Brightly-coloured etchings appear when visitors scratch the surface of walls and furniture in this installation by Israeli designer Itay Ohaly at Israel's Design Museum Holon (+ slideshow).
Itay Ohaly based the idea for his Coloured Memories installation on colour etching, a type of drawing he did as a child where colours on paper were covered with a darker layer that was scratched off to create images.
"As kids, we filled a piece of paper with random and colourful doodles, covered it all with black and then etched on it to make a drawing," explained Ohaly.
"I went back in time to my kindergarten days and childhood memories," he added. "I tried to remember my first drawings and creations, the first material I used and the techniques I learned back then."
Ohaly clad the interior of two rooms at the museum with sections of MDF wooden board and positioned a chair, table and carpet in each space.
He painted the boards in a range of bright colours and sealed them with oil before adding a layer of black paint over the top. Using oil between the two coats of paint means that the top colour can be scratched off easily without damaging the layer beneath.
The first room, or "active room", in the exhibition was designed as an interactive installation and left completely black for visitors to create images themselves.
Ohaly created his own etchings and patterns on the walls and furniture in the second room.
"The second room was my interpretation of the technique, I planned it and it was etched by CNC," Ohaly told Dezeen. "The visitors didn't touch it at all, it is there to show what can be done with this kind of technique, and that childhood techniques can be taken to higher level."
Ohaly's installation is part of the Playing at Design Museum Holon exhibition and runs until June 7.
Ohaly worked with digital manufacturing company FABLAB Israel and paint brand Tambour on the project.
Photography is by Itay Ohaly and Benny Gam Zo Letova.
Here's some information from the designer:
Colour Etching
While thinking about a project for the 'childhood' exhibition at the Design Museum Holon, I went back in time to my kindergarten days and childhood memories. I tried to remember my first drawings and creations, the first material I used and the techniques I learned back then.
'Colour etching' was one of the techniques I remember. As kids, we filled a piece of paper with random and colourful doodles, covered it all with black and then etched on it to make a drawing. It is a creative process which causes a sensation of surprise, discovery and magic, the same elements which characterise our experiences of childhood creations.
I decided to use this technique and explore it in two spaces, thus creating two different experiences. The first space was all black. The museums' visitors were invited to participate and etch on it freely. The second space is my interpretation of the technique. It was planned by myself and etched using CNC.
This project binds together the playful, analog, childish world with the professional, digital, adult one. The project preserves the childhood values, its emotions and naivety, and stretches the boundaries of the color etching technique by using digital technologies.
