A Scented Fragment of Home

Dea Cepeda
Master of Architecture | Deakin University

“Scents of home and Country, memories woven in paper clay.”

MATERIALS: clay + paper clay (shredded paper, flour, salt) + native peppermint (agonis flexuosa) leaves + peppermint gum (eucalyptus radiata) leaves + peppermint gum (eucalyptus radiata) essential oil

Artist Statement

A fragment of the hand-woven blanket gifted by Nina on the day she married my brother – the day I gained a sister. Carried to an unfamiliar place, it held scents from home: vases of eucalyptus in my parents' house and peppermint oil my mother used when I fall ill. This artefact embodies my parents' warm embrace, familial bonds, and smells that transport me home.

The paper clay's form and texture recall my blanket's touch, rough yet cottony soft. Its aroma, infused with healing properties, evokes home and a sensory connection between two places that shaped me, Manila and Geelong. The imprinted native peppermint (agonis flexuosa) and peppermint gum (eucalyptus radiata) leaves, painted with their own pigment, symbolise how Country made its mark on me, light and gentle, yet with appreciation and care running deep. Finding a home through Country's elements that resonate with my origins is an act of belonging, embracing both where I am from and where I live now.

Synopsis 

This artefact explores the culmination of sustainability, materiality, and sensory experience. The Living Belonging brings together shredded paper as a waste material, native peppermint (Agonis flexuosa), peppermint gum (Eucalyptus radiata) leaves collected on site, and its essential oil.

As one of the primary tree species used in the pulp and paper industry, eucalyptus reinforces the artefact's connection to the paper cycle. By extending the lifecycle of shredded paper, it mitigates embodied carbon impact and embodies circularity through its repurposing into paper clay.

A key element of the work is its engagement with the olfactory senses, driven by the infusion of native peppermint and peppermint gum, which required extensive experimentation to preserve the desired scent. Mixing ground peppermint, peppermint gum, and peppermint gum essential oil with paper clay was the most effective method for emitting a natural, fragrant aroma.

Thorough testing of its moldability led to the evolution of the material's form, from flat to more dynamically shaped prototypes, with robust, resilient paper clay maintaining its integrity even when dropped from a height, before the creation of the final iteration.

The exploration of sustainability, material innovation, and sensory engagement through this artefact offers a new perspective on the elements it is made of. By transforming shredded paper into paper clay and infusing it with peppermint and peppermint gum to recreate smells from home, it embraces circular design while engaging the senses that evoke powerful memories. Through these thoughtful choices, the Living Belonging not only challenges perceptions of waste but also invites a multisensory experience that extends beyond the visual.