tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59122729164388823752024-03-13T14:45:13.706-07:00Design Academy EindhovenSOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-84227443779894553752009-06-02T16:28:00.000-07:002009-06-03T01:44:49.837-07:00Koert van Mensvoort<span style="font-size:130%;"></span><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SiW2SpqoNcI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/MvKPrslLPos/s1600-h/poster.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 226px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342876964483511746" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SiW2SpqoNcI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/MvKPrslLPos/s320/poster.jpg" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SiW2FDFWgzI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/loWuu8du5Mg/s1600-h/1018.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342876730788315954" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SiW2FDFWgzI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/loWuu8du5Mg/s320/1018.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SiW2Ey2HxnI/AAAAAAAAAZs/khr5eah8tPQ/s1600-h/0929.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342876726429468274" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SiW2Ey2HxnI/AAAAAAAAAZs/khr5eah8tPQ/s320/0929.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SiW2Er0bE0I/AAAAAAAAAZk/V22_SuzPXkU/s1600-h/RIMG0949.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342876724543296322" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SiW2Er0bE0I/AAAAAAAAAZk/V22_SuzPXkU/s320/RIMG0949.jpg" /></a><span style="font-size:180%;"><br /></span></div><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-family:arial;">Written by Saara Järvinen </span></strong></div><div></div><div></div><div align="left"><br />Koert van Mensvoort (PhD) gave a lecture at the Academy on 13 May 2009. He started by amazing the audience with an entertaining introduction on himself. He even proved us his boogie skills. This gave us a taste of what to expect: a visual rollercoaster of Koert’s visions.<br /><br />Koert defines himself in many ways. He has an art background but also a PhD from the Technical University Eindhoven. His field stretches from art to technology and philosophy. This shows in the pieces he presented to us.<br /><br />A good example is the Datafountain, that displays the money currency rates in a water fountain. Koert claims this kind of “information decoration” can be a more calm and open way to present data. ”Currently many digital information appliances force people to retrieve information from sources that are not attuned to our human physical bandwidth at all”, says Koert.<br /><br />Koert focuses on explaining the theory of Next Nature. By this he means the nature emerged from human culture. Our naïve idea of nature as forests and wild animals isn’t very accurate anymore. His new definition of nature is that it is something beyond control, whereas culture is what we control. There are many examples of the blurring of culture and nature, such as indoor beaches, man-made islands in Dubai and tissue engineering. Next Nature is a particularly Dutch issue of course, considering that The Netherlands is so much shaped by humans.<br /><br />Our view on nature is affected by what we see in the media. Something fake can be more real to us than the real thing. Koert deals with this in his documentary “The woods smell of shampoo”. The title refers to a girl who goes to a forest and associates the smell of trees with pine-scented shampoo.<br /><br />The lecture created controversy in the audience, and raised questions on individual freedom. It seemed that the theme made us feel anxious and powerless. This is interesting considering that we study in a future-oriented field and even have possibilities to have an effect on the development.<br /><br />Koert reminds us that not only culture imitates nature, imitation exists also in nature. Koert gives an example of the walking leaf, an insect that disguises as a leaf. Imitation is natural, and according to Koert, this gives us hope. Also, human manipulation over nature has always existed. “Playing with fire is what we do” says Koert. We long to control nature, but there are always surprises.<br /><br />Furthermore, fusing goes both ways. Culture takes natural forms for instance in the construction of Internet and road networks. It is important to remember that our culture is a product of nature.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Chiang Ping Fan: Editing the video.</span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;">Huang Tzu Chun: Filming the lecture, Weblog update.</span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;">Henry Wilson: Biographical article, Interview, Presenting the lecturer.</span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;">Kitikoon Worrasorratorn: Photography, Poster, Graphic design of dvd cover and vlag package.</span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;">Saara Järvinen: Review article, Communication.</span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:85%;"></div></span></span></div></div>SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-87407380919120946192009-05-25T02:21:00.000-07:002009-05-28T07:23:12.873-07:00Eric De Clercq and Gert Staal<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/Sh6ddmdA1iI/AAAAAAAAAYc/cSq1NlJOQe4/s1600-h/DSCF9728.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/Sh6ddmdA1iI/AAAAAAAAAYc/cSq1NlJOQe4/s320/DSCF9728.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340879339971991074" /></a><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">written by Carl Harris</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">photograph by Hanna, Chester, Kwak</span></div><div><br /></div>On April 28th 2009 Eric De Clercq and Gert Staal visited the Design Academy for a workshop with the students and source publication meeting respectively. The workshop taken by Eric was divided into two parts.<br /><br />The morning session focused on creating a small video that could be analyzed by the students. Students dispersed into small corners of the masters space, each thinking of how to get the most out of the task. There were only a small amount of students that were present in the workshop. If I think back to the past workshop with Eric, it lacked any depth and technical aspects within the medium of video. The lack of numbers corresponded to the frustration felt by the students whom previously attended.<br /><br />This workshop however had a better balance between technical interview techniques delivered in an academic way, and a creative quick video that delt with editing.<br /><br />The short videos that were presented by students, all varied in style and technique. There was an interview, a past video morph project and a stop motion photo shoot video. All were analysed in a quick, swift but informative manner.<br /><br />The afternoon session had a more academic feel. Eric gave a lecture about interviewing techniques within video. He gave examples, anecdotes, information regarding dos and don’ts of interview styles; How to frame the interviewee, the importance of building a relationship, all combined to present a very informative two hours. Although the number of students diminished everyone who attended participated in discussion. There was a sense of thirst for knowledge.<br /><br />The success behind the video workshop was due to the structure and content that differed to the previous workshop. It was more about educating and less about developing our creativity. We as creative students don’t need a lesson in creativity with video; we need a lesson on video and how to edit.<br /><br />Overall I believe the day was very productive. The only disappointment was the lack of students whom could have witnessed a transformation in workshop and video technique.<div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); "><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/Sh6eFjpvwFI/AAAAAAAAAYk/j3D02WE5UoY/s320/DSCF9750.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340880026414858322" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px; " /></span></div><div><br /></div>SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-23451715877839390412009-04-02T09:32:00.000-07:002009-04-02T09:54:03.269-07:00DAMIAN O’ SULLIVAN (01/04/2009)<img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SdTsiqS3djI/AAAAAAAAAYM/kQqQLRJrYY4/s400/Damian+o%27Sullivan-19.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320137140044527154" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SdTrBxqSflI/AAAAAAAAAXc/Qis9jxoFEh0/s400/Damian+o%27Sullivan-11.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320135475574505042" /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SdTrhU-64bI/AAAAAAAAAX0/KIH2VAPIeu8/s1600-h/Damian+o%27Sullivan-23.jpg"></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SdTrb83w3dI/AAAAAAAAAXs/rpL5W2N3mNM/s1600-h/Damian+o%27Sullivan-12.jpg"></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SdTrLYY9BQI/AAAAAAAAAXk/0pTFmYBaOTA/s1600-h/Damian+o%27Sullivan-19.jpg"></a><br /><br /><br /><br />Editorial Article<br />DAMIAN O’ SULLIVAN (01/04/2009)<br />Text: Maurizio Montalti<br />Photo's: Nichon Glerum<br /><br />Damian O’Sullivan is a dutch designer who also works covering the role of mentor in the bachelor course at the “Design Academy” in Eindhoven.<br /><br />He has been one of the “lucky” selected designers who have been invited by Paola Antonelli, director of the MOMA in New York, to join with his work one of the most exciting and astonishing exhibitions ever presented in the design field: “Design and the Elastic Mind”.<br /><br />That’s why on april 1st 2009 he has been coming on the 5th floor of “De Witte Dame”; to give us a lecture: a presentation and a general overview on some of the content of that great event he has been part of.<br /><br />Over the past 25 years, under the influence of such milestones as the introduction of the personal computer, the Internet, and wireless technology, we have experienced dramatic changes in several mainstays of our existence, especially our rapport with time, space, the physical nature of objects, and our own essence as individuals.<br />“Design and the Elastic Mind” considered these changes in behaviour and need.<br />It has been highlighting current examples of successful design translations of disruptive scientific and technological innovations, and reflecting on how the figure of the designer is changing from form giver to foundamental interpreter of an extraordinary dynamic reality.<br /><br />It’s an exploration in the explosively reciprocal relationship between science and design in the contemporary world.<br />His lecture started with a friendly critique adressed to the “Design Academy” in itself, a very good school specialized in conceptual design and craftmanship expressed through high aestethics, but still lacking that very important approach with a scientific oriented level, if confronted with other big institutions in the world, as the MIT or the RCA, dealing a lot more with future scenarios and technologies.<br /><br />After explaining the way the exhibition was set up, through the seven main chapters, he gave us examples of some of the presented projects, one for every chapter.<br /><br />Then he started showing some of the works made by the italian designer Elio Caccavale; a collection of toys (MyBio) exploring the emergence of biological hybrids in biotechnologies, as well as our moral, social, cultural and personal response to these “transhuman” creatures; each of the twelve dolls he made symbolize a possible biofuture and aim to introduce young children to emerging technologies, inviting them to think about the ways biotechnologies can affect their lives.<br /><br />Another shown project was “Technological Dreams Series” by Dunne&Raby, objects meant to spark a discussion about how we’d like our robots to relate to us in a possible future. As technology advances and robotic experiments abound (ranging from the pragmatic to the exquisitely absurd) designers are taking a closer philosophical look at our future interaction with robots. Will they be subservient, intimate, dependent, equal? Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby look at robots as individuals with their own distinct personalities and quirks, thinking that devices of the future might not be designed for specific tasks but instead might be given jobs based on behaviours and qualities that emerge over time. New entities: technological cohabitants.<br />One more was the task devoloped by portoguese designer Susana Soares, titled “BEE’S, New Organs of Perception”; a project based on the evidence that bees have a phenomenal odor perception and can be trained within minutes using Pavlov’s reflex to target a specific odor. Their range of detection goes from pheromones and toxins to disease dignosis. That’s why she developed a range of alternative diagnosis tools that use trained bees to perform a health checkup, detect diseases, and monitor fertility cycles.<br />After passing through some other shown projects he finally came to present his own as the last one of the lecture: the “Solar Lampion”.<br /><br />Unlike most solar lamps, which are left in a fixed position outdoors, Damian O’Sullivan’s “Solar Lampion” has been concieved so that at night users can take the light with them into their homes. The designer came in contact with solar technology at a very young age, as his father was responsible for the energy supply for the satellites launched by the european space agency.<br />The geometric spiraling of the “Solar Lampion” recalls both natural structures, such as pinecones, and the shape of traditional chinese paper lanterns. The lamp is composed of layers of concentric rings, each one holding six solar cells inclined thirty degrees to better catch the sun’s rays .Each solar cell is connected to an LED fed by a rechargeable battery. The solar cells store the sun's energy during the day and release it at nightfall wherever you need it."<br />Unfortunately he did not give us all these informations and i personally think he could have give us a better insight into the different projects; the overall lecture was sounding a lot like a very general presentation of the amazing MOMA’s exhibition, probably still astonishing for somebody that was completely unexperienced about it, but surely not for all the others.<img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SdTsEZzppCI/AAAAAAAAAX8/HI4ppkFN8zg/s400/Damian+o%27Sullivan-12.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320136620222555170" /><br /><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SdTsfFb1QlI/AAAAAAAAAYE/efADuv5dIFg/s400/Damian+o%27Sullivan-23.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320137078610412114" /><div><br /></div><div><br /><br /><br /></div>SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-45161744918567282282009-04-01T02:16:00.000-07:002009-04-01T02:38:17.138-07:00Frank Theis<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SdMyQ6G5Y6I/AAAAAAAAAXU/1mSH3s2lf2o/s1600-h/Untitled-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 279px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SdMyQ6G5Y6I/AAAAAAAAAXU/1mSH3s2lf2o/s400/Untitled-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319650850912166818" border="0" /></a>
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<br /></b></span></p><p align="center"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;"><b>A Brief Look into the Transhuman Revolution</b></span></p> <p align="center"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;">By Dana Cannam</span>
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<br /></p> <p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">Frank Theys is a Belgian visual artist who currently works out of Brussels and Amsterdam. He recently visited the Design Academy Eindhoven showcasing his 2006 documentary Technocalyps, a science fiction meets reality documentary describing the potential realities of a human being enhanced by the seemingly limitless boundaries of technology. The film includes various interviews by a selection of specialists currently working on shattering the limits of the human kind however, does little to question the ethical considerations of such fundamental changes. Can this reconfiguration of the human species be carried out successfully without the total understanding of the possible consequences to our future? </span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">There is no denying our natural ability to question what we perceive as a means to manipulate the environment around us. The advancements in technology today are allowing the human species to harness and control this ability at levels never seen before. Are we heading towards a future dictated by someone else who creates these technological options or will we have the ability to control over our own destiny. Who will decide what is ethically right and wrong when designing an existence without limitations? The unforeseen consequences of these decisions may prove to be disastrous but is technology willing to wait for our permission? It does seem as though a technological apocalypse suggested by the title of Theys documentary is inevitable.</span></p><p>
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<br /></span></p> </div> </div><meta equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 2.4 (Win32)"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { size: 21cm 29.7cm; margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } --></style>SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-45748661743809206232009-03-30T02:21:00.001-07:002009-03-31T05:10:40.089-07:00Daijiro Mizuno - Rationalizing Intuition<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SdE-ebi09EI/AAAAAAAAAW8/1i1SuWqQbfc/s1600-h/Daijiro+Mizuno01.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319101327412098114" style="WIDTH: 268px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SdE-ebi09EI/AAAAAAAAAW8/1i1SuWqQbfc/s400/Daijiro+Mizuno01.jpg" border="0" /></a></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#999999;">Daijiro Mizuno and Bas Rajmakkers</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:85%;color:#999999;">Photograph by Susana Camara</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#000000;">Article by Carolina dos Santos Reis</span> </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br />Young PhD Daijiro Mizuno took us on a journey through his work and views on design during his presentation last Friday, 27 March in the Design Academy auditorium. Unlike most of our lecturers that are active designers designing commercial products, he distinguishes himself by focusing his investigation on the act of designing itself. He surprised us with new and different perspectives showing us how all components of the creative process overlap.<br /><br />If I were to describe Mizuno in three words, they would be passionate, curious and playful – all qualities a designer needs to pursue studies at the higher level and dedicate his career to research. Although Mizuno feels there is no difference between Japanese and Western design anymore, he is influenced by his environment. Since he is now spending most of his time in Japan, his Paperbag Girls project was an installation showcasing the phenomenon of Japanese women who collect branded paper bags, carrying them as a secondary bag carefully matched to their outfit. Even if this is very particular of the nippon society where fascination and addiction to brands is at it’s strongest expression, it happens also in other countries. Mizuno’s interest goes beyond the local cultural definitions. He would rather elaborate on why and how this represents new Zeitgeist as a contemporary form of consumption. This project was inspired on the theories of Bourdieu and Foucault, on accumulated photographic data and influenced his students to create new paperbags. What emerges from this study is how ideas are interwoven between theory, research and practice.<br /><br />In his professional discourse, Mizuno cites issues like identity, ethics, sociology, history, economics, and psychology, among others, to understand fashion. But his main interest is the irrational dimension present in fashion. For instance, when he studied Universal Fashion Design, that is, garments specially designed for physically impaired persons, he questioned why they were so dull and unattractive, and why it is so important for fashion to offer irrational matters as a social object related to identity. This led him to develop a collection of clothing based on analyzing the physical limitations of the disabled and the kinetics of the body. While the resulting pieces looked like ordinary garments, they had hidden details that facilitated mobility.<br /><br />Mizuno’s fascination about how designers make sense of themselves led him to focus on the mechanisms of the design process and its inspirational sources for his PhD thesis. When he worked as a part time assistant for Shelley Fox, he became very intrigued with the creative process and how the formal outcome emerges. This motivated him to study the mechanisms of the process more deeply, by both examining other designers and his own method. He stresses intuitive properties in the development of design and the importance of synaesthetics in the outcome of creations. His investigation was based on the concept of orality by Walter J. Ong, to find the traces of tangible shapes hidden in the language and expression of fashion. To cite Mizuno’words, he “applied "Orality" as a means to analyse the psychodynamics of designers represented as clothing design. It can mean shapes of collars etc..., although it can be problematic to analyse clothing in linguistic manner”. Moreover, he used the theories of Seigo Matsuoka, an editorial engineer, to critically reflect on how ideas arise. According to Matsuoka, the world is composed of a sum of information and the idea is the synthesis of this; this is where intuitive enlightenment begins. To better explain his investigation, Mizuno assembled diagrams to help us visualise the links between all parts, and to identify clusters and reoccurring patterns.<br /><br />Another project he is working on is Belonging and Belongings with STBY, a social research service for design innovation. It examines identity through different means and how style is associated to location; in other words, how a context can alter what is communicated by a subject, and conversely, how a subject can influence the perception of a place.<br />What arose is that the most common objects of daily use, like clothing, often encompass the most complex considerations, including social matters like identity, communication and moral values. Maybe it was the richness of this content, touching on such intricate, abstract and diverse subjects, that made us seem somewhat perplexed at the end of the presentation. Maybe it was the hidden theme of his lecture, as he later explained to me, that challenged our own preconceived notions - to demonstrate how theory, research and practice can be incorporated without conflicts. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br />The lecture would not have been complete without the workshop introduced by Bas Rajmakkers that followed. The students of the Man & Humanity Master programme were able to reflect on and discuss their own creative and research processes using a diagram based on Mastuoka’s concepts. In this way, Mizuno shared a part of his work in a more practical context, which gave us a better understanding to what intuition is linked in our personal research patterns.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SdE-egwnBKI/AAAAAAAAAXE/Q0z8jh1MspI/s1600-h/research+diagram.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319101328812082338" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 300px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SdE-egwnBKI/AAAAAAAAAXE/Q0z8jh1MspI/s400/research+diagram.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="COLOR: rgb(153,153,153);font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;">Diagram used in the workshop to analyze our personal research process</span></span> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span>SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-66063838844166656862009-03-18T11:39:00.000-07:002009-03-18T11:45:57.131-07:00Resumè of the interview:Kiki van Eijk & Joost van Bleiswijk<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/ScFAzyAO8vI/AAAAAAAAAWk/rQllQ4w_EA4/s1600-h/DSCF7437.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314600293614154482" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/ScFAzyAO8vI/AAAAAAAAAWk/rQllQ4w_EA4/s400/DSCF7437.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Written by Maurizio Montalti</div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>On march 4th we had the possibility to conduct an interview with two well-known dutch designers: Kiki van Eijk and Joost van Bleiswijk.</div><br /><div><br />The interview started with an investigation for a better understanding of their perception of “time”, a subject strongly present and recognizable in most of their works. What emerged is a vision of time as something not very strict, but something that still exists and that’s reflected, for instance, in the time consuming pieces that are a result of the accurate polishing process in Joost’s work. At the same time he was highlighting how the past is still the present , and this can be found in the archetypes , where the concept of time does not exist anymore.