Thursday 31 March 2011

Daily Blog 31st March 2011

I have made two stop motion films of the models that I have made which shows how the drawer will come out in a wave motion. I think this creates a calming effect.

I also did some models showing anger through drawers here they are...

Tuesday 29 March 2011

Daily Blog, Tuesday 29th March 2011

We had a peer group review today. it was great, each of us had the chance to speak about the work that we were doing and where we were up to with the project. We read our Statement Of Intent and explained how we had explored the area of our subject. When I spoke about my subject 'emotions' I was able to clarify that they way that my project had moved on was that I wanted to place importance on objects having personalities.

I explained how people have emotions that run on the surface that people see daily but their are deeper emotions that mostly the majority of people never see I explained how I wanted to do this with objects, how it would be interesting to see how bring something to the surface that is not normally seen, like runners on drawers which are usually hidden. I would like to make a feature out of these and see how I could change how drawers normally come out on the runners, could the runners be curved and how would that make the person feel sliding the drawer out like that or could the runners be like waves and the drawer bob up and down when it comes out? Also could I make a drawer that in the way it comes out it makes us angry? Rhianne noticed that one of the shapes that I had cut into my models was zigzagging across, when I had done this I knew from the research that I had done that this would be seen as angry as there are a lot of angles and if you can imagine taking a draw out in that way it would be incredibly hard and annoying and so would definitely have that effect.

After the peer group review I started working out how to make the drawer come out in a wave like motion, I thought last night that the way that I could do it is by having individual fingers joined together by something like string and then this can fit onto the draw and inside a cut out wave shape in a sheet of a certain material I may use. the individual fingers then run up and down the curves and do not get stuck, which is what would happen if there was one long wave shape inside. It need to be a fluid as possible so I am going to keep experimenting and may be see if I can add ball bearings to it so it comes out even smoother.

Also, another thing that I need to explore is the way that I can make the drawer slides in a variety of ways that effect people with different emotions. So try and make one that they may feel anger towards (triangle - zigzag), happy (curve) and calm (waves).

I will upload photos tomorrow of my models.

Monday 28 March 2011

Daily Blog, 28th March, 2011

I have been exploring the idea of looking at objects inside out, I have been looking in particular to the runners that are used on drawers, I would like to look at how these could be changed to be the man feature of the drawers and change the object completely so t works in a different way to what we expect.

 I have been looking at different ways in which we interact with objects and how this makes us feel, by opening the drawers in a particular way will this make us feel differently? and could the different way that the drawers open have different effects as well, i.e if the drawers slides open like a swing so it is on a curve rather than straight out at us like the conventional drawer, or if it swung downwards instead, does this have a negative impact compared to swinging upwards? Also could the drawer runners be shaped into a wave shape so when the drawer opens it bobs up and down? These are all things that I would like to explore.

Dave introduced me to the company 'Unto This Last' -
"Unto This Last purpose is to offer you the convenience of the local craftsman workshop at mass-production prices. We design along a single principle; less dependence on heavy industrial processes, more use of innovative digital tools adapted to the small workshop". 
"Instead of buying furniture from a warehouse outside of town, we thought you would prefer a visit to a workshop close to the city centre:  everything you buy from us is made at the back of our shop, on a digital router".
"Designing for local production 
The style of our products reflects our design principle: - We use a special birch ply composite throughout, in order to get edges we can polish to a smooth finish. Our software optimises the use of each sheet with smaller products to spread the cost of this material and reduce waste.
- All the parts of our products are cut from the same material to avoid depending on industrial fittings. This simplifies our supply chain and shortens our lead-time.
- We only deliver in London to eliminate the need for packaging and cut costs".



Even though the style of the furniture designed isn't particularly radical and inspirational, the concept of the business is interesting. I can order any of the furniture on the site to my spec  so there s a real catalogue feel to it you can choose the wood used and the colour however they produce these objects when ordered and so do not make these objects before hand they are quite like Hyundai who manufacture their cars to the number that they know will be sold so they don't have to worry about losing ant money.

I have been making models of drawers with different shapes cut onto the side so that it slides in a curved manner instead of straight out I will be looking into this further and seeing once I have got the design that I want I would like to look at other pieces of furniture to see what the practicalities are and what I can add to my design to make it more appealing.

Sunday 27 March 2011

Daily Blog, 27th March 2011

I've been off for my interviews at Brighton and Falmouth in the past week so I have failed to update my most recent plans for for the FMP. What I have discovered recently about my work is that I like to mimic objects and then recreate them from a different perspective. In all mu previous projects I have recreated objects that have a practical use but my creations could be stand alone pieces in themselves. I would like people to be able to use my designs but I wuld hope that the my design has communicated in an alternative way to what the original object does.

My FMP is about emotions and how shape colour and space is affects the way that we feel about an object. I have been thinking and researching and I really the abstract idea od how people hide emotions away from certain people or in certain situations such as our emotions at work or college are normally hidden to an extent than they would be when you are at home. I would like to explore this with objects and see how the hidden aspects of objects such as the joints underneath a chair or the plumbing underneath the sink or the drawer runners in a cupboard could come to the surface. When these aspects of the objects come to light and are seen in this perspective, will this affect how people feel towards the object now? Will they feel the same about it? Will they still want to sit on it? Use it to store their personal possessions or does it disgust them, make them feel happy, sad, angry?

