MAD HATTER´S CLOSET

The concept behind the project was the self-personality of the Mad Hatter, an eccentric and irreverent character. 

When you see the outside of the closet, maybe you will get confused because it looks like an upside down old Victorian wardrobe and that is because, in the original story, Wonderland is upside down.

By the time you open the doors, you can see that’s an actual walk-in closet. The first thing that you see is a diagonal stair that rips the horizontality. The bottom is used to store the Mad Hatter´s clothes like coats, shirts, bows, pants, braces, underwear, socks, and shoes. It also has a library and a comfortable couch for reading. As you walk up the stairs, we have some cubes that act as a showroom for the different hats that he owns and keeps creating. The path ends in a special place destined for tea-time.

We studied the Mad Hatter’s personality, likes, hobbies, and found out that he and the “March Hare” are destined to stay together forever at teatime; plus, they are accompanied by a dormouse. So, we decided to give them a special place in the Mad Hatter’s closet because at the beginning the closets were conceived to have a private moment doing what you like among other uses; and the mad hatter loves to take tea with his inseparable friends.

We also studied the Victorian age, because we discovered that the original story was created by this time.

We chose a white oak wooden cage (widely used alongside other fine woods during the Victorian age) for the exterior of the closet. It is dressed in some moldings that evokes the Victorian age, the time in which the story was created.

Inside we used a contemporary design made of white oak wood for storage and some white padded velvet for the reading area, since velvet was widely used in the Victorian age. The sides of the closet are lined with a mirror that creates the sensation of opening and repetition (when both mirrors reflect each other) remembering the trips through the looking glass.

The ceiling is lined with some artificial grass that keeps the idea of being upside down. And decorated with some typical Wonderland vegetation like flowers and mushrooms of vibrant colors, that are actual lamps that serve to illuminate the path. 

We created a pallet of colors inspired in the character of Tim Burton’s story, so the result was a colorful palette that we mixed with a neutral color; the color white that keeps the sobriety of the design and frames the accent of color of the objects. Another intention of using the white color was to evoke the idea of being immersed in the madness of the Mad Hatter’s, like a personal madhouse.

The other colors of the pallet are: 

Purple: This is the color of the mystery and, according to psychology of the color, it represents expressive, creative, innovative, generous, emotional, arrogant, and vain people. 

Green: The color of the nature and the color that represents the spring season. The psychological characteristics that represent people who likes this color are loyalty, meticulousness, and sincerity. 

Orange: Specifically, orange is the color of arousal. It is in the same wave as uncontrolled emotion. According to the psychology of the color it represents dynamic, hard worker, communicative, outgoing, stubborn, fun, and sociable people.

Pink: Is an emotional color and influences the feelings that transmits affection, love, and protection. The psychological characteristics that represents people who likes this color are: talented, inquisitive, romantic, lovely, friendly and affectionate. 

Blue: This is the color of confidence. According to psychology of the color it represents disciplined, altruistic, honest, routine, and sensitive people.

The rest of the closet is decorated with watches that remind the bittersweet relation that the time has with our character and balloons because of the “Happy unbirthday” party. 

All these colors are found in the mad hatter’s clothing and the characteristics seems to fit perfectly with his personality.

We finally include a door with a suitcase that represents that life is like a journey. It does not matter if you come or go, or if you are up or down, you have to enjoy the ride. 

Because like the Mad Hatter said: “if you knew the time as well as I do, you would not talk about wasting it.”