Friday, October 26, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
Rationale
According to the New South Wales state government, in their Metropolitan Plan for Sydney 2036, Sydney's population is currently, and will continue to be, pushed into higher-density living complexes in the future.
"Sydney will require significantly more medium density, low-medium rise homes in the right locations."
"Good design for higher density housing should focus on increasing densities without compromising the amenity of existing properties and contributing to a high quality urban domain.”
This means that in the future, more Sydneysiders will be living in complexes with high populations but small land areas - but a large number of individual households. Traditionally, a household has or is seen to need its own toolboxes or kits - this situation means that each household has a few number of tools which are rarely used. However this effect, when produced on a large scale, means that there exists a large number of tools that are rarely used and as such are not producing value. Their material is not being utilised.
My PSS aims to reduce materialisation through utilising the concept of shared property through a tool library system.
The benefits of the PSS are that the tools are easily accessible when needed; readily available at your home location at any time of day; and that the tool obviously does the job just as well.
My product is a modular, "buildable", stackable and easily assembled and electronically-automated shelving system. This allows expansion "from scratch" and can be built according to the size of the space that the complex has allocated for the system. As such it is flexible to the needs of the users and the individual circumstances that the product is placed into. It allows gradual expansion as interest grows, perhaps starting small and getting larger.
The PSS is built around the strata complex, PSS provider and user:
"Sydney will require significantly more medium density, low-medium rise homes in the right locations."
"Good design for higher density housing should focus on increasing densities without compromising the amenity of existing properties and contributing to a high quality urban domain.”
This means that in the future, more Sydneysiders will be living in complexes with high populations but small land areas - but a large number of individual households. Traditionally, a household has or is seen to need its own toolboxes or kits - this situation means that each household has a few number of tools which are rarely used. However this effect, when produced on a large scale, means that there exists a large number of tools that are rarely used and as such are not producing value. Their material is not being utilised.
My PSS aims to reduce materialisation through utilising the concept of shared property through a tool library system.
The benefits of the PSS are that the tools are easily accessible when needed; readily available at your home location at any time of day; and that the tool obviously does the job just as well.
My product is a modular, "buildable", stackable and easily assembled and electronically-automated shelving system. This allows expansion "from scratch" and can be built according to the size of the space that the complex has allocated for the system. As such it is flexible to the needs of the users and the individual circumstances that the product is placed into. It allows gradual expansion as interest grows, perhaps starting small and getting larger.
The PSS is built around the strata complex, PSS provider and user:
- strata outsources services to the PSS provider for the user/inhabitants' benefit.
- the PSS provider provides service, maintenance, and upkeep to the library, as well as initial installation
- the PSS provider takes a fee for each rental occasion, encouraging responsibility for the tool and encouraging careful use.
To summarise: the PSS provider manufactures the product; provides set-up and installation of the product; and organisation, upkeep, maintenance, and service to keep the system going. The system involves a one-off strata payment to the PSS provider, then the library takes a rental fee on each occasion to provide finance for continued maintenance and upkeep costs.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Who Killed the Electric Car?
Who Killed the Electric Car is a very interesting documentary-style film about the rise and fall of the wholly-electrically powered automobile.
The film centres around primarily the American (and specifically, Californian) development and eventual quashing of the commercially produced, mass-marketable, consumer market electric car. It begins with the introduction of the Californian state legislation on car manufacturers, which was brought into being in 1990, legislating that automobile manufacturers such as GM and Honda, if they wanted to continue selling cars in California, to produce some zero-emission vehicles for sale.
The film goes on to investigate the results of this initiative - the design, manufacture, success, fightback, and eventual destruction of the electric zero-emissions vehicle.
It specifically chronicles the journey of GM's EV1 vehicle - this was a successful and well-designed vehicle that was seen as the embodiment of the struggle of the electric car to gain commercial traction and support.
I found interesting and also depressing the way various components of industry and commerce seemingly (wittingly or otherwise) conspired to derail the path to success for such a wise and powerful piece of sustainable and forward-looking mass-transport possibility.
As pointed out by a few people in the film itself, I agree that this initiative seemed like a "no-brainer". There seems to be no good reason as to why we should not have embraced the electric car wholeheartedly and done everything at a local and governmental level in order to make these vehicles as successful as possible.
