Wing a friend is a project which aims to foster romantic relationships between refugees and Danes.
It was done in collaboration with Bassam Hussein a refugee from Syria and Sprogskolen Kolding
Through a process of research, and co-creation a range of objects which might evoke relationships was created.
The project was done together with Lisa Adele Rogersdotter, Maria Anna Jedryszek and Anne Hofmann Andersen.
Special thanks go to Frivilligshuset Kolding, the Danish Refugee Council and the Jobcenter Kolding for their help with this project.
To talk about the sensitive topics of loneliness and flight we developed a series of dialogue and co-creation tools were developed. The tools aimed to bridge potential language barriers and allow to talk about complicated and difficult feelings in a way that needs no words. With the help of colours and textures we created a variety of maps that helped to compare the refugees home and Denmark.
The sharing cups are inspired by the Syrian culture. Before a man and woman can get married it is common for the bride to be to prepare a cup of coffee for the family of the groom. If the coffee is good the marriage can go further. If not, it might not happen.
The cups each have a hidden message at the bottom which will the faith of how the relationship could go.
The Bottlecap Challenge is inspired by the act of impressing someone by opening their bottle for them. This object allows the partners to try and open the bottles in as many fun ways they can. Afterwards one can share a drink together which is inside the object.
The frustration bottle is inspired by a habit which is seen as sexual frustration in some Northern European countries. If one peels of the lid of their beer bottle it can be interpreted that this person might be sexually frustrated. This bottle playfully takes up this notion and the users are invited to actively peel of the paper of the bottle. Underneath there are questions related to frustrations.