</div><br /><div><br />For Kiki, instead, time equals quality, time is life itself and it’s about enjoying things around you, referring to very personal things . Afterwards, Joost pointed out how his interest in architectural forms and construction methods, born from the experience in working and the curiosity of discovering elements, became a strong inspiration for his work. Initially he started highlighting the relevance of the translation of the round shaped feminine profiles into strong masculine representations, based on edges and squares, but when we tried to understand better this difference between masculine and feminine design he said that there’s not this big gap; it’s just something emotional and subtle.</div><br /><div><br />Kiki, differently, was adressed with a question about the value of memory in her works, something she said is not really there; she described her designs as something much more related with quality and real craftmanship, objects not only functional but that also contain, in the way they are looking, an emotional feeling, like she found out in some books about old tools.<br />She said her inspiration comes out by itself, she’s never looking for it...it just happens...all of a sudden you open a drawer and there is something, asking her to create something with it; it’s an intuitive process, that she tries to lead to the creation of something very pure, helped by the unconscious active experience in materials and technology.</div><br /><div><br />Then we came to talk about the influence and the relevance of Dutch Design in the past and in the “now” and they talked proudly about how Dutch Design had improved the world of design in general, even if nowadays it doesn’t really matter anymore; indeed sometimes it’s also becoming “bad” being dutch, as it is often associated with a marketing tool.</div><br /><div><br />Talking about the educational system in The Netherlands, they were appreciating it a lot , and in particular they were underlining how the “Design Academy”, where they also studied previously offers a very good combination of a vague, “arty” approach and of the structured goal of education: in a way it’s an environment in which you’re always “forced” to go in depth, research, find what fascinates yourself...and explore yourself, find out the best for you as a person; that’s the main distinguishing carachteristic from any other institution, they said, the overall mentality...;and the fact that the academy is specialized in design...and just that.</div><br /><div><br />When we came to talk about the design industry and the topic of “limited editions “, connected with the actual economic crisis , they pointed out how this phenomenon is not always “honest”.<br />They said that “limited editions” are there for a reason: they respond to the request for an expensive product in terms of time and materials. They said it wouldn’t be fair for the collectors to make endlessly pieces when they cost a lot...</div><br /><div><br />At the same time some people are using these phenomenon as a tool to make more money, so that it becomes a trend, just by changing colors or materials of previous popular designs and increasing the price. They forecasted that these people and companies are gonna disappear, faced with this crisis, but the “Limited Editions” reality will still be there in its autenticity: things made by hand, attention to the detail and expansive materials and processes. They consider limited editions as an investment as they did it for quite years; and because of this there’s a value; because there’s a range of evolution over the years; it’s a keep-on-growing process.</div><br /><div><br />Afterwards we talked a bit about Milan, adressing them with a question about their prevision on this year’s “Salone del Mobile” edition; they see the possibility of having something a bit less extravagant; they also decided not to have a solo show this year; they will only present projects they made for labels. And what they predict is that probably many designers will do like that.<br />Kiki was saying that this is because a solo show has to be at least at the same level of the previous one and to do so it needs time to develop a collection and also, because maybe there are more appropriate platforms for showing these kind of “limited edition” collections, like, for instance, “Design Miami/Basel”. Besides Joost said that it’s not necessary anymore for them to show their works in the popular Salone’s windows as they already know the press agents and the gallerists and they are not anymore in need of promotion and publicity. But never say never; it’s always a big fun to make a good show for a collection.</div><br /><div><br />We ended the interview with a light question about the connection between food and design, something relevant for Kiki, that is also art director of “De Witte Tafel”, a resturant placed in the basement of the same building, in which the Design Academy is placed: for her working with food and design is just an interest, an opportunity that came out after her graduation and that she decided to develop, adressing it in the exactly same way she designs...creating connections, transparent visual feelings and fresh atmospheres. They both were very kind and warm. It’s been a pleasure.</div>SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-29119945558155190962009-03-18T11:17:00.000-07:002009-03-18T11:39:16.520-07:00Editorial article: Kiki van Eijk & Joost van Bleiswijk<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/ScE8T-03UqI/AAAAAAAAAV8/KaM5SH8Q_yo/s1600-h/_MG_5371+-+Version+2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314595349253804706" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/ScE8T-03UqI/AAAAAAAAAV8/KaM5SH8Q_yo/s400/_MG_5371+-+Version+2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Written by Michael Leung<br /><br /><br />Kiki van Eijk and Joost van Bleiswijk started with a photo of themselves in a workshop, both dressed up. In the picture, Kiki was leaning against her ‘High Table’ made with powder coated steel and Joost standing beside her, both staring a trophy in the ‘No Screw No glue’ series Joost had made for himself as he wanted one but have received none so far, he said. Kiki and Joost are known as part of the new generation talented Dutch designers. They graduated from Design Academy Eindhoven and started their studio since. Kiki is working on her own projects which have been exhibiting in many places and also work on projects for brands such as Swarovski and Moooi. Joost have been working mainly on his own projects like the ‘No Screw No glue’ series.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />“Hands on” as the theme of the lecture, Joost explained how they set up the new studio in Strijp-s and showed us the before and after pictures. Like the theme, they prefer to really get their hands on making things, from their studio to their design, even the snacks in their exhibitions. They believe it is the way to design, really get your hands on to it. It’s also a reason that most of the works shown are limited editions. Like the first few pieces in the ‘No Screw No glue’. The material used is plywood, not the most precious or valuable material, but Joost said the time and effort they had to spend on it makes the difference. Also with the later pieces, which is made with stainless steel sheets that are laser cut and then polished and hand assembled. Another reason for making the limited editions is that they have to worry less about the production costs. It is also a way to protect their client since they believe it is not reasonable if someone paid so much for one piece, but they keep making them, which eventually diminishes the value of the object.<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314597951411321538" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/ScE-rcnj-sI/AAAAAAAAAWc/EctgI42C52A/s400/_MG_5383+-+Version+2.jpg" border="0" /><br />The lecture then divided into two parts, first with Kiki explaining her works and then Joost explaining the exhibitions they did during Milan Furniture Fairs and his works. The way they work is quite similar, focusing on the technique, material and archetypes, yet, the style is rather different. Kiki’s design is more emotional, like some elements repeatedly used in her design, which she personally links to. She explored different materials throughout her works and it is not difficult to see some well crafted details. Joost’s works is more masculine, like his ‘No Screw No glue’ series which he had worked quite a lot on. It is a series of limited edition objects that he made with plywood and stainless steel sheets. Like the title, it is all about the way the pieces are constructed in. with over 4 years of development, Joost now mastered the skill and is able to make more complicated objects through the simple structure.<br /><br /><br /><br />The lecture ended with an interesting Q & A section. A question from the audience triggered Joost to give some very useful and practical advices, especially about the Milan Furniture Fair, where they have been showing their limited edition pieces. With the financial crisis, Kiki and Joost will be showing a lot less limited editions this year. Limited editions are now becoming limited. It is time to show some designs that are for users and not collectors.SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-69115990920449936042009-03-11T18:01:00.002-07:002009-03-11T18:34:23.603-07:00Ying Gao<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SbhlwdLp8bI/AAAAAAAAAVs/auyhmV6jcxg/s1600-h/YingGaoWalkingCity.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 324px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SbhlwdLp8bI/AAAAAAAAAVs/auyhmV6jcxg/s400/YingGaoWalkingCity.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312107643625140658" border="0" /></a><meta equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 2.4 (Win32)"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { size: 21cm 29.7cm; margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } --></style><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">YING GAO</span>
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<br /><p><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">It is not possible for us to stay away from fashion as clothing stay so close to our daily life. There is a close relationship between clothes and our own body as well as building up our own image. We are so close to “clothing” but how many of us know what it is. The definition of fashion changes constantly. Technology also affects the fashion industry and gives new idea to fashion designer. By thinking “clothing” as individual, somehow it also interacts with the environment. </span></span> </p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">With her interest in fashion and interactive technology, she is pushing the boundaries of what a garment could be. She covers a lot of her works which are more like statements than garments. “Walking city” is one of the best examples. The garments and sculpture, origami and draping interact with the environment by adding technology. The garment looks like it is breathing as human does. It seems like there is a human behind the beautiful form and structure of contemporary clothing. Besides showing videos of the apparel, she also shows the mechanism under the pieces while we are </span></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">thinking how magical it is. The magical moment breaks when we heard the sound made by the mechanism. Ying Gao tells the students in the Design Academy, “I love the sound made by the mechanical movement that make the pieces more real.” Compare to the similar art projects by fashion designer Hussein Chalayan, Ying Gao’s seems more interested in the technical elements and see the pieces as sculptures. </span></span> </p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Through her works, it is not hard to see that she is more into the technology than the human body. By looking at her way of presenting the garments, most of them do not use models. She mentioned how fashion design always deal with “body” so she tends not to mention human body in her works. “My work is more static.” She said, “I want to put art into fashion.” </span></span> </p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Ying Gao believes fashion is a sociological and cultural phenomenon. By looking at the “copy” in fashion industry, she makes a move to copy her own design and make a cheaper version with different material. Though she talked briefly about this issue, but it is obvious that the “copy” problem happens in all design fields in different ways. </span></span> </p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Ying Gao is now living and teaching in Montreal, Canada. She enjoys the freedom of being a teacher than a fashion designer that needs to meet the deadline of manufacturer. She found the best of teaching is having the interaction with students and learn from each other. She also let her students participate in her projects and she enjoys working with them. </span></span> </p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">When we set too much boundaries, we will lost our creativity. Ying Gao reminds us to be creative and avoid making gadgets. No matter she is being a fashion designer, an artist</span></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> or teacher, her main role is to make people dream and think more. </span></span>
