug. Inspired by wind-up toys, this mug and its handle are ergonomically playful.

Tøj advokater was a particularly empathic project. Being able to relate to people with a refugee background was sorrowful at times, but also refreshing at the same time. Their ability to recover from their hardships and move on, and start a new life in Copenhagen was very inspiring. Having a new start in mind, it was easy to give a new life to used mterials. 

We were asked, as a group, to interview refugees from different age groups, and ethnicities that have been living in Denmark. We talked to them over a shared dinner, and got to know them better, in order to understand their needs regarding fashion. At the beginning of the project, it seemed to me that clothes are very trivial to one that has experienced such stressful events, but as I went on with my research I learned that it's little things that makes life normal again. We found that many refugees in their twenties are looking for jobs, and in need of formal clothes that could be used to make a good first impression in a job interview. 

As a foreigner myself I was able to appreciate and study the Danish Fashion, and what it means to blend in with a different culture and still retain your own identity/culture.

Bromo is named after the active volcano Mount Bromo, located in East Java, Indonesia. As a mini size volcano, this italian press also sizzles and bubbles hot matter - only coffee instead of lava.  

Through research I have found that in the world of coffee presses the french press is a favorite even though the italian press is more efficient. Keeping in mind the urge for functionality and convenience, I found that most presses are messy and leave coffee grinds in the coffee.

Our environment might be incredibly devastated by 2030 and the scarcity of resources is a pressing issue. Waste is the most quickly generated resource and its “production” is free. Collected from beer industries and the ocean, mash (grain waste) and seaweed are combined with bioplastics to form a new material – Seagrain. Together, the ingredients form a light, strong, and biodegradable material.

After completing its primary purpose as a shoebox, Seagrain packaging receives a second life and extends its properties and qualities into another purpose defined by the user. This packaging is designed after Cradle-to-Cradle concept and applies the material to a production technique that is not just efficient but also essentially waste free.

Nike revolutionized the world by offering high performance equipments merged with fashion. Now, it is time for alternative materials to challenge our predefined perception of what waste is, and help us change our habits for a more sustainable performance.

The post-apocalyptic shoe was born in 2985, in a hostile world with extremely limited resources. Through my sustainability minor, I am concerned about studies related to peak oil, and chemical contaminations through fabrication of products and their decomposition. Through this shoe project, and inspired by the Cradle to Cradle concept, I wanted to explore natural materials that could compose a new product: entirely natural and completely biodegradable.

This bio-boot is mostly composed by agar-agar, an algae widely used in Asian cuisine, and a surprisingly strong binder. The sole is made with agar-agar, paper pulp, kale, and chia seeds. The top component of the shoe is made with paper pulp, agar-agar, beets, and flaxseed. Both components can be eaten or planted to generate chia or flaxseed crops, respectively. The shoe laces are made out of natural hemp wick, and can be used to burn as candle, or in worst case scenario, burn the shoe if necessary.

Waved Emotions is a visual reminder to me that everything in life comes and goes. Just like water, we are also able to adapt to new settings and environments, if we keep an open mind to new experiences. The waved-like shapes allude to the ocean between Germany and Brazil; to the river that runs through my hometown in Germany, and to the mountain range located in my home state in Brazil named "Sea of mountains".

Founded in 1993, Venice Arts is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to ignite, expand, and transform the lives of Los Angeles’ low-income youth through photography and film education, and to use its participatory storytelling practices to amplify the voices of underrepresented communities around the world.

Since 2014 Jasmin has supported Venice Arts as a teacher's assistant in several classes - such as 'Intro to Photography', 'Advanced Photography', and 'Experimental Photography. As a teacher's assistant, Jasmin’s responsibilities included mentoring students one-on-one and in small groups, media management, creating engaging presentations such as pinhole techniques, Holga photography, and she also introduced the printing process in our darkroom classes.

Jasmin started teaching her own 'Snap the Frame 1' class in 2017 – an introductory class to photography designed for 10-11 year olds. As a Lead Photographer at Venice Arts, she is responsible for creating an original 30 weeks long syllabi, that takes into consideration learning outcomes such as photography techniques and composition.

See more at http://www.venicearts.org

Calafia is a modern cup with an interactive and ergonomic design. The texture relates to the microscopic cells of carnivorous plants, such as the Darlingtonia californica.

Also known as cobra lily, this pitcher plant is native to Northern California and Oregon, and grows in bogs and seeps with cold running water. A bog is one of the four main types of wetlands, which accumulate peat, a deposit of dead plant material. 

There are many highly specialized animals and plants associated with bog habitat. Most are capable of tolerating the combination of low nutrient levels and waterlogging. Carnivorous plants have adapted to the low-nutrient conditions by using invertebrates as an alternative nutrient source.

“Calafia” is originally known in literature as the warrior queen that ruled the mythical Island of California. Before Francisco de Ulloa sailed around the Gulf of California in 1539, and determined that it was a peninsula, California was thought to be an island - reigned by strong amazon women. 

The meticulous design implemented in this cup intends to rejoice breakthrough discoveries, and the lush and bio-diverse land of California as an interactive and engaging product. 

My photography is very visceral to me. It’s not necessarily about frames, composition and lighting. I keep a written journal, and this is my visual diary. It’s personal and casual. 

I started shooting analog in 2008, after learning about Lomography on the internet. I ordered my first Holga 135BC online and anxiously waited for it to arrive for a month. At that point, I didn’t know a thing about technicalities, and I didn’t let it get in my way until 2012 - when I moved to Los Angeles and started interning at Lomography as a Lab Tech. Then I was developing about 20-50 rolls a day on a mini Fuji Lab machine and was exposed to a whole new world of techniques, films and processes. Once I enrolled at Otis College of Art and Design in 2013, I had free access to their Photo Lab and started developing and printing my films. 

What I love most about analog photography is the process. From camera to film, from developing to scanning, I am a part of the process. Many experiments fail, but sometimes there is that one picture in the entire roll that makes it worth it. 

Everything you see is shot, develop and scanned by me. There is no color enhancement, no photoshop.