However, this did not occur. The film goes on to investigate what factors may have contributed to the derailing of the electric car - and these causes are diverse, ranging from the obvious (such as the automobile and petroleum industry itself) to the less obvious (such as CARB, the environmental board for California).
I struggle to understand why GM would put so much effort and investment initially into the design and engineering (by all accounts this was a very reliable, well thought-out and well-engineered car) to produce the EV1 and then to only shoot it down not long after. The company was so spiteful towards its final design solution that it crushed nearly all of the working models, just to avoid any interest in the electric car being maintained and perhaps rekindled.
An inspiring aspect of this film is that so many people were ready to become involved in the sustainable car market - there were many willing consumers of the vehicle (even as GM, along with other car manufacturers, insisted that there was not a large or sustainable enough market for these vehicles.) With the large willing consumer base, it was inspiring too to see the passion of various members of the push for EV development. The obvious examples of the marketing lady, the entrepreneurial battery technology developer, and members of the engineering teams that worked on the EV1 stand out, but just as poignant are the scores of unnamed people who protested against GM's moves to eventually remove from the market and then to destroy the EV1.
In closing, I think above all this film shows strongly both the good and bad sides to human nature - the very creative, ingenious and positive moves we can make through individuals, be they in design, engineering, science, technology, or indeed any other avenue of progress - dichotomised against the unprogressive, rigid, and blatantly obstinate constructs of humanity - the fact we have worked ourselves into a situation where such a positive concept for progress can be destroyed by the actions of a few working for self-interest is depressing at best. Self-interest is indeed a powerful motivating force for society - and I might say necessary for progress. However the length and manner of which the large companies went about obstructing progress is, to my mind, perverse in the extreme. I hope not to see a repeat.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Peer Blog Comments, Cormack Packaging
http://3331203.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/cormack-wobble-bobble.html?showComment=1347238472157#c3893822263642072518
http://ikeemays13.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/cormack-project-presentation-boards.html?showComment=1347238869665#c4551728087526773664
http://liah90.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/cormack-design.html?showComment=1347239289676#c5490243917336582033
http://3332091.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/ides3222-project-1-final.html?showComment=1347239923315#c8545670593854926626
http://3332091.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/ides3222-project-1-final.html?showComment=1347239923315#c8545670593854926626
http://ikeemays13.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/cormack-project-presentation-boards.html?showComment=1347238869665#c4551728087526773664
http://liah90.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/cormack-design.html?showComment=1347239289676#c5490243917336582033
http://3332091.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/ides3222-project-1-final.html?showComment=1347239923315#c8545670593854926626
http://3332091.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/ides3222-project-1-final.html?showComment=1347239923315#c8545670593854926626
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Design Feedback - Focus Group
Open Discussion - Difficulties
Not clear about form of product packaging.
No product graphics -
Clear views for product, 3D renders - clarification in the form for posters.
Foil covers what's inside - a lot of it is people seeing the toothbrush which is a point of sale - people need to know it's a toothbrush in order to buy it.
Boy version/Girl version - is there a girl's differentiation for the same product/package?
Good understanding of the use of the packaging for packaging life.
Lot of text on page. No actual image of product, which would make people stay to look/catch attention.
Foil looks really sturdy on page. Thin polypropylene instead?? Ripping difficulties in opening package?
Taking toothbrush in and out of the holder itself and how you go about it.
Graphics for exterior of packaging to make clear what the product is.
Recommendations
Graphics make product more obvious what it is.
Solution page remove text and add more graphical representations.
Problem illustration - "pictures tell a thousand words"
Reading is hard!! remove text and replace with images.
Manufacturing detail can illustrate perforations detail
Age group illustration in either packaging problem or exterior graphics
Demonstrate removal/placement
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Product Disassembly Exercise
DISASSEMBLY
50 mins disassembly time for 5 people.
Two different types of screw heads on base plate caused problems during diassembly.
Tabs construction in heating area meant that pieces had to be physically broken in order to fully disassemble - there was no tidy and impermanent way to pull apart.
Electronic components extremely untidy and wrapped around lots of other components. Vast bulk of internal components were joined in this way - heating basket, exterior trim components.
