Light as Air, Heavy as Time

Senior Thesis
2025

(More to come...)

Light as Air, Heavy as Time explores the relationship between joy/happiness and temporality by transforming materials associated with play into tools that design experiences and forms of archival.

My thesis projects uses design as a channel to facilitate conversations and opportunities for revisiting objects and traditions associated with our intersecting identities. How can we use design to better interpret and visualize the impermanence of experiences?

While learning what it means to design joy for others (particularly in curated spaces and events), my thesis continues to evolve into 5 phases of temporary happiness: Spark, Float, Glow, Pop, and Combust. These terms began to develop into the different ways that I have identified in joy manifesting.

This also became an opportunity to recognize my deepening attachment to childlike objects and activities, particularly those that dissipate quickly. This led me to question: How do we measure happiness, and how has that evolved through the bittersweet process of growing up? At what point does our susceptibility to happiness allow our mature and immature selves to become interchangeable? And how do we capture the temporality of memories that we hold dear?

This thesis challenges viewers to embrace vulnerability, to revisit forgotten dreams, and to confront unresolved emotions. Igniting a sense of wonder in our fast-paced, future-focused world, Light as Air, Heavy as Time offers a moment to pause and celebrate the beautiful messiness of simply being human.