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When thinking about where materials come from and what they are used for, I chose to research into leather, paper, rubber and glass.  Leather comes from cows and is used for clothing, bags and furniture.  It is seen as a luxury and now there are alot of fake leather products that are cheaper and a worse quality.  Rubber is produced from trees and is used for many different products such as erasers, tyres and wiring.  Paper comes from trees and is mass produced in rolls but can also be handmade and recycled.  Glass is made from sand and other materials and used to be very expensive so only rich people would be able to afford windows.  However now it is used everywhere in windows, lightbulbs, tvs, storage, art, vases, sculptures, cups, and glasses.

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Use of materials.

As an interior designer the use of materials is very important to me and my work.  I was particularly interested in the fake material objects that we were shown in the lecture.  The Smiths bakelite table and clock made in the 1930's were made to look like wood but were actually made of plastic.  Also the bag made out of bakelite and diamante were meant to look like precious stones, but was a cheaper, more affordable option.  Another example of fake materials was using nylon to make stockings instead of silk so they were more affordable.  When making my models I won't always use the exact materials therefore I would use cheaper materials that would portray the real life material.  The Front Design glass speakers make me question if materials can be used for products that they usually aren't by experimenting.  It made me question what effect it would have on the product when I thought about how glass would effect the sound of the speakers.

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How can you make a bank more attractive with the word... 'COFFIN'?

Coffin - funeral - death - black - flowers - red - silk - white - celebration - happiness - bright colours - velvet.

As the word I was given was quite a depressing word I linked words together until they became happy and positive.  I did this as the task was to make a bank more attractive, instead of being dark and boring, and using a negative word was not suitable to make a bank more attractive to customers.  As a coffin is part of a funeral I linked the funeral to being a celebration of life.  The word celebration reminds me of bright colours therefore to make the bank more attractive you can use bright coloured fabrics to liven up the furniture in the bank.  Also a wall that is a bright colour would make the room a more attractive and happier place to be in.  Another thing that I linked to funerals was flowers, however having flowers in a bank would not be practical as they would be quite expensive to keep replacing them, therefore fake flowers could be used instead and use flower scented air freshener. 

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In the seminar I got given the word 'clown' and had to write down words and sentences about the word and the things that first popped into my head when I visualized the clown.  My group then had to put together mine and the rest of the their words together to create a short story.  The aim of this exercise was to make us more creative.  However I hate words and writing so this exercise did not really work for me, therefore when the second exercise was given to us I much preferred that one as my brain works in a visual way.  

The shapes above were the shapes that were given to my group, which we then had to create an image with.  This exercise was so easy for me as working with shapes and doodling is something that I love to do.  I created a car out of the shapes and the rest of my group created other buildings etc that could be built up into a town that corresponded with our story.

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What is creativity?

Before the lecture I had never really thought about what creativity is, therefore the lecture made me consider what it is.  There was numerous different things to contemplate:

Is creativity:

An act?

A state of mind?

Something that can be learned?

An inherent quality/talent?

An imagination?

I believe that every person is creative in some way, some more than others.  I see creativity mainly in a design, art or performance form.  Creativity can be taught and learnt to a certain extent by developing skills.

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Field Studies - Howard Fenn

Object: Sculpture.

Colour: Orange/brown and silver and yellow/green.

Material: Silver material/metal, twigs, stones, grass, soil and nettles.

Texture: Bumpy/rough on one side, smooth on the other.

Decorated: With natural objects.

Shapes: 'S' shape, sheet, thin.

Construction: Punctured holes in it to create pattern then put leaves onto it and bent.

Date: 13th September 2001.

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Do Hit Chair - Marijn van der Poll

This product by Droog design challenges the preconceptions of making.  Unlike most furniture sold it is produced for the consumer to finish the process of making themselves so the chair is personal to them, becomes individual and one of piece.  This is a new process of making which does not require any skill.  This product makes me consider different ways of making and producing my work and whether to deconstruct an object to create a finished piece.

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What is making?

Up until the 1700's, objects were handmade and needed to produced by skilled craftsmen.  In the 1700's the Industrial Revolution began causing a substantial growth in the industries and expansion of cities within the UK.  Due to the the British colonies, Britain was the world dominator.  As more factories were being built this killed out handmade products and most became mass produced, however this created more jobs within the cities.  As there were more jobs, people moved to the cities from the countryside to work which caused overpopulating and bad living and working conditions.