Young Fine Arts Student from RMUTT Thanyaburi Creates New Design for 'Incense Pot and Candle Holder' for Places of Worship

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A young Fine Arts student from RMUTT Thanyaburi has redesigned the ‘Incense Pot and Candle Holder’ for places of worship. The fourth-year Product Design major from the Department of Art Design and Technology, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts at Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi (RMUTT) has undertaken a project to design and develop incense pots and candle holders for religious sites. The work has been showcased in the ‘Jamsin’ art thesis exhibition for the academic year 2023 at Rajamangala Auditorium, RMUTT. With a creative idea, they developed a product that meets needs and resolves pain points of contemporary users engaging in activities in places of worship, such as Buddhist shrines. These are sites or constructions created for purposes related to Buddhism, including temples, churches, sanctuaries, pagodas, and stupas, where incense and candles are lit for various ceremonies.

Meen-Nithis Phenketkorn, a 24-year-old young designer who created the work, explained the inspiration behind it: “Places of worship are significant constructions or areas specially designed for individuals or groups to engage in expression, be it respect, dedication, or religious study. Generally, places of worship are associated with religious practices and beliefs, visited by adherents, guests, and inhabitants who practice there, such as monks or religious officials. In Thailand, where Buddhism is predominantly practiced, there are many Buddhist religious sites related to Buddhist activities such as temples, churches, sanctuaries, pagodas, and stupas. These places involve items of reverence where incense and candles are lit to show respect, a tradition that has been passed down. Popular religious sites often see throngs of visitors lighting incense and candles, posing the problem of crowded incense and candle placements,” Meen explains. “Typically, religious sites use sand, ash, or rice in incense pots for placing incense sticks and use candle stands or holders as bases for candles. However, this can be inconvenient for placing incense and candles, as they can be difficult to insert or may topple over, especially in popular religious sites. Additionally, users face issues cleaning the incense pots and candle holders due to wax residues, dust, incense ash, and incense sticks, which makes cleaning challenging and sometimes dangerous, such as dripping wax and heat from incense and candles. Meen sought to address these issues through product design by developing an improved ‘Incense Pot and Candle Holder’ for places of worship.” Meen mentioned that the concept for the incense pot and candle holder design came from observing user behavior. The design thus focuses on practical utility that meets user needs, is easy to clean, reduces hazards, and is aesthetically pleasing in a religious context. The material selected is stainless steel, which is strong, durable, and long-lasting, in line with sustainable development goals for sustainable consumption and production. This promotes the use of efficient materials, prolongs product lifespan, and reduces waste and resource usage in production. Product Design Details include Incense Pot which features a grate for holding incense sticks, eliminating the need for sand or soil while incense ash and sticks fall into a tray below, equipped with a brush to make cleaning easy. For candle holder, it was designed to resemble a Bodhi leaf which, contains stainless steel slots for holding various sizes of candles and features a lever for cleaning the slots. When pulled, a stainless-steel rod pushes out any melted candle wax, which then drops into a bottom tray, simplifying the cleaning process.

Practical and Aesthetic Considerations:

Meen emphasized that the geometric shape was chosen for manufacturing simplicity, ensuring the products are not complex and easy to use. The intricate Thai patterns provide a cultural fit within religious settings.

Health and Maintenance:

Meen stressed that while lighting incense and candles brings spiritual joy to many, maintaining physical health by reducing exposure to combustion by-products like particulates and smoke is equally important.

Recognition and Future Plans:

“I am proud of the products I designed and showcased at the ‘Jam Silpa’ graduation exhibition, which received significant interest from visitors. Everyday items around us often hint at the problems they pose, urging us to solve them, much like this product. I believe every problem can be addressed through design. I hope these products are further developed and commercialized,” Meen concluded.

For more information, call 080 945 4622. View additional images at [Product Design 2024] (https://www.prd.rmutt.ac.th/productdesign2024/). Examples from Workpointnews and Matichon Online.