<br /></p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">By Rony Chan</span></span></p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SbhmULgCUnI/AAAAAAAAAV0/sij3qbaYpts/s1600-h/detail_B_1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SbhmULgCUnI/AAAAAAAAAV0/sij3qbaYpts/s400/detail_B_1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312108257354076786" border="0" /></a></p> <p>
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<br />SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-44068363264853564042009-03-11T18:01:00.001-07:002009-03-11T18:29:27.323-07:00ying gao<meta equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 2.4 (Win32)"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { size: 21cm 29.7cm; margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } --> </style> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">It is not possible for us to stay away from fashion as clothing stay so close to our daily life. There is a close relationship between clothes and our own body as well as building up our own image. We are so close to “clothing” but how many of us know what it is. The definition of fashion changes constantly. Technology also affects the fashion industry and gives new idea to fashion designer. By thinking “clothing” as individual, somehow it also interacts with the environment. </span></span> </p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">With her interest in fashion and interactive technology, she is pushing the boundaries of what a garment could be. She covers a lot of her works which are more like statements than garments. “Walking city” is one of the best examples. The garments and sculpture, origami and draping interact with the environment by adding technology. The garment looks like it is breathing as human does. It seems like there is a human behind the beautiful form and structure of contemporary clothing. Besides showing videos of the apparel, she also shows the mechanism under the pieces while we are thinking how magical it is. The magical moment breaks when we heard the sound made by the mechanism. Ying Gao tells the students in the Design Academy, “I love the sound made by the mechanical movement that make the pieces more real.” Compare to the similar art projects by fashion designer Hussein Chalayan, Ying Gao’s seems more interested in the technical elements and see the pieces as sculptures. </span></span> </p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Through her works, it is not hard to see that she is more into the technology than the human body. By looking at her way of presenting the garments, most of them do not use models. She mentioned how fashion design always deal with “body” so she tends not to mention human body in her works. “My work is more static.” She said, “I want to put art into fashion.” </span></span> </p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Ying Gao believes fashion is a sociological and cultural phenomenon. By looking at the “copy” in fashion industry, she makes a move to copy her own design and make a cheaper version with different material. Though she talked briefly about this issue, but it is obvious that the “copy” problem happens in all design fields in different ways. </span></span> </p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Ying Gao is now living and teaching in Montreal, Canada. She enjoys the freedom of being a teacher than a fashion designer that needs to meet the deadline of manufacturer. She found the best of teaching is having the interaction with students and learn from each other. She also let her students participate in her projects and she enjoys working with them. </span></span> </p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">When we set too much boundaries, we will lost our creativity. Ying Gao reminds us to be creative and avoid making gadgets. No matter she is being a fashion designer, an artist or teacher, her main role is to make people dream and think more. </span></span>
<br /> </p> SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-41471797228797538732009-03-10T09:50:00.000-07:002009-03-10T10:39:30.571-07:00Alberto Meda - Workshop and Lecture<span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >VLAG Group</span><br />Rony Chan - </span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >video editing, lecture photos</span><br /><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >Mie Frey Damgaard - graphics<br />Nichon Glerum - interviewer, lecture images<br />Luke Jenkins - essays, workshop images<br />Kitikoon Worrasorratorn</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >- video editing<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Date</span><br />Workshop February 9-11, Lecture and Interview February 11</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Workshop Images</span><br /></span><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SbadG9OOLPI/AAAAAAAAAUU/txAUXcrmsj0/s1600-h/IMG_0709.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SbadG9OOLPI/AAAAAAAAAUU/txAUXcrmsj0/s320/IMG_0709.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311605553369066738" border="0" /></a></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SbadG9OOLPI/AAAAAAAAAUU/txAUXcrmsj0/s1600-h/IMG_0709.JPG"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SbadOM3DfZI/AAAAAAAAAUc/kYrEuneNQ18/s1600-h/IMG_0740.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SbadOM3DfZI/AAAAAAAAAUc/kYrEuneNQ18/s320/IMG_0740.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311605677825949074" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >Reportage</span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >There are generally two rules for those who are invited to give Source lectures at the Design Academy: they must either be young, upcoming, and quickly rising, or a bit more mature and non-mainstream. Either way, the presenters do not have a long-standing fame to speak of. Perhaps between the lines the Academy may not be able to afford to pay for long-standing fame. So it came as a surprise when I found that I was to write a reportage on Alberto Meda, an Italian engineer-turned designer who many regard as a design idol. </span> <span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br />Meda visited the Design Academy to run a three day workshop for the Man + Humanity students, which culminated in a general lecture on his work. Although his workshop built off of his most recent design, the humanitarian Solar Bottle, the designs which gave him most fame over the years were central to his lecture. These are artifacts of the post-industrial Italian design boom from the 1980’s and 1990’s, a time in which established production companies such as Kartell, Luceplan, Alessi, Olivetti, and Alfa Romeo Auto began to produce more “sophisticated” objects that focused on technical innovation rather than affordability. Meda, incidentally, worked with or for these companies, and many more, during this period. His work has become a paradigm for Italian design from those decades.<br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >For instance, Meda presented Mix, a reading lamp produced by Luceplan in 2005, uses LED’s as a more energy efficient light source. Although this technology normally compromises the color balance of the light emitted, Meda and Luceplan were able to recreate pure white light, overcoming the given limits of this technology. It was subsequently awarded the “Light of the Future” and “Design Plus” awards in 2006. Four years later, Mix retails for €369, which, at least for me, is more expensive than the furniture I sit on while reading. It is indicative of the slim, minimal design coming out of Italy, which claims that the products that people surround themselves with should not visually or mentally interfere with one’s daily activities, give support when in use, and calmly disappear into the background when not needed.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br />Light Light, designed in 1984 and produced by Alias, was one of the pieces that helped Meda enter a design career from his background in engineering. It is a wonder of composite materials, utilizing the strengths of each material as reinforcement against the vulnerabilities of the other materials. Drawing from lightweight processes in the aerospace and racing industries, a honeycomb core of Nomex is sandwiched between layers of carbon fiber fabric. The result was the lightest traditional chair that had ever been industrially produced. Through economy of material and implementation of new materials, Meda was able to make this chair successful in 1984. However, in a contemporary context the worth of the piece may be more questionable. It does not address issues regarding the reuse of the chair, recyclability if it can’t be reused, or ethics/ecology of production methods. </span> <span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br />Although it did not win Meda additional fame or awards, Partner, designed in 2000 for Kartell (and also designed with Paolo Rizzatto), suffers from a lack of ecological considerations before and after use. In this bookcase, two sheets of aluminum are used to rigidify a transparent plastic honeycomb structure. A special robot was designed to affix the sheets to the structure, using 80 plastic tacks for each shelf of the bookcase. Although this piece was produced in our current century, the hi-tech fabrication process has totally negated any chance at easily recycling the piece after it has reached its end of use. Tremendously stable (and relatively expensive), the object itself can be considered one that will be around for quite some time; most likely until the next time one redecorates, which is only a few years for the high-class establishments who purchase Kartell designs. </span> <span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >The three designs mentioned above were all included in his lecture, as they were technological achievements. While they are very interesting from a design history perspective, I had hoped that he would show us more of a build-up to his groundbreaking (at least for his portfolio) Solar Bottle, which has been designed to purify water using only solar energy. Meda hopes that it will be sold for €1.50 when it is put into production in developing nations. When researching his design work, I found several pieces that won little acclaim, but that, like the Solar Bottle, were ethically sensitive.<br /><br />Water, designed in 2001 for Arabia Finland, is a carafe meant to celebrate the use of tap water for those in developed countries. Drinking from the tap will reduce the amount of plastic bottles and other disposable storage vessels from entering the waste cycle. Kalura, a project for Alessi, combines hi-tech ceramics with an antiquated object: a food warmer. Made almost at the same time as Water, this piece re-presents a technology used by peasants to conserve the use of cooking fuel. As the ceramic stores heat very well, it can be used to keep food warm well after it has been cooked. </span> <span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br />Water and Kalura, like the Solar Bottle, both question the dependence the “Western” world has on technological advancement over other environmental concerns and social sustainability. They are much more thoughtful of the user, and how the user can be ethically influenced by design products, than much of his other work. Although they share the same visual sensibilities of his other work, these pieces are not minimal in the sense that they mentally interfere with the daily activities of the user. These products may work towards maturing technological processes, but they exist as objects that respectfully take the user into consideration, and are hence more humanitarian in concept. </span> <span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br />While I would like to think that the Solar Bottle is the turning point in the career of this highly respected designer, the work that he showed in his lecture mainly epitomizes the mark of a great designer married to the industry which he has spent his whole profession supporting. However, when I consider some of his other work, I feel encouraged by his statement nearing the end of his lecture, that the designer has an “ethical responsibility to educate.” Hopefully, we will see him produce more work that demonstrates interactive education, rather than products which blend into the commercial or domestic landscape as design camouflage, essentially forgotten both in and out of use. </span><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Lecture Images</span><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SbaiWC_21VI/AAAAAAAAAVE/lf6q29UeE8w/s1600-h/albertomeda-10.