Portfolio
Meono
Have you ever been in an art space?
Have you ever paused, moved closer, stepped away —
approaching a work to see the brushstrokes,
then stepping back to see the whole image?
Have you ever entered into a dialogue with a painting — trying to understand it, or to share your own thoughts with it?
Meono — Talk of Art is a dialogue between human and art.
A space where, at times, you speak to the artwork —
and at others, you find yourself speaking to your own reflection.
Each encounter is different.
Each one — honest.
Lines drawn through dye come alive.
They begin to move, to breathe —
revealing forms that feel almost alive.
They carry a life within them,
becoming a meeting point of two worlds:
human and nature.
How Meono Works
Meono is an interesting construction that was born in my mind during the 9th week of the academy and later became a full project. Its main idea is communication with people — and each person can understand this communication in their own way. Kids may play with it, and even animals can notice the changes.
It “sleeps” when no one is around, as if waiting for you. In this state, it visually merges with nature.
How I constructed it
I wanted to turn shibori dyeing into a real movement — to “breathe life” into it. For this, I combined shibori-dyed fabric with origami-inspired shapes. I explored different forms and found combinations that work well together.
The shapes:
To make the fabric hold and follow folds, I combined materials and treated them with gelatin.
Then came the question: how will the material actually move? I used fishing threads to create the folding motion. To make this process automatic (not by hand), I added electronics and a stepper motor.
To give everything a clean and finished look, and to hide the electronics, I designed and built a frame.
I also added two distance sensors on the left and right sides to detect movement and trigger reactions.
By combining all these elements, Meono comes to life.
## The Processes
During this project, I used 5 main steps that helped me organize the process and work more clearly. These steps are based on what I learned during the academy.
The steps are:
I describe these steps in more detail on my page in the development section.
Some steps overlap with each other — for example, biomaterial folding, shibori folding, and electronics integration. In between, I also created smaller experiments and test projects.
Overall, these steps continue from one to another and complement each other.
### BOM (Bill of Materials)
| Item | Cost ($) |
| ----------------------------------| -------- |
| Fabric | 40 |
| Onion skin | 14 |
| Alum, washing soda, etc. | 2 |
| Gelatin, alginate, etc. | 7 |
| Bowls and other tools | 50 |
| Electronics | 56 |
| Wood | 15 |
| Wood varnish | 2 |
| **Total** | **170** |
A lot of materials I took from lab itams and use it, some parts i bought by myself.
## Video Making
This was another challenge for me. I love making photos and videos, but I had never created short films before — with voice-over, music, color editing, and mood shots for atmosphere. I also hadn’t really used a video camera in this way, so there were many new details to learn.
For filming, I asked one of the Fab Academy students, Hrach Barseghyan, to help me, and together we created different scenes with people. I really liked how they turned out. I also filmed some nature and rainy scenes, and even appeared in a few myself.
We decided to shoot outdoors because the lighting was better, the environment was more interesting, and there was more space for Meono to “breathe.” We carefully took the electronics outside, placed Meono under cover, and started testing and filming.
At one point, Meono even reacted to a lab dog — which was both interesting and very cute.
Stills from the filming։
After finishing the filming, it was time for editing. For this, I used CapCut because it’s easy to use, even though many features are paid. I adjusted colors and exposure, cut and arranged scenes, added zoom in/out effects, recorded my voice, and included some free stock clips that matched the mood of my video.
**And the final result — let’s watch it together:**
## Presentation
### Frames
Frames that didn't fit in the video:
