Vessel Progression

For today's class, we were instructed to choose just one object to work with and come up with three different designs for it's vessel. I chose to go with my sorority pin due to the deep background that can really be used towards the design. Due to the secret rituals, I definitely want to make it a secret compartment that holds the pin. In addition, since there are four founders I want there to be four steps to eventually get to the pin. One of the ideas I received in class was to make it like those Russian figures where you open up the doll to find a smaller one inside, and so on. For next class we are supposed to zone in on one idea and create a model of that, so I will have some brainstorming to do in these next few days. Below are my drawings of the three vessels I thought of, along with some statements of the vessel design.

Three Initial Objects

The initial objects I decided to work with to create a vessel for were my class ring, my sorority crest, and credit cards. I don't know if I'm really a fan of any of these, but I really like the idea of creating a secret spot for my sorority crest to represent all of the secret rituals that it entails. We were instructed to make 5 sketches of each item, which I included below:

Nature & Aesthetics of Design Reflection

The shape of things is influenced incredibly by the requirements of use, economy, access, and technique. The latter of those is what this excerpt focuses on, even though in comparison it is of much smaller consideration. We don't have to take characteristics as a piece as we find them, yet we still have to take the characteristics of the material. There are numerous techniques for altering them including processing, wasting, constructing, forming, and casting.

The only technique that really has any technical limitations on it is processing. We still have to take most materials for their natural properties. We can almost always find a material that has the property that we want, but we have no control over all of it's other properties; we must take it as it is. We need more processing techniques in order to adjust these properties to vary more independently. Deficiency is also shown in wasting, constructing, forming, and casting, but only in the respect of size for the most part.

The excerpt then jumps ahead to talk about the beauty of nature, and how we relate it to intimacy - one can feel closer to an artist just through their piece. Design is all about promoting human happiness, yet it's aim can't be determined until the difference between needs and wants is. It is a need of man to break thresholds, which provides little, temporary happiness. Separately, a bed already does everything it needs, and anything there on out in all for convenience, which promotes human happiness. Convenience, therefore, does nothing for need, yet it increases the chance for happiness, the ultimate goal of design.

Design can only promote happiness, but art creates it. Art is said to be healthy for your soul, and it's good to learn about the art of your history and past. Art creates hope, and would therefore be extremely stupid to ban.

Overall, I found this excerpt rather hard to comprehend. I had to read it pretty slowly, and each section multiple times in order to understand what it was saying. Once understood, however, it really does hold many true and powerful facts that I wouldn't otherwise have thought of or considered, such as everything about happiness and convenience. The writer is clearly a scholar and very wise on the topic, and it was very insightful to read this piece.

Final Chair

I once again had to pull an all-nighter in order to finish my project in time. I definitely need to work on my time management for this next project, even though I have gotten quick good running on little sleep if I do say so myself. Overall, I am pretty happy with how my chair turned out! It's pretty simple with the exception of the folded design featured in the front. This makes this the center of attention and focal point. I also wanted to incorporate triangles into the entire form to give this very geometric feel. It even goes along with my duality essay, which talked about how close my little sister and I are, and how we send back and forth this teddy bear that we had gotten right before I went off for school. In this structure, I am the study bottom triangle while she's the one on top of me, following in my footsteps. The open side of the backrest even features a little nook in which the teddy bear could easily fit, tying the two pieces together. While my backrest probably could have been a little more interesting, I definitely like the direction of my cardboard chair.

Chair Progression

I have come up with a little bit of a more unique design idea. I'm not positive as to whether or not this is going to be my final, but I like the though of focusing this chair around triangles. Here is a photo of a little mock of I made. This design, too, will include the design featured in the previous blog post. Oh, and I have yet to figure out connections. I'm more concerned about the overall design at this point.

Time to get down to business

Okay so my relaxation week must now come to an end and I must accept the harsh reality that this will be due in a week. I looked up some ideas online in order to get my thought process going, and I like where this idea is heading. Here is a little paper structure I created presenting my idea. I really like the aesthetic aspect of the piece in the center, and would like to create the chair around this piece. The only thing I really need to consider is how I'm going to have it all fit together.