A Fermentation Jar for Small Bad Feelings
2026.01-05
Interactive Product | AI-generated Poetry | Physical Computing
115*115*200mm
Raspberry Pi5, ESP32-S3, Microphone, Pogo pins, LED ring, Browser front end, LLM, Prompt Design
“A Fermentation Jar for Small Bad Feelings” is an interactive device that collects the small negative feelings that gather in everyday life and transforms them into a lightly humorous poem. Rather than focusing on major trauma or dramatic sadness, the project attends to micro-frustrations: awkward moments, minor disappointments, passing stress, and the quiet emotional residue of an ordinary day.
Inspired by the making of rice wine, the device takes the form of a fermentation jar. Throughout the day, the user carries a small portable recorder to collect these emotional fragments through short voice recordings.
At the end of the day, the user places the recorder on top of the jar, where it becomes the lid, sealing the container and beginning the transformation. The collected fragments are transcribed and appear inside the jar as words that fall in like raw ingredients. They dissolve, release tiny bubbles, float, circulate, and gradually reorganize as they ferment. At the same time, the ambient light shifts from a cool tone to warm yellow, suggesting that the fermentation is progressing and reaching maturity.
After this brief “fermentation,” the device returns the user’s own emotional fragments as a poem that is gentle, lightly humorous, imaginative, and emotionally supportive. The goal is not to erase unpleasant feelings, but to help users revisit them from a softer angle. Like fermentation itself, the original material remains, but its flavor changes. Because the poem is shaped through the user’s own participation and lived experience, it can feel more intimate and resonant.
Interactive Product | AI-generated Poetry | Physical Computing
115*115*200mm
Raspberry Pi5, ESP32-S3, Microphone, Pogo pins, LED ring, Browser front end, LLM, Prompt Design
“A Fermentation Jar for Small Bad Feelings” is an interactive device that collects the small negative feelings that gather in everyday life and transforms them into a lightly humorous poem. Rather than focusing on major trauma or dramatic sadness, the project attends to micro-frustrations: awkward moments, minor disappointments, passing stress, and the quiet emotional residue of an ordinary day.
Inspired by the making of rice wine, the device takes the form of a fermentation jar. Throughout the day, the user carries a small portable recorder to collect these emotional fragments through short voice recordings.
At the end of the day, the user places the recorder on top of the jar, where it becomes the lid, sealing the container and beginning the transformation. The collected fragments are transcribed and appear inside the jar as words that fall in like raw ingredients. They dissolve, release tiny bubbles, float, circulate, and gradually reorganize as they ferment. At the same time, the ambient light shifts from a cool tone to warm yellow, suggesting that the fermentation is progressing and reaching maturity.
After this brief “fermentation,” the device returns the user’s own emotional fragments as a poem that is gentle, lightly humorous, imaginative, and emotionally supportive. The goal is not to erase unpleasant feelings, but to help users revisit them from a softer angle. Like fermentation itself, the original material remains, but its flavor changes. Because the poem is shaped through the user’s own participation and lived experience, it can feel more intimate and resonant.
Motivation
This project comes from my own experience with small negative feelings that are not dramatic, but quietly persistent. Many people think emotions only happen in the mind, but stress often appears through the body as well — in stomach discomfort, headaches, skin flare-ups, or other small physical reactions. This made me realize that small negative feelings do not simply disappear. They can stay in the day, and sometimes even in the body.
These feelings often come from ordinary moments — a cold reaction, a delayed subway, a small mistake, or just another gray day. Each one may seem minor, but together they can slowly lower the emotional tone of the whole day.
Because these feelings appear small, they are often dismissed with phrases like “Don’t think too much” or “Try to be positive.” For me, that kind of response rarely helped. It only made me feel like I had to suppress my feelings and pretend to be more optimistic than I actually was.
I wanted to create a gentler way to live with these emotions — not by erasing them, but by giving them a place to be collected, held, and slowly transformed into something easier to approach.
These feelings often come from ordinary moments — a cold reaction, a delayed subway, a small mistake, or just another gray day. Each one may seem minor, but together they can slowly lower the emotional tone of the whole day.
Because these feelings appear small, they are often dismissed with phrases like “Don’t think too much” or “Try to be positive.” For me, that kind of response rarely helped. It only made me feel like I had to suppress my feelings and pretend to be more optimistic than I actually was.
I wanted to create a gentler way to live with these emotions — not by erasing them, but by giving them a place to be collected, held, and slowly transformed into something easier to approach.
Context
This project is informed by poetry therapy, humor studies, narrative reframing, and contemporary stand-up comedy. Poetry therapy suggests that poetic language can help people externalize difficult feelings, gain reflective distance, and approach emotional material through metaphor rather than direct explanation. Research on humor also shows that gentle, self-enhancing humor can soften emotional heaviness and make uncomfortable situations feel more manageable. I was especially inspired by the way stand-up comedy uses humor and a playful attitude to transform everyday awkwardness, stress, and minor frustrations into something lighter, more relatable, and easier to hold.The project is also shaped by an interest in poetic language that feels simple, sincere, imaginative, and non-preachy. Rather than offering advice, the poem aims to gently reorganize emotion through metaphor and playful shifts in perspective.
The final form draws on the metaphor of fermenting rice wine. Fermentation felt aligned with the project because it is gradual, non-destructive, and meaningfully altering: the original material remains, but its flavor changes. In the same way, this project turns collected emotional fragments into a poem that feels warmer, softer.
Together, these references shaped both the emotional logic of the project and its final ritual form.
Technical Details
The project consists of a small portable voice recorder and a jar-shaped host device. The visual interface is built with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The recorded voice fragments are first transcribed into text, then sent to an OpenAI LLM for poem generation. Through prompt engineering, I guide the model to generate short free-verse poems with self-enhancing humor and a gentle, imaginative, non-preachy tone.