Design Practice in Context @daniellegreen12011962-blog - Tumblr Blog

Posts

two-color

The Way (by: vasileva)

Images from MMU Special Collections.

razorshapes

Oscar Santillan - Failed Dawn, 2008

118 fluorescent lights

yama-bato

http://demorgan.org.uk/collection

500 Words-

MMU Special Collections definitely caught my eye.

The collection takes you right back to the period when it was first moved - to Manchester School of Art. Museum collection of a range of Art & Design material, historic and contemporary, and are still collecting now. I really like the thought of this because it shows a lot of varied collections. For example they have Materials related to history- historic student artwork, private papers like sketchbooks, more book collections e.g Artist Books. (I will be having a look at the artists books as well because in my studio work I need to create an Artist Book using images and artists from my tumblr blog.)

I have decided to take this collection up, and will be visiting it to see which object or image I would like to base my 500 word essay on.

Research Week

Our brief/explanation:

1 x 500 word analysis of one image/object from an MMU archive or collection from Special Collections, Downing Collection, Visual Resources, Library journal collection or North West Film Archive.

Intentions: "In this short text you should identify what the object is, how it was made (this can be either in what context it was produced, for instance if it was from the Design Council, or the process by which it was constructed.) and what attracts you to the image/object, or the ideas it represents.

TAKE NOTE OF REF NUMBER, CLASSIFICATION, OR LOCATION.

During Research Week we had 5 people come in and show us different areas which we can explore and what are available to us. The first few speakers where not really grasping my attention, this was because although I like to know about materials and fabrics, I did not think it was relevant to any of my interests concerning Interior Design. These were;

The NW Film Archive,

Contains films from 1897-present, using past history and even work of students. Have to be quite careful about copyright. One section in here that sort of appealed to me was a film about a New opening of a Bakery- 'latest Interior Design' which I thought I could talk about how Interior Designs have adapted and changed over the centuries and how this has been captured within films that are available to us today.

Phillip-Downing Collection,

Manufacturers Pattern Books and Textiles, although this focuses more on a textiles based subject, I quite liked the different kind of book that were shown. For example Design Albums- painted on paper, and Roller Printed Paper, which appeals to me because there are obvious uses of different techniques, as well as starting to incorporate Graphic Design at 1936-1938, and this enables us to see that development in technology.

Library Journals,

The Library offers a wide variety of Journals, and holds a very good history resource, where any journal published in a certain year can be found. This means you can find any specific article that you need to research, or a design my a certain designer from a certain year. It also includes information of up and coming artists/designers and lets us search databases to make it easier.

Seminar 15th/Oct

In this seminar, after thinking about uses of materials, and what material can be re-formed and made from other materials, like mass production. For example paper etc, isn't just made from trees now- We got set to look at an image and name all the materials we could see. We had an image of a shopping isle containing drinks. Then we got given a task to chose 3 materials individually and try and think about the background, how it's made and where it originates from, as well a cultural or historic meaning. I chose Aluminium, Cotton and Glass.

I felt these all had different processes to being made and very different background, Cotton is made from a Cotton plant, Glass is made by mainly sand, and Aluminium is made from alumina which looks like sugar.

I then found out off other people what other materials are made out of and one thought caught my eye was the process in which leather is made. My seminar group where quite clueless, and as was I, on how leather and suede was actually made. So we all watched a short video clip and there is a lot of steps to be undertaken for leather to be made as how we know it now. Although it seems like a complicated process, it was able to be made centuries ago, without machinery, where people would hand-dye the leather. This showed me how much technology has formed over the years and how we are now actually able to mass produce so much more stuff than what we were able to do.

blackholesun9

Aerogel, also know as frozen smoke, is the world’s lowest density solid, clocking in at 96% air. If you hold a small piece in your hand, it’s practically impossible to either see or feel, but if you poke it, it’s like styrofoam. It supports up to 4,000 times its own weight and can withstand a direct blast from two pounds of dynamite. It’s also the best insulator in existence!

Materials that interest me

Techno Lace, which is made out of fibre-optic cables and the cable ends form brilliant points of light. An artist that ventured into this idea was Helena Hietanen 1999. Where she focused on lightsculptures. It is twiddled into a mesh of flowers and loops and scrolls. As the sources of illumination brighten and fade, shimmering patterns and rhythms pass over and through the lace.

Aerogel - Lightest solid on earth and has a eye catching colour and opaque.

Aluminium Nitride Wafer, that cuts ice like butter.

Ferro fluid- A liquid that alters its viscosity as a result of magnetic interference .

