JOSEPHINE
BOURGHARDT


Index
Information
Instagram


Home

Nærvær
in collaboration with Emma Forbæk Doolan


We experience the world through our senses, which are central to understanding oneself and the surroundings, as well as of fundamental importance of well-being.

’Nærvær’ is a weighted blanket combining aesthetics, functionality, and flexibility. A personal product that appeals to the senses and can be used in multiple everyday settings. Tactile surfaces, pressure and weight effectively create body awareness, reducing anxiety. The blanket is designed to increase health, wellbeing, and flexible use for dementia patients, while also addressing todays increasing mental health issues such as stress, anxiety and depression. Through tactile patterns, materiality, and expression it is distanced from typical aids and can benefit a wide range of people.




Dementia results in the cognitive understanding being reduced, where memory, orientation and language skills are effected and the mind frequently wanders. This often manifestates in frustration, restlessness, and anxiety with difficulties in managing tasks in everyday life.

With an increasing population alongside an increasing lifespan, the number of diagnosed dementia patients is growing. Dementia cannot be cured, but by stimulating the senses, specifically the sense of touch with pressure and weight it can create a bodyawareness to minimise stress and anxiety, as well as help a wandering mind to focus.





During the process many investigations and experiments were brougth out to find a placement of the weight to create a product that can be usend in a variety of situations by people with dementia, both in the early stages, but also in later stages of the illness. By placing the weight inside the product in an organic form it follows the body and places pressure on the back, shoulders and chest, while allowing movement of the arms. This make it flexible to use and allows it be used in a variety of situations and stages of the illness.



Exhibited at ADFÆRD VELFÆRD (2022-2023) at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts
Copenhagen, Denmark