MATERIAL LIST
Aluminium - Main Body casting + exterior visual components;
Galvanised/Corrosion Protected Steel Plate - internal plate components;
Polypropylene - Base plate/chassis, some small internal components;
ABS - button assembly + chrome plated aesthetic finish;
Nylon - electronic housing/heat resistant components;
Rubber/Elastomer - Feet;
Mica sheeting - heat insulation/heating element wrapping
Electronic components - wrapped around front and back of toasting compartment, taking up large volume of toaster internals.
MANUFACTURE METHODS
Aluminium and Steel - sheet forming, cold working, stamping
Aluminium Main Body - Injection moulded, washed and painted/anodised
Nylon - injection moulded
ABS - Injection moulded + Chrome electroplated
Polypropylene - Injection moulded, unfinished
JOINING METHODS
Tabs - sheet metal component joining, aesthetic aluminium
Screws - bosses connect electronics to chassis, chassis to main body,
Heat staking - joining nylon components to internal assemblies; such as button electronics assembly to aluminium sheet component, which was screwed down into bosses on main body.
Adhesive - minimal adhesive use to join button tops to assembly underlays.
FORESEEABLE PROBLEMS + IMPROVEMENTS
Electronic Component Fail - Modular and easily accessible electronic PCB assemblies that can be removed and replaced easily in one operation.
Minimise sheer component numbers
Aluminium main body and parts are easily recycled in theory but main body cast is virgin aluminium.
Monday, August 6, 2012
The 11th Hour
The 11th Hour is a documentary-style video about the relationship between Earth, the animals that inhabit it, and most importantly the impact that we, the human race in our present form, has upon the globe we inhabit.
The film starts by drawing attention to the fact that so many factors of Earth are interrelated - that is to say, the Earth and it's attributes affect humanity, humanity affects the Earth, and the Earth impacts humanity. The Earth gives us the resources we need to create prosperity and abundance, we use this prosperity to further ramp and production and our prosperity "exponential growth" by taking natural resources and affecting the Earth, and this impact on the Earth comes back finally to affect us by way of changing climates, natural disasters, changing weather patterns, and so on. The causative effect between human action and environmental change and thus the effect on humanity is illustrated well and has an impact upon the viewer.
The illustration of the core theme of the documentary is illustrated next, through a sort of metaphor of "borrowed energy" - humanity's use of oil and fossil fuel products and how this "breaks the rules" of traditional human existence. Humanity before the advent of fossil fuel products was locked into a self-limiting system, whereby we could not utilise more energy to produce and create and grow than what was given to us in the form of sunlight. The problem of fossil fuel use is illustrated, by the imagery of "borrowing" energy we are not supposed to have access to. This fossil fuel use has allowed us, in a way, to live on borrowed time where we are utilising the higher energy levels available to us in fossil fuel to power our cars, our homes, our factories and indeed the very tools of our continuing society. This is all well and good except the precedent has been set - a precedent Society has been geared to operate at this high level output where so much is available to us through fossil fuel use, but being a limited resource it is destined to run out and as such our society is not sustainable. Something will have to break - and the point is it will not be nature.
I think this is the main point of the documentary, and most of the interviewees refer to this plight of humanity.
The film is fairly boring for the most part - the interviews are not very engaging oftentimes. The middle in particular I really felt the compulsion to skip. The end with its possible solutions are probably the best part, where the idea of building cities in the mould of a forest where we produce enough energy to power ourselves is novel and provides some real models and ideas and innovation for the future. As a product designer this is what there should have been more of!
The film starts by drawing attention to the fact that so many factors of Earth are interrelated - that is to say, the Earth and it's attributes affect humanity, humanity affects the Earth, and the Earth impacts humanity. The Earth gives us the resources we need to create prosperity and abundance, we use this prosperity to further ramp and production and our prosperity "exponential growth" by taking natural resources and affecting the Earth, and this impact on the Earth comes back finally to affect us by way of changing climates, natural disasters, changing weather patterns, and so on. The causative effect between human action and environmental change and thus the effect on humanity is illustrated well and has an impact upon the viewer.