Shape Memory Alloy- Metal that remembers its shape

Challenging Materials/Categories

'Porcelain Stool by Hella Jongerius' uses an unexpected material to create a chair. Porcelain is usually thought of being fragile. -Experiments with the qualities of unfired and fired porcelain: flexible in the initial phase, as if it were a textile ribbon, strong once the stool is fired. The experiments are part of a project, initiated by Droog Design and Rosenthal (a German manufacturer of table services). In 2000, Jongerius developed Felt Stool, based on the shape of Porcelain Stool.-

This project shows that with the correct structure and thought unexpected materials could be used in a lot of different ways.

o- 'Zana Berzina- Touch Me Wallpaper' 2005

This wallpaper has an unusual effect where if you touch and connect with the material it is thought as a 'contact organ' and enables visitors to create visual responses through touch and metamorphoses from one state into another.

I really like this because it is unusual and you can feel an interaction with material and I just really like the thought of if you press your hand upon it, it will form your hand print.

o- 'Tissue & Culture' is a Semi-Living Seamless Jackets 2006 which is made from Living Cells.

THE RAIN ROOM By Random International at the Barbican, London

The rain room really appeals to me, and I think the use of material here is so good and is very spatially changing. It is very effective that the use of even one material in a room can change the atmosphere. We have been looking at this in our Inside Out: Sensory Environments project last week, where we had to notice every sense, smell, taste in a particular environment what gives major factors of being in a certain space. For example a food court will have the smells and tastes of food and a busy environment. Although this rain room is a complete contrast, and this is therefore why I find it so interesting.

"Set on a raised plinth at the end of the dark, curving corridor space, powerfully backlit by a glaring spotlight, the perfectly rectangular chunk of rain appears transposed from a parallel place, with the precision of a carefully staged experiment.

As visitors step up on to the stage, these identical vertical lines of driving rain begin to be repelled, as if each body is giving off a kind of invisible magnetic field. As you step further in, the rain closes around you, enveloping each silhouetted figure in a perfect cylindrical void. It is a startlingly surreal experience."

CONTEMPORARY PRACTITIONERS;

Christine Borland - 'explores life, death and how social systems and institutions exploit and devalue life. In 'English Family China' a number of real human skulls, imported from South America via the USA – one foetal, one adult male, one adult female and one six year old child - are her starting point. Versions of these were cast in bone china, the material developed in Britain for fine table-wares as an alternative to Oriental porcelain; 18th century Liverpool was a major centre of porcelain production. The skulls' blue-on-white marine motifs are typical of the Liverpool factories. Displayed in 'nuclear family' groups they examine history, mortality and morality, notably Liverpool's role in the Slave Trade.' http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/collections/20c/borland.aspx

A lot of things we look at in the lectures usually have meaning and significance behind it. Looking at these materials and how they're crafted/ where they came from has really inspired me to take notice in the materials that I would like to use in future. This is because I think the way the material acts and is used is based on how it is made, the processes and where they have come from. Not only does the background of the actual materials interest me, but the background in the actual thought process and design on the material interests me too. For example Christine Borland with her Porcelain Skulls.

#materials #christine borland

George Perec - 'notice things we take advantage of'. He looked into 'Species of Space and other places' where he decided to focus on things that we don't usually notice, like asking yourself about provence, whats underneath your wallpaper, and the institute of making.

He then ventured into look at the sensor aesthetic properties of materials.:- for example the smell, touch and taste of things. He examined the different taste of cutlery, and what different types of metal taste like with certain kinds of food. Because usually we think a spoon or a fork does not taste of anything, although he conducted an experiment to look at what foods would match.

When I got shown this video by Fischli and Weiss in the lecture I found it really interesting, using a wide amount of materials. Although even in the comments for this video, someone asks "Is this really art, or just incredibly interesting?" which brings up the earlier arguments of what is creativity and what is being made. I think that this is creative, because this idea has been thought up and put together in a series of creative ways that all work together with reactions. I feel this is more of a scientific creation than an artistic one, although all in all I feel this is still creative. It also shows us that we can use any sort of material, we just have to make it work in our idea.

#contexual

thekhooll-deactivated20210705

Sand

A sand drawing by Jim Denevan.

pertevents-blog

Last week, the best international design brands came to London to exhibit their creations at Design Junction for the London Design Festival in central London. Located at New Oxford Street near Tottenham Court Road tube station, the exhibition took place at a three-floor abandoned industrial building called Sorting Office, which is six times bigger than the space where the last edition was hosted.

Bright-coloured spiral slides as well as the packaging unit of Royal Mail are the remarkable architectural features of the building because they add to the outstanding 60s aesthetics. Being exhibited at Design Junction was a flowing mix of vintage-styled and new designs, including from original wrap-around wood seats to plastic accessories for new electronic devices.

This design expo was a great opportunity for cutting-edge labels and pop-up design stores of smaller scale, because it gave a much more open space to the exhibitors. It was an interactive and educational experience with impressive content-led entertainment.

http://thedesignjunction.co.uk/

Photography by Martina Saladino

Written by Andrea Vessichelli

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Design Practice in Context