I am exploring drawer runners at the moment, I like the idea of using them as I would be able to use old drawer unners which are no longer used and then this would be fitting in with my criteria of using environmentally sustainable materials.

Monday 14 March 2011

Daily Blog, 14th March 2011

Back in the studio after the weekend, I spoke to Dave about how I could move on with my project. We both felt that I had pretty much completed my primary research and I was now in need of doing secondary research by going out taking pictures, photocopying etc, things which I felt could be categorised into emotions. I could make a booklet of pictures, colours shapes etc that represent these emotions and then once I have collected these items I can pick one of them and progress with it.

I looked into how I could explore metal, I chose to look a bit into foil. I thought it was an easy thing to start with, I tried scoring it, smoothing it crumpling it etc I would like to carry on with this but maybe using the line drawings in my sketch book of emotions to create the same sort of images.

After this we had a meeting on the London trip; leaving on wednesday, really looking forward to this as its such a good chance to go around the amazing variety of galleries and shops. At 4pm Indea, Carl, Jo and myself went to the throwing class in the ceramics department. I was really fun and learn't how hard it is to do.

Great end to a day...

Saturday 12 March 2011

Daily Blog, 11th March 2011

I've been doing lots of research on ways in which certain emotions can be evoked with particular shapes and colours. I was interested in the way that dangerous and poisonous plants and animals have certain characteristics that are similar. I looked in particular at Puffer Fish, Sea Urchins, The Venus Fly Trap and Thorny Devil Lizards. I found similarities in the shapes that were used and the environments that they were in, for example the sea urchins are heavily spiked and are a dark purple colour that means that they are camoflaged as they are in such dark areas of the sea where no light can penetrate these depths. Also, the Thorny devil lizard blends in well with its sandy, desert environment. The puffer fish blows up like a balloon... with spikes attached I might add, competely unsuspect.. at first. It might be interesting to make a 3D object with these attributes, could it blend into its environment so it cannot be noticed as it is a dangerous object and cold pounce any second?

I realised that when I make this object that I cannot only be concerned with how the object will be percieved. If I am going to make an object that creates emotion I will need to consider the environment that the object is in. For example, Bansky's work make a political statement about the society we live in and human reactions, like the girl swinging from the "PARK" sign, with "CAR" covered over slightly, it reminds us playfully and subtly what society prioritses and has given up for money. His art work is pointant and straighforward, taken from a different perspective which makes poeple look up and see the BIGGER picture.
However, if we look at his artwork in a different context such as in a "PARK", then it would no longer be ironic, it does not force us to see the issue he is trying to raise.

I want to look at emotions and how objects can make us feel, I'm not too sure what emotion yet, I'm thinking more the darker side of things..so when I know the emotion that I want to use, I have to put this into a context which people can relate to.

From my research I have also found that using a light source with the object would be a great way of creating mood/atmosphere/emotion so it could be a light of some sort which uses this to its advantage. I  have started looking into different art periods such as Romanticism, where Turner and constabe for example "employed colour as a psychico-expressive medium to lend mood to landscape" (Itten, Johannes, The Art of Colour, 1973) and Neo-Impressionism where Seurat and his followers used dots of unmixed colour  in order to instill a sense of organisation and permanence.  Ogden Rood's book 'Modern chromatics, with application to Art and Industry' acknowledged the different behaviours exhibited by coloured lights and pigments.

I am now looking at Cubism, as these artists reduce objects down to simple shapes; squares, trianges and circles....

Thursday 10 March 2011

Daily Blog, Thursday 10th March

I looked at a few artists and looked at books about colour and 3D design. How colour can be used to greater effect and also materails that I could use that would create different colours and different textures.

I also did some drawings on expressions, I thought they were particularly expressing anger, mournful and very upset.

Wednesday 9 March 2011

Daily Blog, Wednesday 9th March

I had my interview for MMU 3D Design today. Hoping that all went well it was a group interview so it was very different from what I was expecting and a bit daunting. However, it was nice to see other peoples work from other colleges and I thought that the tutors on the degree course seemed like nice people.

After my interview I looked at drawing in ways that made me think of an emotion. I found it quite hard but I will keep using different shapes and colours to portray different feelings.

After experimenting a bit. I found that trying to draw in way that makes me think of anger, dark or gloomy feelings also reminded me of certain botanical plants and how these are also dangerous and may be poisonous such as a cactus with its spikes or carnivorous plants....
These pictures to me represent moody, glum, uneasy feelings. 

Where as these drawings seem happy, uplifting and cheerful.


Tuesday 8 March 2011

Daily Blog Tuesday 8th March

I vistited the Manchester Art Gallery this morning to see Anish Kapoors exhibition. I was blown away by the work that was on show. The materials that he had used really tapped into my emotions and I found the experimentation with mirrored surfaces created a sense of wonderment and excitement. Where as his use of clay on Half moon made me feel uneasy and a bit frightened.

Seeing his work has made me inspired to work with mirrored material where I can experiment with colour, I think that the mirrored effect in a certain environment creates such animation and excitement that it could be really interesting for my final project.

Grayson Perry was also showing a few pieces on the second floor and as he is one of my favourite artists I really enjoyed seeing his humourous, honest ceramic vessels and prints.

Also on the second floor is one of my favourite rooms, the Craft and furniture section, which thankfully is permanent. There was an array of objects which used colours, shapes and materials in really interesting ways. I have taken some photos that inspired me....