The illustration of the core theme of the documentary is illustrated next, through a sort of metaphor of "borrowed energy" - humanity's use of oil and fossil fuel products and how this "breaks the rules" of traditional human existence. Humanity before the advent of fossil fuel products was locked into a self-limiting system, whereby we could not utilise more energy to produce and create and grow than what was given to us in the form of sunlight. The problem of fossil fuel use is illustrated, by the imagery of "borrowing" energy we are not supposed to have access to. This fossil fuel use has allowed us, in a way, to live on borrowed time where we are utilising the higher energy levels available to us in fossil fuel to power our cars, our homes, our factories and indeed the very tools of our continuing society. This is all well and good except the precedent has been set - a precedent Society has been geared to operate at this high level output where so much is available to us through fossil fuel use, but being a limited resource it is destined to run out and as such our society is not sustainable. Something will have to break - and the point is it will not be nature.
I think this is the main point of the documentary, and most of the interviewees refer to this plight of humanity.
The film is fairly boring for the most part - the interviews are not very engaging oftentimes. The middle in particular I really felt the compulsion to skip. The end with its possible solutions are probably the best part, where the idea of building cities in the mould of a forest where we produce enough energy to power ourselves is novel and provides some real models and ideas and innovation for the future. As a product designer this is what there should have been more of!
Sunday, July 22, 2012
How It's Made + New Life
These series of videos are interesting and useful for differing reasons.
Both are useful and informative in presenting information about presenting information firstly about how certain types of packaging are made (How It's Made) and how those types of packaging material are processed at their end of life (well, in Germany, anyway.)
I was already mostly aware of the techniques and methods presented by the videos of How It's Made, in the sense that I knew how these things were made. As part of the videos though there were more accurate statistics presented as to just what percentages of packaging products are made up of recycled materials, and correspondingly how high or low these percentages are. Some items are made up of high percentages of recycled material, while some are disappointingly and surprisingly low. For instance, according to the video aluminium can be recycled to very near to 100% efficiency and no losses; but polyethylene terephthalate bottles can only contain just 10% recycled material!
I also found interesting the efficiency in terms of wall thickness of aluminium materials - aluminium products such as cans and tubes have very fine wall thicknesses, which is advantageous for a myriad of reasons when we think about it - reduced emissions and energy input in transport, weight reduction, and reduced space taken up in post-life when the product is crushed and transported to recycling plants.
It is somewhat disconcerting however the huge amount of operations by automated machinery on some packaging items, however - an instance is the creation of the top edge of soft drink aluminium cans requiring 11 distinct manufacturing operation steps to create just a rounded rim! Each step of this would require additional energy input!
There are some logical fallacies some of the videos present that I think may be problematic - they use terms like "green" and "ecofriendly" but don't really define in what sense they actually ARE ecofriendly or green. They claim glass to be ecofriendly because it does not require deforestation, but from my own research glass takes approximately somewhere between 500 up to 1,000,000 years to biodegrade/decompose. At either of these times that is a long time that glass will be taking up space in landfill or in the natural environment. That alone is definitely not ecofriendly! However in glass's defence, it can utilise 90% recycled material and has a lower melt temperature than virgin glass, saving energy.
I still have questions about some parts of production, such as the environmental effects of adhesives in cardboard and paints used on almost all of the packaging items. These questions were not answered in the videos.
New Life is very short and only covers Germany's recycling program which admittedly looks quite efficient and cost effective. The thing I found most interesting and insightful was the method and precision of material sorting, seperation and categorisation of recyclable materials. This is important because impurities in recyclable materials can damage the final product of the recycling process and affect its ability to be reused in new products.
In addition, the New Life series also made light of interesting facts, such as Germany's aluminium packaging products being made from recycled material; and 2.7 million tonnes of waste glass being recycled every year.
According to this video too, recycled aluminium only uses 5% of the original energy of production.
Both are useful and informative in presenting information about presenting information firstly about how certain types of packaging are made (How It's Made) and how those types of packaging material are processed at their end of life (well, in Germany, anyway.)
I was already mostly aware of the techniques and methods presented by the videos of How It's Made, in the sense that I knew how these things were made. As part of the videos though there were more accurate statistics presented as to just what percentages of packaging products are made up of recycled materials, and correspondingly how high or low these percentages are. Some items are made up of high percentages of recycled material, while some are disappointingly and surprisingly low. For instance, according to the video aluminium can be recycled to very near to 100% efficiency and no losses; but polyethylene terephthalate bottles can only contain just 10% recycled material!
