Shortlisted as Outstanding in 2018 Creative Conscience.
The Brief: A brief set by RSA Student Awards. Accounting for how different groups in society are affected by loneliness, design a way to reduce its impact on one or more of the following: physical health, mental health, or access to services.
The Problem: Older people are especially vulnerable to loneliness causing depression, a decline in physical health as well as well-being. More than 2 million people in England over the age of 75 live alone and don’t’ have the confidence interact, more than a million say they go for over a month without contact.
The Process: I visited retirement apartments where many live alone, a 100-year-old man who lives alone and two widows who had lost their partners. Meeting up with these people gave me great insight into loneliness and how people live with it every day of their lives. I had coffee with a group of the residents from the retirement apartments where my key insight was sought. One lady said “I often wonder what everyone does after having their tea” showing a longingness for companionship and desire for connection. She did not have the confidence to ask anyone to further their activities out of the coffee shop environment.
The Solution: Tea for Togetherness is a series of products and concepts that encourage friendships to form in the elderly community at the heart of afternoon tea. Loneliness can come from having little confidence to socially interact with people around you, causing depression and a decline in well-being. Tea for Togetherness uses various unusual products like a triple spouted teapot to encourage interaction, provoke conversation and spark companionship through a collective a longingness for companionship and desire for connection.
Tea for Togetherness includes a triple spouted teapot which can pour three cups of tea at once, giving the user a shared experience with people around them, also provoking conversation through the unusual nature of the product. The second part of Tea for Togetherness is a surprise element at the bottom of tea cups and coffee mugs. The messages give inspiration for further activity to keep the mind and the body active. Lastly, there is the stirrer which has four spoons attached to make one. Togetherness is created through stirring 4 cups of tea or coffee at once. Encouraging interaction through the use of an unusual product which could spark companionship with others through a collective experience. Conversation will flow and confidence will flourish. Click here to see my journey to a solution to loneliness within the elderly community.