The aesthetic that my upcycling project falls under is “Chinese Knotting” otherwise known as 中国结. This is typically a hand craft/folk decoration and is used to symbolize good luck. The knots may be made into bigger shapes to represent animals or they may also be just left as knots and/or patterns. I think that it fits the aesthetic because what I want to do for my project is exactly that (make a decorative fixture out of knots) just with old climbing rope that I have that has been retired. While the color used in these knots is typically red, my climbing rope is an orange kind of color and orange in Chinese culture typically also stands for good luck and abundance. While the knots are typically made from rope that is more “decorative looking” than climbing rope, it will still be done with one piece of continuous rope which is also a hallmark of the aesthetic. Also, the patterns and knots will be the same in my project as it would be for a “normal” knot art piece. I initially wanted to do this because of Chinese New Year which occurred in late January and thought that the project would tie in nicely and I would be able to find a use for my old climbing rope.

Also, I do think that there could be a touch of the “crunchy granola” aesthetic here just because of my usage of old climbing rope. Climbers and climbing rope have always been lumped in the outdoorsy aesthetic and reusing old climbing rope for art projects also slots into that aesthetic. So by reusing my old climbing rope for this I think there’s also a touch of that in here.

“Chinese Knotting.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Dec. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_knotting.

Lucchinelli, Valeria. “Chinese Knots How-to: The Complete Guide to Chinese New Year Traditional Craft.” Art Sprouts, Art Sprouts, 9 Dec. 2019, https://artsproutsart.com/chinese-knots-how-to-chinese-new-year-traditional-craft/.