I also found interesting the efficiency in terms of wall thickness of aluminium materials - aluminium products such as cans and tubes have very fine wall thicknesses, which is advantageous for a myriad of reasons when we think about it - reduced emissions and energy input in transport, weight reduction, and reduced space taken up in post-life when the product is crushed and transported to recycling plants.
It is somewhat disconcerting however the huge amount of operations by automated machinery on some packaging items, however - an instance is the creation of the top edge of soft drink aluminium cans requiring 11 distinct manufacturing operation steps to create just a rounded rim! Each step of this would require additional energy input!
There are some logical fallacies some of the videos present that I think may be problematic - they use terms like "green" and "ecofriendly" but don't really define in what sense they actually ARE ecofriendly or green. They claim glass to be ecofriendly because it does not require deforestation, but from my own research glass takes approximately somewhere between 500 up to 1,000,000 years to biodegrade/decompose. At either of these times that is a long time that glass will be taking up space in landfill or in the natural environment. That alone is definitely not ecofriendly! However in glass's defence, it can utilise 90% recycled material and has a lower melt temperature than virgin glass, saving energy.
I still have questions about some parts of production, such as the environmental effects of adhesives in cardboard and paints used on almost all of the packaging items. These questions were not answered in the videos.
New Life is very short and only covers Germany's recycling program which admittedly looks quite efficient and cost effective. The thing I found most interesting and insightful was the method and precision of material sorting, seperation and categorisation of recyclable materials. This is important because impurities in recyclable materials can damage the final product of the recycling process and affect its ability to be reused in new products.
In addition, the New Life series also made light of interesting facts, such as Germany's aluminium packaging products being made from recycled material; and 2.7 million tonnes of waste glass being recycled every year.
According to this video too, recycled aluminium only uses 5% of the original energy of production.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Sheet Metal
My sheet metal project - a low coffee table. Folded from one sheet of laser-cut 3mm marine-grade aluminium, polished on the outside and painted with acrylic spray on the inside.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Design For Life - Starck
Design for Life follows Phillippe Starck on a quest for a young modern designer from Britain. Hundreds of aspiring young designers send in drawings to Starck's agency, and he chooses 12 of his favourites to come and compete in Paris for a 6 month placement in his own design agency.
It was interesting to see how much these young designers get away with! It seemed like there was less restriction placed on them than we are given in Studio at times, which came as a surprise to me definitely!
It was interesting also to see the ways in which Starck critiqued their work in much the same way as it is done in our classes, and encourages me that criticism like we receive is helpful and will enable us to find the best solution at the end.
It was also helpful to see the ways in which designers work in a real life scenario and the many different groups of professionals that interaction takes place with in the production of a real life object such as either Mike or Ilsa's major projects towards the end of the show (early on this was not really possible to see, with no prototypes or branding involved.)
Furthermore it was interesting to see some limitations the competitors put on themselves that when watching them from the outside you can see how this limits them and stops them from reaching the full potential of an idea or of their own creative inspiration. This happened a number of times throughout the show to different participants, and I know it happens to everyone as they attempt to find a solution.
It was a good show to watch, but it is a bit long, and perhaps the final couple of episodes are the most useful and informative because the early ones include a lot of padding.
As a post-script, I think Phillipe Starck is hilarious. There was one particular part I can't find a picture of, but it was fantastic.
It was interesting to see how much these young designers get away with! It seemed like there was less restriction placed on them than we are given in Studio at times, which came as a surprise to me definitely!
It was interesting also to see the ways in which Starck critiqued their work in much the same way as it is done in our classes, and encourages me that criticism like we receive is helpful and will enable us to find the best solution at the end.
It was also helpful to see the ways in which designers work in a real life scenario and the many different groups of professionals that interaction takes place with in the production of a real life object such as either Mike or Ilsa's major projects towards the end of the show (early on this was not really possible to see, with no prototypes or branding involved.)
Furthermore it was interesting to see some limitations the competitors put on themselves that when watching them from the outside you can see how this limits them and stops them from reaching the full potential of an idea or of their own creative inspiration. This happened a number of times throughout the show to different participants, and I know it happens to everyone as they attempt to find a solution.