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SbaiWC_21VI/AAAAAAAAAVE/lf6q29UeE8w/s320/albertomeda-10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311611310175606098" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SbaiPyAJuuI/AAAAAAAAAU8/0_COmG3l2Sc/s1600-h/albertomeda-08.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SbaiPyAJuuI/AAAAAAAAAU8/0_COmG3l2Sc/s320/albertomeda-08.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311611202534226658" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SbakK9Z2API/AAAAAAAAAVM/6aC4IocC_xI/s1600-h/albertomeda-49.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SbakK9Z2API/AAAAAAAAAVM/6aC4IocC_xI/s320/albertomeda-49.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311613318718685426" border="0" /></a><br /><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Editorial</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >2005 was a great year for hurricane lovers. Hurricane Wilma was the fourth storm to develop into a Cat 5, which is the highest strength. After it hit Cuba, and destroyed the tourist town of Cancún, Mexico, it brutalized southern Florida - it was one of the most destructive hurricanes to ever hit the Florida shores. All utility supply grids were damaged; most of South Florida had no electricity for weeks, and no running water for one week. Stores were closed, as there wasn’t electricity to keep them operating. The only water that my household had was the bathtub that we had half-heartedly filled in anticipation of a very weak storm. Rationing that water became a very important consideration, especially because we had no idea when running water would return to our area. </span> <span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br />Cleaning, cooking, and drinking ceased to support one another, becoming adversaries all vying for attention. Finally, after almost one week, the bath was empty. The only option was to find a natural source of water, which, in the city of Fort Lauderdale, was the manmade canals used by yachts and other large vessels. Carrying a 20L bucket full of slimy, less than transparent water back to the apartment forced me to consider what modern infrastructure has gifted us with: the opportunity to worry about other things. When we returned to the apartment, it was time to boil the water down, to kill bacteria and hopefully boil off any petroleum. Luckily, the stovetop was heated with natural gas, so the water could be boiled without making a wood fire. Although I was doubtful that boiling the water would remove all impurities, it would most likely not make us sick. Giving one last twist to the water faucet, I was surprised to hear groans and spurts from the water pipes. Running water had been restored while we were on our water retrieval adventure. Relief. </span> <span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br />Fast forward four years - I am a student at the Design Academy. When I learned that I would be attending a three day design workshop on water use and sanitation, I was intrigued. Organized for the Man + Humanity Department, the design charrette was fronted by Alberto Meda. Not knowing much about him, I went online to find out more. The results of my research made me quite skeptical of his value to a program based in humanitarian design. He is something of a design giant in Italy and a known name in the rest of the world for pieces which are minimal, elegant, and expensive. This type of design is precisely what many of us in the program intend to avoid designing. </span> <span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br />It seemed that the Solar Bottle, designed by himself and Francisco Gomez Paz, was the only object that he had designed that took people’s basic survival needs into consideration. Much of the rest was office furniture that was more about pushing technology and materials and less about rethinking how normal people use these objects. So I looked further into this piece. It seemed to be very well thought out, and was intended for those in developing nations. It followed his minimal design aesthetic. It checked all of the right places on the solar water disinfection checklist. It won several international design awards, such as the Index Award in 2007. And the product is still only at the level of nonfunctional prototype, as Meda and Paz continue their search for producers who can meet the €1.50 retail goal. In the field of hardcore industrial design that Meda is grafted to, it is surprising to see a mere prototype gain such recognition, especially one that does not function. </span> <span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br />Perhaps Meda, a father figure to a younger generation of designers, was given the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps everyone agreed with the implications of distributing the Solar Bottle. Perhaps critics foresaw a reformation of a design giant who is known for his material and process-based products, into one whose products are more user-centric. Perhaps, at the end of the day, those who praised this design did so because they were able to envision a life without access to drinkable water. Back in Florida, life without utilities was like being on vacation. Then the bathtub was dry, and life gained an essential sense of seriousness. Had I been confronted with this reality for my entire life, how would a Solar Bottle change my life? In this context, it is easy to support this project on many levels, as well as easy to support Meda. When you meet him, it is easy to see that his care is genuine. Although he presents himself as a simple man and a simple designer, and, when confronted with complex systems in design ethics, replies, “that’s for your generation to figure out,” his generous gift to the design world is evident in a simple object that fuses mass-production materials and technology with an authentic concern for the user.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Interview Images</span><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SbaiJharmwI/AAAAAAAAAU0/5I86Cus6hwM/s1600-h/albertomeda-25.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SbaiJharmwI/AAAAAAAAAU0/5I86Cus6hwM/s320/albertomeda-25.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311611095002880770" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/Sbahn7R72KI/AAAAAAAAAUs/ZCJm4-5H_J0/s1600-h/albertomeda-27.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/Sbahn7R72KI/AAAAAAAAAUs/ZCJm4-5H_J0/s320/albertomeda-27.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311610517829965986" border="0" /></a><br /><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span>SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-41543837136388254902009-03-04T00:46:00.000-08:002009-03-04T00:48:37.018-08:00Extra: Video Interview Satyendra Pakhale online<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 85%;">On the 22nd of October of 2008, Satyendra Pakhalé gave two lectures to both bachelor and master students at the Design Academy Eindhoven and accorded us a private interview.<br /><br />This video interview has been published on Google Video, so it's there to watch!<br /><br /><embed id="VideoPlayback" src="http://video.google.nl/googleplayer.swf?docid=-5237836923745211713&hl=nl&fs=true" style="width:400px;height:326px" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed> <br /></span>SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-22714707888375863852009-02-26T12:49:00.002-08:002009-02-26T12:57:59.841-08:00Lecture Simone De Waart + Ton Teerling<div><br /><br /><div> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>Materials & experience, a Sense of touch and smell<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SacBABqc3XI/AAAAAAAAATs/-CM7Y6rq-GE/s1600-h/Untitled-2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307211785837534578" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 295px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SacBABqc3XI/AAAAAAAAATs/-CM7Y6rq-GE/s320/Untitled-2.jpg" border="0" /></a></strong></span><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">January 28 2008</span></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;">Vlag team :</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;">Seo Jeonghwa<br />Riviere Aurelien<br />Ito Fumiko<br />Chiang Ping Fan<br />Cadamuro Alessia</span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:78%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:78%;"></span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:85%;">As students of design, in training to become masters of the profession, one would imagine a lecture from a fellow designer, an expert in materials, would bare more weight and raise more response then a food and taste psychologist working in a seed company, who came to lecture about the nose. But when Ton Teerling had finished his presentation, he was flooded by questions from eager students. Why? </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SacBeEknULI/AAAAAAAAAT0/wF0Oe6idDK8/s1600-h/ì¬ì§+091.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307212302014435506" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SacBeEknULI/AAAAAAAAAT0/wF0Oe6idDK8/s320/%EC%82%AC%EC%A7%84+091.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Simone de Waart, an industrial designer, a material expert and an educator, had come to lecture about her expertise - materials. In 45 minutes, she had shared her view on the design process as one that should consider it’s materiality from the beginning, discussed the link between materials and experience, and presented a few of the projects she was involved with, most recently with the NS trains in Holland. It had been quite informative, and it had a point, and the audience was lost.<br /><br />At first it seemed lost because of a few rules of design lectures broken: not enough pictures of products, not a lot of discussion about “real projects” (she couldn't share much on those), not enough controversial statements. It was a nice, safe, informative lecture in a quiet, self-assured voice. But when Ton Teerling took the stage he seemed to have broken most of the same rules, and still he kept his crowd fascinated.<br /><br />Wearing a suit, Talking in a field much different from design, with a presentation so un-esthetic that even an accountant might suggest some font and color considerations, maybe even a picture or two, Ton had grabbed his audience from the get-go. Talking about the awesome power of recognition over our minds, and the way smell could be used to channel it (among other things), he jumped from side to side, talking fast and enthusiastically, keeping all eyes and ears on him. He even concluded his lecture with a list of reasons why designers shouldn't use smell in their objects, like he was trying to convince us his lecture was not really useful. Yet, the moment he finished speaking, the audience was shooting questions one at a time, eager to learn more about scent and recognition.<br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SacCE1n0psI/AAAAAAAAAT8/62Occ3xlxGU/s1600-h/ì¬ì§+055.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307212968016258754" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 214px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SacCE1n0psI/AAAAAAAAAT8/62Occ3xlxGU/s320/%EC%82%AC%EC%A7%84+055.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />What was it that made his lecture so memorable and Simone’s so forgettable? At first, one might say its charisma. Ton seems like the kind of man who could convince an Eskimo to by sun tan lotion. His enthusiastic way of speaking and the genuine curiosity he beams (and of course his knowledge of human psychology), creates a man who makes most of what he says interesting enough to listen to.<br /><br />But eventually, I think the real issue is that the designers where refreshed by the “unrelated topic”. It sometimes seems that lectures by designers on design have little to learn from. The information is circling between students, and most of them keep informed on-line. The designers sometimes get tired with hearing about design. Yet when introducing them with a new field, the wheels begin to turn. It is a profession in search of new, unpredictable influences, with an eagerness to know at least a little about a lot.<br />Ton’s lecture seemed to do so well simply because it wasn’t design. It was fresh, like a sip of water on a warm day.</span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:78%;"></span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:78%;"></span></div></div></div>SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-81497315609569095842009-02-25T04:50:00.000-08:002009-02-25T05:05:34.361-08:00Arie van Rangelrooy Lecture<br /><br />Source 04-02-2009<br /><br />Arie van Rangelrooy confesses: he is not a hippie. When he leaves for Mali in the seventies, it is not to follow some spiritual or mystical path...