Rethinking the Fan

The Worshipful Company of Fan Makers is a Livery Company based in the city of London, incorporated by a Royal Charter in 1709.

While rooted in history, today the Company is keen to create a wider awareness of the fan. To open new markets and discover new fan practitioners, they are supporting emerging designers and makers to develop new forms of fan making.

As part of this work, the Company has started a new partnership with UAL’s Material and Spatial Practices Programme, in particular the BA Product and Furniture Design course at Chelsea College of Arts.

For the first project in this partnership, second year BA Product and Furniture Design students have been working on a project this term which asks them to consider the history and principles of fans. Exploring the materials and practices that support their qualities, performances and usefulness, the students have developed their own artefacts that reflect the essence of the fan while responding to present-day concerns.

We spoke to a selection of students from the course to find out how they responded to this brief.

“I developed my project around privacy in a public environment.

The first project which inspired me is the Lumio LED book, developed by Max Gunawan. He took an object (a book) and changed its function (lamp). Following that lead, the idea would be to create a fan that does not have the function of cooling but to use it otherwise by solving a modern problem like the lack of privacy in public spaces or social distancing in the covid-19 pandemic.

My fan can be used in in-side spaces such as offices, restaurants, libraries, or even at home, where privacy can sometimes be challenging. The fan is composed of a mechanism, a leaf part, rivet, structure, and stands that make the divider a light and beautiful object."

"I had the opportunity to talk to Misaki Iinuma, a Japanese/French artisan who specialies in papers to create objects. She showed me her tools and methods to make precise folds. She gave me advice on what kind of paper to use that made my project move forward, such as an organic paper called washi used to make lamps.

Thanks to this encounter, I found out that instead of folding paper in straight lines, I should first cut out a circle and fold it according to certain angles. Throughout the project I learned a lot using different techniques such as laser cutting, digital software, printing, model making alongside an artisanal approach. I enjoyed mixing the old and new.

This project taught me that the bigger the scale is, the more difficulties one encounters. So I started small and went wider and wider to understand all the settings. I found out about the importance of going step-by-step and not rushing into something without understanding each aspect—also, the importance of making models and tests.”

“In Asian countries, most people feel embarrassed to talk about sex. Traditionally, society regards being open-minded about sex as something to be ashamed of. As a result, some teenagers have no appropriate sources from which to get correct sexual health information.

In this project, using as a fan and phone accessories, I have designed something which the users can carry as a normal everyday item. However, different elements of the design are there to inspire conversation between users’ friends and family. My aim is to stimulate discussion about sex without shame."

"Initially, I intended to combine a message about safe sex with the final product. However, with too many issues mixing together, my main concept to challenge the shame around of being open-minded about sex was lost in a messy design.

Figuring out the best way to deal with the problem I had identified initially, combined with my own product design style was the biggest challenge I faced during the creative process. Designing to resolve an issue in society is always the best part of product design for me. Although I’m still a student, I am trying my best to learn how to affect the world and this is the most important thing to remember during the design process.”

"I quickly understood that this accessory was widely perceived as gendered, fragile and old fashioned. I decided that my first aim would be to use neutral materials in order to depart as much as possible from the stilted and decisively feminine connotation of the fan.

I found out that the materials traditionally used in fan-making were always very precious: Ivory, tortoiseshell, mother of pearl. It presented the fan as an elegant and treasured object. I came to understand that this was what made them bourgeois symbols.

I felt that by using a range of common materials from our contemporary world, materials that one is not scared to hold or to break, I could make people appreciate the object differently. I wanted to experiment with the relationship between materials and people. Making people interact with material is a very interesting research - people can have surprising reactions! Beyond that, I also wanted to understand how to turn this object into something organic."

"In the end, my main idea was to develop an exploration based on the flexibility of the fan’s leaves with the help of several material tests, inspired by the fish tail. I wanted to focus on the gesture around the fan and to experiment the air propulsion.

Working with organic shapes and flexible materials for my fan was very exciting. I really challenged myself to focus on the experiments rather than solely on the fan’s aestheticism. I was very happy to expand my research and to discover and understand other materials and how to play with them.”