It was a good show to watch, but it is a bit long, and perhaps the final couple of episodes are the most useful and informative because the early ones include a lot of padding.
As a post-script, I think Phillipe Starck is hilarious. There was one particular part I can't find a picture of, but it was fantastic.
Objectified
Objectified is a documentary style film that focuses on individual designers and how they work, their experiences, their style and so on.
I found this documentary very interesting as it documented the work of various influential designers such as Jonathon Ives, the Bouroullec brothers, Dieter Rams, Marc Newson and also design consultancies and professionals. I saw this as an interesting insight into the professional design world and how the superstars of the world operate.
As well as this, the video had a number of interesting points featuring real-life examples and modern design icons such as the Apple iPhone.
Mostly however the show is about philosophy and working methods. Newson talks about the importance of designing for the future, the Bouroullecs talk about design refinement being like a musical harmony, and Rams talks about design modicum like his 10 points for good design.
It was interesting seeing the designers in their natural element and to hear their individual opinions on design itself. However I would have liked to have seen some documentation of a real-life product all the way through from conception to realisation, especially when you would have been able to see the designer's philosophies acting on a real life product at the time.
However still very interesting to see the real-life designers working themselves and utilising their working methods.
I found this documentary very interesting as it documented the work of various influential designers such as Jonathon Ives, the Bouroullec brothers, Dieter Rams, Marc Newson and also design consultancies and professionals. I saw this as an interesting insight into the professional design world and how the superstars of the world operate.
As well as this, the video had a number of interesting points featuring real-life examples and modern design icons such as the Apple iPhone.
Mostly however the show is about philosophy and working methods. Newson talks about the importance of designing for the future, the Bouroullecs talk about design refinement being like a musical harmony, and Rams talks about design modicum like his 10 points for good design.
It was interesting seeing the designers in their natural element and to hear their individual opinions on design itself. However I would have liked to have seen some documentation of a real-life product all the way through from conception to realisation, especially when you would have been able to see the designer's philosophies acting on a real life product at the time.
However still very interesting to see the real-life designers working themselves and utilising their working methods.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Peer Blog Comments
http://stellaanddesign.blogspot.com/miss-magpie
http://saritaparto.blogspot.com/2010/10/upcycling-rolling-trivet.html
http://3332091.blogspot.com/2010/10/upcycling.html
http://z3330189.blogspot.com/2010/10/corker-of-bowl.html
http://linst90.blogspot.com/2010/10/font-face-font-family-arialfont-face.html
http://saritaparto.blogspot.com/2010/10/upcycling-rolling-trivet.html
http://3332091.blogspot.com/2010/10/upcycling.html
http://z3330189.blogspot.com/2010/10/corker-of-bowl.html
http://linst90.blogspot.com/2010/10/font-face-font-family-arialfont-face.html
Rationale
Upcycling Unwanteds - Room Divider/Screen
The first part of my exploration for this project was a trip to Reverse Garbage in order to attempt to find a suitable material at the end of its usage life.
I found this trip to be mostly ineffectual in terms of finding a suitable material. However I did come across some old pianola rolls – a punched roll of paper used for playing music through an outdated automatic piano. I immediately realised some of the potential of the material. The light plays well through the many tiny holes perforated through the paper, and it was a natural, recyclable and lightweight material.
I intended to use this as the main element of a screen or room divider in order to utilise the interesting property of the pianola roll. I felt however that the roll by itself was not enough in terms of volume of recycled material, so I attempted to find another material which was similarly at the end of its usage life.
The first possibility I found was discarded PVC piping however I was advised that this was not a good material to be used as it did not work well in combination with the paper roll.
Cardboard was the next possibility explored. This seemed extremely suitable for me because it would work well in terms of material quality with the paper roll. It was also extremely attainable from a number of different locations, an important quality to consider in mass-production of the object. The cardboard’s strength in a plane could be utilised in the screen’s frame, and this allowed for the use of the box as a whole with no offcuts.
I hoped that the combination of pianola paper and cardboard together in this way would increase the perceived value of both when combined in an elegant solution.
