Sprouting Drawers

I just think these one off pieces of furniture by Peter Bottazzi and Denise Bonpace shown at Milan are incredible. When I was reearching my chair project last term this series called Da Morto A Orto would have been fantastic inspiration!
Images from dezeen

I'm Free

A big crit and exam out of the way, my degree was done and dusted on Friday! Although the end never seemed to appear, suddenly all the weight was off our shoulders and so over the bank holiday weekend, I've been sleeping in and going out in the evening with friends. Soon we'll be geting our marks back. I got a fantastic response to my chair - which some of my peers said was like me in furniture form! A compliment I think!
Yesterday we went into Canterbury to continue shopping for a summer ball dress. We came across the Courtyard Bazaar in a little courtyard hidden behind a usually closed gate on the high street. Also on campus a local artist Denise Hickey had her work on display, birds made from old bed sheet and mattress filling - creative recycling, just how I like it!

Ta daaa

Today I had the crit for my chair. Having enjoyed the process of designing and making it I wasn't too nervous. The aspects of reuse, make do and mend and nostalgia in design I hope came across, and it received very good feedback. The design ethics is to change people's views of design and to see whether they are game to reuse what is already in circulation, rather than take the easy waay out and buy new. The next idea from my critique panel is to use the leaflets that I produced to see whether anyone could make a deck chair - sort of like a day challenge, build a chair in 12 hours or something.

Doing this module has been a great break from more architectural work, in fact I think I have enjoyed doing this far more. Could their be a future in this? Who knows, we'll see!

The Chair

So after almost a year of researching, designing and making, I have my final creation. On Thursday is the crit for the module, so I'll be presenting the chair to panel and being questioned on it! To go along with it have designed a poster, and here is the illustration for it. The book Naive has some really great inspiration, especially Spikepress, and I always love Ben's work too. So in the next couple of days I'll be posting my presentation set up and a picture of the chair itself!

Sneak Peak

I've wood-glued the last bit of my chair together (after some last minute alterations and additions that were needed). It's poking out to the  left - see it?! I'd like to take some more snaps in daylight, but these flowers that Mum received for her birthday caught my eye.

Deck Chair

Here is a snap of my prototype deckchair! It was a little study for me to get back into the work shop and see how the components fit together. The final chair will have a more rugged look using all the wood I have collected up and the seat will be a patchwork affair. I had a little accident and in the process of washing the fabric I acquired, I put a dark one in the machine, the brightly coloured material has come out a bit dull... lucky it wasn't any of my favourite clothes!

Weaving

Via ~>O<~ I came across this communal weaving project by the Travis Meinhof. Today I was in the workshop making a 1:5 prototype of my interdisciplinary chair, I'm definitely getting more confident at using the drills and saws! This project at the Vancouver Art Gallery is a great inspiration for how I will make the seat of the chair. Pictures of how that turns out tomorrow...