RESTORATION TRIPTYCH, ceramics, 2026

A tableware set transforms the three components of a foreskin-restoration device into a cup, bowl, and bottle.

Materials and fabrication

Slip-cast white stoneware. Glaze application by Micah Zhu.

The work begins with a 3D-printable model of a DTR (dual-tension restorer), sourced from an online forum where users share tools for bodily modification and repair. Designed to be scaled to the individual body and assembled with simple materials, this device circulates within a subculture shaped by loss, adaptation, and persistence.

Its three components, functionally engineered for long-term, concealed use, are reinterpreted here as a cup, a bowl, and a bottle. Enlarged and 3D printed, they are translated into plaster molds and slip-cast in ceramic, producing a set of vessels that retain the logic of the original device while shifting its field of use.

This transformation reframes an intimate, often painful process as a shared, social act. What was designed to be worn privately over time becomes an object for gathering - used to hold tea, soup, or drink. The work operates through displacement and recontextualization, moving between digital circulation, bodily intervention, and domestic ritual. In doing so, it foregrounds the emotional and cultural dimensions of restoration, not as return, but as an ongoing negotiation with the body and its histories.