The last item added was used bubble wrap packaging which was laminated with brown paper after wrapping objects during removal. This was used to provide a surface which could be cut to provide an element of silhouette in the screen. This material was suitable because it allowed a sharp edge with no feathering due to the nature of its construction.
When actually constructing the screen, I laminated the cardboard frame with PVA glue which I found to have the least environmental impact being water based and soluble. Also used in the construction was a small number of ordinary office staples used to hold pieces in place while gluing and also as a permanent method of fixing.
I was advised that my product would be mainly targeting a female audience. I was in agreement with this assessment so I decided to use a floral element as my silhouette and feature of the screen.
Furthermore, I used two different sides on each side of the screen in order to allow a change in the room and to add further interest to the product.
Some regrets I have at the end of the project was not being able to dedicate enough time to finding an elegant and highly functional solution to the issue of a hinge between the two screen panels.
The solution I found was functional but it was not well finished and it was not as elegant as I would have liked to have seen in my final product. However apart from this I am happy with my resulting product and feel that I have explored an avenue of upcycling as a whole I had not before considered so closely. This project allowed for an enjoyable and thought-provoking way to explore the idea of upcycling in real-life products.
The first part of my exploration for this project was a trip to Reverse Garbage in order to attempt to find a suitable material at the end of its usage life.
I found this trip to be mostly ineffectual in terms of finding a suitable material. However I did come across some old pianola rolls – a punched roll of paper used for playing music through an outdated automatic piano. I immediately realised some of the potential of the material. The light plays well through the many tiny holes perforated through the paper, and it was a natural, recyclable and lightweight material.
I intended to use this as the main element of a screen or room divider in order to utilise the interesting property of the pianola roll. I felt however that the roll by itself was not enough in terms of volume of recycled material, so I attempted to find another material which was similarly at the end of its usage life.
The first possibility I found was discarded PVC piping however I was advised that this was not a good material to be used as it did not work well in combination with the paper roll.
Cardboard was the next possibility explored. This seemed extremely suitable for me because it would work well in terms of material quality with the paper roll. It was also extremely attainable from a number of different locations, an important quality to consider in mass-production of the object. The cardboard’s strength in a plane could be utilised in the screen’s frame, and this allowed for the use of the box as a whole with no offcuts.
I hoped that the combination of pianola paper and cardboard together in this way would increase the perceived value of both when combined in an elegant solution.
The last item added was used bubble wrap packaging which was laminated with brown paper after wrapping objects during removal. This was used to provide a surface which could be cut to provide an element of silhouette in the screen. This material was suitable because it allowed a sharp edge with no feathering due to the nature of its construction.
When actually constructing the screen, I laminated the cardboard frame with PVA glue which I found to have the least environmental impact being water based and soluble. Also used in the construction was a small number of ordinary office staples used to hold pieces in place while gluing and also as a permanent method of fixing.
I was advised that my product would be mainly targeting a female audience. I was in agreement with this assessment so I decided to use a floral element as my silhouette and feature of the screen.
Furthermore, I used two different sides on each side of the screen in order to allow a change in the room and to add further interest to the product.
Some regrets I have at the end of the project was not being able to dedicate enough time to finding an elegant and highly functional solution to the issue of a hinge between the two screen panels.
The solution I found was functional but it was not well finished and it was not as elegant as I would have liked to have seen in my final product. However apart from this I am happy with my resulting product and feel that I have explored an avenue of upcycling as a whole I had not before considered so closely. This project allowed for an enjoyable and thought-provoking way to explore the idea of upcycling in real-life products.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Peer Blog Comments
http://leoriginalchan.blogspot.com/2010/09/experience-enrichment-project.html
http://mbailey3255374.blogspot.com/2010/09/project-1.html
http://stellaanddesign.blogspot.com/2010/09/rock-and-roll.html
http://z3332715.blogspot.com/2010/09/rationale.html
http://lilynguyen1506.blogspot.com/2010/09/experience-enrichment.html
http://mbailey3255374.blogspot.com/2010/09/project-1.html
http://stellaanddesign.blogspot.com/2010/09/rock-and-roll.html
http://z3332715.blogspot.com/2010/09/rationale.html
http://lilynguyen1506.blogspot.com/2010/09/experience-enrichment.html
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