Cocoanut Festival
Type
Installation
Location
Kingston Upon Thames, Greater London
Year
2023
Design Team
Orestas, Arenz, Jihyun, Drew, Samantha
In collaboration with Community Brain, we created and constructed a series of installations exhibiting Kingston’s past coconut trade. Five installations were constructed on key historical sites to celebrate the lost history of the coconuts of Kingston. All the exhibitions would finally come together at the centre of Kingston to create a modern form of coconut whilst using a projector screen to showcase the story through a series of images.
During the 18th century, Britain colonized India expanding the exotic food trade. Kingston Upon Thames was one of the many areas that celebrated the import of coconuts through new products. Three local mills were reused to process coconuts into metal polish, brushes, brooms and candles. The remaining memories of Kingston’s past are celebrated by the local pub, renamed “The Cocoanut” alongside Fairfield Park, initially hosting annual fairs with coconut traditional shies.
The installation is constructed from milled timber put together into two types of frames A&B. Six A-frames come together with hinges to form a hexagon, a self stabilising structure when leaning into a central point. Three B-frames are located within every second larger frame to pivot inwards supported by threaded rods supported within a stainless steel pole.
The segments were created to interlock in varied forms, five key sites would host installations that played a role in Kingston’s, coconut trade. The flatpack structure would move to different sites to end up at the centre to unfold and link together to create a shelter. Hooks are located on the interior of the structure to hook a thin white custom made fabric to create the coconut also used as a projector screen. A film shows the five sites the structure travelled through and the role the sites had on new coconut products.
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