<br />A year before graduating, the practical student is indeed advised to go to Djenné for a "spotting" mission by a teacher seeking for volunteers (mission that was to become his graduation project).<br /><br />Djenne, it is a historically important small city in the Niger Inland Delta of central Mali. It is one of the oldest known cities in sub-Saharan Africa and its historic city center was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988.<br /><br />This happened some years after Arie van Rangelrooy went to this place, where he was researching the city, the architecture, the urban planning, the living spaces, …<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SaVBMrfBfXI/AAAAAAAAASU/YLACkWjXcrc/s1600-h/IMG_3429.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SaVBMrfBfXI/AAAAAAAAASU/YLACkWjXcrc/s320/IMG_3429.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306719422013078898" border="0" /></a>He traveled to another continent to stay there one year. During this year he was productive in measuring, drawing and archiving the cities architecture. This work lead to the protection of the city by UNESCO.<br /><br />During the stay he connected to the people, their way of living and the culture. "We all know about misery and the huge differences between both lifestyles, but when it comes to seeing it, to experiencing it for real, you realize how hard their life can be and how lucky and disconnected we are" he says, still touched.<br />At this point, his African experience became all about exchange. Exchanging techniques, skills. Collaborating with local maçons, contributing to increase their efficiency, to facilitate their practice, yet not spoiling their ancestral building protocol. A humble observation and dialogue, he expected to have a proper social purpose.<br /><br />He would go outdoors during the day, measure the streets, houses and rooms, while in the evening he would put all of this into plans. As there was no electricity and minimal contact with the outside world he would archive even the smallest ornamental decoration.<br /><br />During the lecture he was talking passionately about the city and it’s architecture. And it is just the kind of architecture that makes the city interesting. Architecture of mud.<br /><br />Why? Being close to the Sahara desert, the area lacked building materials such as wood and stone. People learnt to build houses with the mud from the Niger River. When the mud is mixed with rice husks and straw and fermented for a month, it becomes very tough, thick and rain resistant. To build a house, local people first lay sun-dried mud bricks. The brick walls are covered in mud plaster. This protects the inside of the house from the heat.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SaVB7GMSldI/AAAAAAAAASk/jHu63jz54Aw/s1600-h/IMG_3473.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SaVB7GMSldI/AAAAAAAAASk/jHu63jz54Aw/s320/IMG_3473.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306720219456247250" border="0" /></a><br />He talked about this, showing related pictures. Also reminding us of how this tradition was preserved. As the centuries passed by, the inhabits would restore their houses during the dry season. Although when Arie arrived this tradition went lost, as he arrived in a bad economic situation, where you have other priorities.<br /><br />After the work of Arie and the protection of the site, the city was restored and now even grows again. Arie regularly goes back, and works together with master mud builder Boubacar Kouroumanssé. Together their busy with building an museum and school, using century old techniques. The changes with what Arie archived 20 years ago, is the fact that they now include electricity and running water into the building process. Also the “making a plan and reading the plan” is introduced in the process.<br /><br />During the talk we had after the lecture, van Rangelrooy emphasized on the importance of social commitment in the practice of applied arts.<br />We also mentioned the difficulty to commit oneself in projects that make sense still making a living... According to Arie van Rangelrooy, this balance between ideals and survival is to be achieved once one has "showed its mettle".<br /><br />Wise Arie first made a nice career in the Netherlands before recently going back to Mali.<br />He finally reached freedom of creation through social commitment because he was wise. Wise enough to wait. Wise enough to grow.SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-43144486998897779382009-02-24T01:47:00.000-08:002009-02-24T01:58:08.975-08:00Daijiro Mizuno PhD (RCA) -Fashion Research and Design-<span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >“By looking at the space in between clothing and a body, both theoretically and practically, I aim to explore the fundamental aesthetics of fashion design in which the clothing and the body are harmonised.”<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SaPD-hzcxwI/AAAAAAAAASM/Shf5OcQETDc/s1600-h/Mizuno0213.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 285px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SaPD-hzcxwI/AAAAAAAAASM/Shf5OcQETDc/s400/Mizuno0213.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306300264966047490" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:78%;" ><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">by Carolina dos Santos Reis</span></span><br /><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >Although he was born in Tokyo in 1979, Daijiro Mizuno acquired all his university education in the UK. He completed an MA in Fashion Design in womenswear at the Royal College of Art and a BA in Fashion Design at the University of East London after having started studies in architecture. Then, he proceeded to investigate the non-verbal dimensions of fashion through its cultural characteristics for his PhD thesis while working for Shelley Fox as a part-time design assistant.<br />He has been teaching in Japan since 2006 at Kyoto University of Art and Design and at the Seian University of Art and Design, and also acting as a director at Critical Design Lab, a part of Kyoto University. Furthermore, he exhibited at the Royal College of Art and at the Dojidai Gallery, Kyoto.<br /><br />In order to explain his projects, I will mainly cite his own words, not simply because it was the only information we received, but also in an attempt to provide the most accurate description of his work.<br />His previous project was entitled paperbag! girls, where he researched “on young girls reusing ‘brand’ shopping bags not in the context of recycling but in the context of consumption and (re)production of image”.<br />Also, he is currently working on two projects. The first is a joint project with the STBY and is entitled “Belonging and Belongings, investigating the relationship between virtual / real identity through the objects people carry”. The second one is “Universal Fashion, exploring the critical view on fashion design in the context of universal design”. Moreover, he explores “issues such as functionality, aesthetics, semiotics and commerciality in the cross-disciplinary manner”.<br /><br />Focusing on such immaterial considerations in his practice, Daijiro Mizuno demonstrates the deep potential of the discipline and its link to a very wide range of social and individual considerations.<br />Despite the lack of data available on him, it can be said that his career has been oriented in a mostly theoretical manner, and that he seems to link his research into his creative work. The trajectory of his path is clear evidence of how his interest and passion directed his career into research, but it doesn’t reveal much about his personal motivation. All in all, Daijiro Mizuno appears to be a rather enigmatic character, who will definitely have much to share - especially from an academic point of view - when he visits the Design Academy on Friday, 27 February, 2009. Personally, I have a lot of expectations and I am looking forward to discovering Daijiro Mizuno.<br /><br />Links:<br /><a href="http://www.show2008.rca.ac.uk/Default.aspx?ContentID=501570&GroupID=500901&">Daijiro Mizuno PhD</a><br /><a href="http://www.stby.eu/">STBY</a><br /><a href="http://www.shelleyfox.com/">Shelley Fox</a><br /><br /></span>SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-51914414306322810042009-02-24T01:43:00.000-08:002009-03-01T07:31:23.229-08:00The Stone Twins in flesh and bones<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SaqqCgS-koI/AAAAAAAAAUE/ptY4SSx6dK0/s1600-h/StoneTwins1.pict"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SaqqCgS-koI/AAAAAAAAAUE/ptY4SSx6dK0/s320/StoneTwins1.pict" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308242070815543938" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SaqqJ7YVRFI/AAAAAAAAAUM/v3HpL4KsPUE/s1600-h/StoneTwins2.pict"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 244px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SaqqJ7YVRFI/AAAAAAAAAUM/v3HpL4KsPUE/s320/StoneTwins2.pict" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308242198344844370" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">by Carolina dos Santos Reis</span><br /></span><br />The Stone Twins sounds more like the title of a Victorian novel than a duo of trendy graphic designers. But there is a storytelling feeling to their name that perfectly describes these Irish twin brothers and their creative process. They presented their work in a lecture at the Designhuis on the evening of 11 February, 2009. The atmosphere was relaxed and casual. The audience, made up of a group of designers and students, attended the presentation on the cushioned staircase of the entrance hall.<br />Declan and Garech Stone both graduated in Visual Communication at the University of Dublin. Soon after, they moved to Amsterdam, not only because of the lack of opportunity in Ireland, but for a genuine fascination for Dutch culture in design and arts. They set up their own studio and from their first days consistently created with inventiveness and humour while remaining profoundly rigorous in the study of typography and visual communication.<br />They characterise their approach as graphic designers more in branding and identity than in the development of graphics. When commissioned for a project, they start by questioning the brief itself before going forward. This produces work that transcends common graphic communications, work that has made them stand out since the beginning of their practice. Their clients are very diverse, ranging from event and marketing agencies to the Zeews Museum and Adidas. Even with the most corporate of clients, they don’t hesitate to take things literally. This is maybe what inspired them to shoot the ADCN yearbook with a gun rather than a camera. Another interesting projects is the Logo R.I.P. publication, a funerary journey through logos that have become part of a whole cultural heritage, but have since been slowly disappearing through the massive re-branding of the 80s and 90s.<br />On the whole, they shed light on the importance of thinking both formally and theoretically in negative spaces. For the Stone Twins, graphic design is all about storytelling and creating content. Still, as designers we make choices and therefore have the ability to influence. We not only have the responsibility of making ethical choices through our process, but also to question the system of the design world. The Stone Twins, for example, mentioned the boycott of a specific pitch - a practice that has become very common, but sometimes having negative effects, especially for young startups.<br />Despite their inspirational words on the design world, there was a somewhat sterile feel to the presentation whose cause I am still unable to grasp. Maybe they were just tired. But my impression is that they might have restrained themselves in order not to contradict each other, which might have made them less dynamic. Indeed, it was amusing to see that they were not giving the same answers during the Q&A period. But then didn’t they say that hopefully their work was schizophrenic?<br /><br />Links:<br /><a href="http://www.stonetwins.com/">http://www.stonetwins.com/</a><br /><a href="http://www.usualsuspects.nl/">http://www.usualsuspects.nl/</a><br /><a href="http://www.soundcircus.nl/">http://www.soundcircus.nl/</a><br /><a href="http://www.zeeuwsmuseum.nl/">http://www.zeeuwsmuseum.nl/</a></span>SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-76731975801670019062009-02-11T09:44:00.000-08:002009-03-17T10:41:55.627-07:00Gert Staal<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SZMQuYf5N8I/AAAAAAAAARk/wA_IG_eCA3I/s1600-h/DSC_1409.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SZMQuYf5N8I/AAAAAAAAARk/wA_IG_eCA3I/s320/DSC_1409.