SONDER -- the feeling of realizing that every other individual you see has a life as full and real as your own, with their own thoughts, feelings, and experiences. It's the awareness that each person you encounter is the main character in their own story, just as you are in yours.

After Being tasked with designing a look that stood for "what NYC means to you," I thought to revisit my study into the concept of sonder and acknowledging those around you; being self-aware.  NYC to me, is the people I see as only as colors blurred through a speeding parrellel subway car window. The people just trying to get back home after a long day like i was. And as i walked back to my 5th story walk-up in W190th, I'd take a moment to gaze up at the puzzle of lit windows - glowing yellow squares placed here and there against dark brick walls. Each window had a life being  lived, a life I would never know, but respected none-the-less. 

I began by interviewing strangers at the Guegginhiem museum and asking them for a photo.  Those photos were then arranged in a grid pattern, photo edited, and printed onto cotton twill. The accenting chartruece squares act as a knod to those lit apartment windows. The paints are entirely quilted, with 1" layer of fiber-fill incased between teh lining and shell. Retro-reflective trim rects with camera flash and refrences car highbeams. 

The metal chest-piece was created from reclaimed aluminum sourced from construction sites in the city. The Aluminum was melted down and poured into a sand cast made from a plater and paper mache mold.