Fallnerable — Nomi Toirkens

↗ Social designer, food enthusiast, bitter reclaimer and researcher working at the intersection of food, ecology, and social practices. My work explores how sensory experiences (especially taste) can reconnect us to what has been bred out, forgotten, or overlooked. Through foraging, craft and collaboration I create tools, tastings and narratives to invite new ways of relating to food, the natural world and lost knowledge.

Stigmadesign: Fallnerable

2020

Blown up fall alarm design to fight the stigma around it for elderly people. Designed together with Anastasia van Doorne, Juliette Bouckaert and Nada Buelenscreated during the International Design Week 2020 in Antwerp.

Elderly people don’t always feel comfortable wearing a fall alarm, because of the stigmatising design of it. Another element is that family members often force this alarm upon their elderly. The fall alarm is often introduced when they are still living on their own but might need a safety button for unexpected situations. But some still feel perfectly capable of handling everything. Not every elderly person feels like getting a fall alarm. By creating an exaggerated design we provoked reactions of bystanders.

“Rita is a 78 years old woman who lives alone. She is a vibrant woman and she loves to read, cook and play cards. Since a few years she isn’t as mobile as she once used to be. From time to time she loses her balance; standing up independentally is a struggle. To secure her safety, her children entrusted her with a fall alarm. So that she could alarm them whenever she needs help, by just pressing the button...”

stigma design, public intervention, social design, product perception, speculative design, inclusive design

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