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301599575381456834" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />Vlag group : Hanna Chung, Carl Harris, Chulan Kwak<br /><br />Date: 21 January 2009<br />Article: Carl Harris<br />Photography: Hanna Chung, Chulan Kwak<br /><br /></span></span><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Gert Staal Workshop</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /><br />On the 21st January 2009 Gert Staal a writer on design, and a regular visitor to the design academy, conducted a writing workshop. The workshop was designed to be an exercise in creating ideas for the up and coming source publication. After a late start, we were asked to group together and think about how the source publication should be materialised.<br /><br />We were given a time frame of one an half hours, and were asked to think “outside the box’. The exercise seemed to be well received. Many students liked the challenge of coming up with concepts and ideas in such a short space of time. After the group session, we all congregated in the lecture room where we were asked to present our ideas.<br /><br />What started off as a promising creative exercise, descended into a long and painful talk about the structure of the program, and the positive and negative aspects of the project. Gert Staal looked helpless and decided to reframe from getting into the crossfire of discussion. The words ‘short discussion’ seemed unimaginable farcical even, whilst the debate raged forth for another hour.<br /><br />The arduous task of separating concerns for the course and the actual reasoning of the day came to fruition, as Gert Staal decided to take back the lead and put the workshop back on track.<br /><br />Gert Staal’s teaching approach is extremely pertinent, he posed questions that were well received and had no condescending nature to them. One of Gert Staal’s biggest qualities is his ability to motivate and get the best from the class. He uses anecdotes that keeps the audience interested, but always relates it to the matter at hand.<br /><br />After a prolonged day the main points of the publication were decided and two teams had emerged (Editorial and Design Team). Many students left the master space feeling, exhausted and slightly annoyed that a workshop with Gert Staal had been tainted by an administrative discussion.<br /><br />The phrase ‘productive end to a pitiful start’ sprang to mind.<br /><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SZMRwzqssNI/AAAAAAAAAR0/6Vlk2OX2_vk/s1600-h/DSC_1392.JPG"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SZMRwzqssNI/AAAAAAAAAR0/6Vlk2OX2_vk/s400/DSC_1392.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301600716545896658" /></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />-Carl Harris</span></span>SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-71825807775544677172008-12-13T14:24:00.000-08:002008-12-13T14:41:39.123-08:00Writing Workshop-Gert Staal<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SUQ3lpppWOI/AAAAAAAAAOs/iu8OstENjOk/s1600-h/PB120059.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279405783160281314" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SUQ3lpppWOI/AAAAAAAAAOs/iu8OstENjOk/s320/PB120059.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="color:#666666;">Vlag group: Fumiko Ito, Youngshin Sim, Saara Järvinen </span></div><br /><div><span style="color:#666666;">Date: 12 November & 26 November 2008</span></div><div> </div><div><span style="color:#666666;">Article: Youngshin Sim, Saara Järvinen</span></div><div><span style="color:#666666;">Photography: Fumiko Ito, Youngshin Sim, Saara Järvinen</span></div><br /><div></div><br /><div><span style="color:#000000;">The writing workshop conducted by Gert Staal was meant to support research and writing skills of master students in Design Academy to express their ideas and intentions and also to improve their critical understanding of journalists, critics and curators who might publish their work.<br />The lecturer, Gert Staal is a writer on design and architecture since early 80’s, staff-editor of major Dutch newspaper and has been a visiting teacher for master students in Design Academy since 2005.<br /><br />In the first session, Mr. Staal emphasized on the importance of interview. Although some interviews might not be published or broadcasted for different reasons, they can deliver background information for a research project or an article. He gave some guides of interview to students. Towards the interview, the subject has to be recognized, a direction and a strategy have to be planed and a list of questions to be prepared. In between the interview and the writing, he advised students to take time, shortly after the interview, to ‘empty their memory’ and write down things that stood out, intrigued them or made them doubt. And tell them to identify the important themes in the conversation but also sidelines that might reveal an aspect of the personality. Finally, in order to put everything into a story, he advised to establish which elements are vital or necessary and to identify in what form the contents of the conversation to be represented. Regarding the writing, Mr. Staal made a point on the importance of using appropriate style and vocabulary.<br />From the participant’s point of view, it was a profound lecture on interviewing, especially it was interesting to hear how to get answers out of a reluctant interviewee, and what a good technique it is to empty your memory after the discussion and get everything you heard on paper. After preparing us for all the things that need to be considered when making an interview, we got an assignment. The class was put in three person groups in which there was an interviewer, interviewee and an observer. We got to put in practice all that we had learned. The results were promising, as Mr. Staal said. We managed to write some interesting texts in the very limited time.<br /><br />The next session dealt with reportages and reviews. Mr. Staal proposed to students to practice on writing reportage which offers an editorial format that students might want to use in their thesis and the format necessarily combines ‘neutral’ representation of researched facts with personal perspective position. Moreover, as a journalistic tool its well suited for documenting research projects in a non-academic environment like Design Academy. In terms of the review, Mr. Staal stressed on that writing a review forces students to structure their thoughts and knowledge on an event, book etc. in an organized framework that consists of such as introduction, body and conclusion. The purpose of a review is to analyze critically a segment of a published body of knowledge through summary, classification, comparison of prior research studies, reviews of literature, and theoretical articles.<br />In this session, we learned the difference between the two and wrote about Don Norman’s lecture based on this knowledge. Surprisingly everyone had a different approach to the subject, and we got to hear some good reviews and reportages. Clearly many of us got very into the writing and Mr. Staal was happy about the texts.<br />Gert Staal gave useful tips for writing, and actually managed to make it sound easier for us. He told us about fruitful mistakes that can according to his experience lead to good results. “Interesting things tend to happen on the sides” was one good tip Mr. Staal gave, to make us pay attention to what the interviewee says after the actual interview is over.Mr. Staal is an absolutely devoted teacher and he clearly enjoys working with us. It was good that he actually made us write during the lessons and the assignments were not intimidating big. He gave us time during the day to complete the writing, so that everyone got something concrete done. Gert Staal is used to working with design students so he understands that we have limited time and energy to use on his course. He certainly succeeded well in making the most of it.</span></div>SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-12682717415584564812008-12-10T08:07:00.000-08:002008-12-10T08:53:27.023-08:00Demakersvan 19 November 2008<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/ST_z9Y2FW_I/AAAAAAAAANw/rNscaeL78J4/s1600-h/4vlag"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 194px; height: 283px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/ST_z9Y2FW_I/AAAAAAAAANw/rNscaeL78J4/s320/4vlag" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5278205524268375026" /></a><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">VLAG group : Carl Harris, Nichon Glerum, Lucia Garcia Velez, Mie Frey Damgaard and Naomi Solomaniuck</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Article: Demakersvan – Jeroen Verhoeven</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Demakersvan are a design team comprised of Jeroen Verhoeven, his twin brother Joep and Judith de Graauw. They graduated from Eindhoven Design Academy in 2004 and set up Demakersvan ‘the makers of’ in 2005. Since their graduation they have experienced a considerable amount of success, collaborating with companies like Nike and Swarovski, enterprises such as Droog and have a permanent collection in MoMA.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">On Wednesday 19</span><sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">th</span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> 2008 Jeroen Verhoeven from ‘Demakersvan’ took a moment from his busy schedule to give an insightful lecture and interview. The interview started later than arranged as Jeroen was touring the academy reminiscing with his previous mentors. Once seated he began by giving a judicious analysis of his academy life: reflecting on the more negative aspects such as workshop space and his insecurities upon graduation. He described his relationship with the academy as love/hate and stated that the academy was a ‘</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">communist system’</span></i></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> that ‘</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">is a victim of paperwork</span></i></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">’. However turbulent his time was, he still has admiration and respect for the academy. ‘</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">They created the essential publicity that launched us onto the international stage</span></i></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">.’</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Jeroen talked briefly about how ‘Demakersvan’ works and the relationship with his twin brother and Judith de Graauw. In doing so, his posture became more relaxed as he stated the importance of working with good people. It was very evident that jeroen is a humble person and cares a great deal about Demakersvan success. This drive and need to prove mentors, critics and ‘</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">the design village’</span></i></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> wrong has led him and Demakersvan to experience success in such a short period of time.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">As the interview continued I warmed to Jeroen and felt admiration for his dreamlike ideals. He uses naivety as a tool to challenge any preconception of what design is. When asked if he were an artist or designer he stated ‘</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">why do I have to put myself in a certain box? I don’t like labels’. </span></i></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">This makes it very easy for jeroen to wonder through the design world choosing what commissions and briefs best fit his design style. This is a freedom bought from the success of the Cinderella table and something that Jeroen knows only too well.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">After the interview finished I was eager to hear his lecture. I wanted him to elaborate on statements such as ‘functionality is only important if that’s the subject’ and ‘dream impossible things’. It became apparent that the lecture would be an overview of Demakersvan and targeted towards his new factory that was built in India. One main difference with other lecture’s given at the academy was audience participation. Jeroen stated that he would like students to ask him questions throughout the lecture, making the event more productive and as a result informal.</span></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">He started the lecture by reminiscing about his time at the academy. He stated ‘ </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">we had no plan to start Demakersvan, but they are two people who I could not live without’</span></i></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">. He talked with enthusiasm about Jeop’s graduation project ‘lace fence’ and the quick offers that came after graduation. This led him to reminisce about the factory in India and the fact that his brother is currently living there. It was apparent that the situation is difficult for Jeroen who acknowledges that he’s a better ‘designer’ because of his relationship with Jeop. This created an air of nostalgia, which lingered for the entire lecture.