2026
5.1 【地下室】【琴房】(lamps)
finally solving my lamp problem (needed more lamps)
two lamps for myself
left/slide2【地下室/basement】
right/slide3【琴房/instrument room】
the 地下室 in shanghai was my 琴房 where i practiced violin and later viola almost daily starting from age 5 until i left for college. even though i spent most of my childhood in the basement wishing i was in any other room in the house, it grew on me. a skylight in the back corner of the ceiling opened to the front yard. on sunday mornings, if i chose the correct couple of hours and right spot to stand in for my practice time, a warm sun spot would slowly move across my body. my 奶奶’s old dressing table with the big mirror and cushioned bench always accompanied me as i stood in front of it to make sure my bow was straight.
sliding doors with a big grid pattern and frosted glass blocked off the practice room from the small bar space lodged between the entrance from the garage and the stairs that led upstairs. the sliding doors dramatically split in the middle and disappeared behind two mirroring shelves displaying all of my dad’s drinking paraphernalia: shot glasses, whiskey bottles, martini glasses. most iconic to me was a section of dropped ceiling, with just enough space for my dad to diligently line up and display his collection of beer bottles
in an essay about birthdays that my dad recently shared with us, he writes about finally renovating the 地下室/basement in 2022 into his dream wine cellar, only to unexpectedly move to atlanta before really being able to enjoy it, the last time being his 61st birthday with many of his friends. before they even had a proper dining table in atlanta, my dad had already begun lining the windows with finished wine and beer bottles.
exploring themes of habit and comfort, practicing, lining bottles along the windows, visibility: skylights, frosted sliding doors, public v private: how we prepare in private for public moments, practice v performance, wine bottles (public) into our homes (private) displayed near windows (private/public threshold)
i really love how these turned out, especially how the bottles are hidden/revealed in both lamps and the shadow/shapes on top