Soap Sink Soak

Soap Sink Soak is an installation featuring a sink made from palm oil soap. The centerpiece is a soap faucet that gradually reshapes with each use as water flows through it. Visitors are invited to witness and participate in the material's continuous transformation. Each visitor encounters a unique, evolving form, becoming co-creators of the work itself. This work emerges from collaborative research by DAE graduates Yan and Kai Contextual Design into the evolving relationships between the Netherlands and Indonesia through palm oil. We investigate how historical perspectives—such as early 20th-century writings framing palm cultivation as a "civilizing mission" centered on "clean bodies"—have transformed into contemporary sustainability discourses like "clean energy." Indonesia remains the world's largest palm oil exporter, ​while the Netherlands holds Europe's largest palm oil importer position. ​Positioned at Dutch Design Week, the installation invites Dutch and international audiences to examine their daily material connections to global supply chains, ​facilitating dialogues about consumption, history, and future possibilities.