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">His style of presentation was very loose, fluid and not scripted. He switched from slide to slide and back again; taking time to find the correct picture that best described his topic. It was slightly too sporadic and felt a little clumsy, as if he had created the presentation on the train coming to the academy.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">He quickly spoke about a previous commercial project ‘Fatboy’, mentioning the royalties from that project helped fund his creative mind. He talked about his new idea for a chandelier made from 30,000 butterflies. The project was received with mixed emotions. Some students just smirked; others were perplexed by the ambitiousness of the idea. What it emphasised was Jeroen’s dare to dream big mentality, and his love of naivety. He gave an insightful anecdote regarding MoMA and how when asked to meet with them he did not know who they were or how big an achievement dealing with MoMA is. Yet it is this naivety that has shaped jeroen and his limitless approach to the design world. Whilst mentioning MoMA he was asked by a member of the audience to explain what it is like dealing with museums like the V&A. He gave an honest and frank answer ‘ Working with museums are great they pay for everything’.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">He finally talked about the Cinderella table and how he made it. The audience seemed interested in the manufacturing process, something that Jeroen is very passionate about’ </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">you have to see the positive side of manufacture, find craftsmanship in India for example and exploit it in a positive way’. </span></i></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">This ambitiousness to make something that meets resistance shows how much resilience Jeroen has. He stated that the Cinderella table was something he just wanted to make, he did not think of ‘limited editions’ but merely the love of creating a form from his imagination or dreamlike reality.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> </span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">He concluded the informal lecture by giving a somewhat motivational speech. He exclaimed that the master students should act, do, and be productive and naive at the same time. It felt warm hearted and honest, but was not particularly appreciated by some of the audience.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Carl Harris</span></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> </div>SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-3156730934153859952008-12-03T08:24:00.000-08:002008-12-03T09:53:35.253-08:00Review: a day with Don Norman<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/STa6lhfKYkI/AAAAAAAAAMo/PB-JeuG61s0/s1600-h/DSCF5032.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275609167318114882" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 214px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/STa6lhfKYkI/AAAAAAAAAMo/PB-JeuG61s0/s320/DSCF5032.jpg" border="0" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">Sourcegroup: Anne-Marije, Tom, Hanna, Chester & José<br />Location: Designhuis, Eindhoven<br />Who: Don Norman<br />What: lecture sociable design<br />When: 20 November 2008, 12pm<br /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></div><br />As we were in charge of guiding this day, we started of with meeting Professor Don Norman. Although his picture showed us a friendly, social man, the first moments were quiet awkward. We were busy arranging the setting and he was guided through the Designhuis and preparing for lunch.<br /><br />At two o'clock people started entering the Designhuis. Quickly the 70 placed chairs were occupied, while the rest of the 430 people started looking for a good spot. This was more than we expected, but for Mister Norman nothing new.<br /><br />The introduction by Kees Overbeeke was absolutely not in place, he did not add anything to the day. Luckily Mister Norman took over the mic and set the tone for his lecture. Talking about sociable design, he sounded as he was doing this for the million times. The content of the lecture was really interesting and he had nice examples. Unfortunately the interaction with the audience about the subject was forced. Was this because of the unexpected high number of listeners or because of mister Normans well prepared footnotes?<br /><br />The amount of people also had an impact on the "questions and answers". Only one question was asked and after the lecture people lined up to ask their question in person. Those questions could really add some value to the lecture. Mister Norman was very patience and took the time to answer all the questions. This leaded to a delay in our schedule and therefore we did not have the opportunity to interview him.<br /><br />We took him back to the academy and on the way he opened up. We saw him observing street situations and he shared his personal vision on the Dutch street policy. During de guided tour in the academy we also shared our positive and negative thoughts about the Design Academy. This was appreciated by Mister Norman who, we assume, is always guided by high positioned persons. At the point that the personal contact was established, it was time for him to go to Amsterdam.</span></span></span></div></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275622870012258306" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 214px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/STbHDIAB6AI/AAAAAAAAAMw/BT4U3HcUEtI/s320/DSCF5245.jpg" border="0" /></div></span></span>SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-77720692963450367682008-11-29T23:54:00.000-08:002008-12-25T13:52:59.472-08:00Maurice Scheltens and Liesbeth Abbenes<span style="font-family:arial;">Lecture and Workshop</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">29 Oct & 5 Nov 2008</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: arial;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/STJjXrnzGyI/AAAAAAAAALQ/5-l-9ea_yns/s1600-h/DSC_0534.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 318px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/STJjXrnzGyI/AAAAAAAAALQ/5-l-9ea_yns/s400/DSC_0534.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274387372102064930" border="0" /></a><br /><a style="font-family: arial;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/STJjpr97MkI/AAAAAAAAALo/vKh4e0z7Nc0/s1600-h/DSC_0570.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 318px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/STJjpr97MkI/AAAAAAAAALo/vKh4e0z7Nc0/s400/DSC_0570.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274387681432515138" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">photos by Hikaru Imamura</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Reportage</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> Maurice and Liesbeth introduce themselves as a couple, who after some time realized that their working methods were very similar and began to work together professionally. After looking at their work individually this comes as some what of a surprise as their styles are aesthetically very different. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> Maurice graduated in photography at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague, The Netherlands in 1995. Ever since he has cultivated a strong studio aesthetic, meticulously arranging his client’s objects into sometimes simple and sometimes intricate images. Liesbeth she started the Gerrit Rietvelt academy in 1998 (Audiovisual department) and graduated in 1993. In this period Abbenes moved from sewn objects, to performance and photography. Her two dimensional work has a much more illustrative style where she develops her own handwriting while looking at the history of wall tapestries. When working together it is Maurice’s approach which has the more influence. Liesbeth is likely to have her input and influence on composition, but the overall look and feel of their photography remains smooth, slick and very much studio based. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> The lecture that they gave us about their work included work done as editorial for magazines, and commissioned photographs for large companies (all orientated around design, fashion and commerce). As said before the methods they employ to create their images involve the manipulation of objects to create a scene. The final outcome always having a strong two dimensional shape. Many times – although what they are photographing may have a complex shape – they reduce their objects to clean geometric lines, always showing an awareness that the scenes they create will eventually only exist as a two dimensional image. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> This can be seen in their work done for Adidas, which used mirrors to duplicate and abstract the straight lines created in the clothing. Similarly Nike shoes were arranged in a symmetric way and hung using the shoe laces, which again created sharp protruding lines. Work for Vitra also focused on creating an ordered two dimensional pattern out of furniture. All this symmetry means consequently that the final image used (that from the point of view of the camera) is the only perspective where the lines fit together. If the eye is moved even a fraction the lines no longer match up and the image is lost. Other work focuses not so much on arranging objects that create geometric form, but more on arranging objects that create an entirely new object all together. This new object could be fantastical creatures made from clothing or New York tower blocks made from perfume bottles. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> Their work can be compared to that of other studio photographers like Dan Tobin Smith, who orientate their photography around manipulated aesthetics rather than any human element, or sense of capturing a moment. Their work evokes more a feeling of static perfection. An arrangement that is totally fixed.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> For their workshop, the couple asked us all to bring in a piece of our design which we would like to photograph. Upon bringing our chosen object however, we were then “assigned” another person’s object to photograph. This was said to be an attempt to recreate some of the uncertainties of professional life. Maurice and Liesbeth specifically cited their work for Vitra, where they had planned on using large rolls of colored paper, only to find upon arrival at location that the humidity made the paper crinkled and therefore unusable. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> After having objects assigned to us we went around the class and were asked to talk about our object and about how we imagined photographing them. After which the couple talked a little about how they viewed the assignment. They broadly allowed us to do as we wished with the photo. Their only stipulation was that we do not produce a simple pack shot. That we try and photograph the object in a way that will somehow reinvent it.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> The following week we exhibited all the photographs and had individual tutorials on the work. Maurice and Liesbeth were engaged and pleased with the results, though they did mention that they would have liked to have an extra day in order to allow us to act upon their critiques.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> In all the workshop was very helpful and the work of the couple a useful insight into professional photography.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">-Thomas Saxby</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><a style="font-family: arial;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/STJjlM9Q3JI/AAAAAAAAALg/SJf2srGyHP8/s1600-h/DSC_0565.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 318px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/STJjlM9Q3JI/AAAAAAAAALg/SJf2srGyHP8/s400/DSC_0565.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274387604388764818" border="0" /></a><br /><a style="font-family: arial;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/STJjejb17lI/AAAAAAAAALY/4eLjzue6sl0/s1600-h/DSC_0556.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 296px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/STJjejb17lI/AAAAAAAAALY/4eLjzue6sl0/s400/DSC_0556.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274387490163519058" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">photos by Hikaru Imamura</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Excerpts from Editorial</span><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">"It became clear during the workshops and lectures that the design approach of the couple extends into other parts of their lives as a design philosophy. It was during the workshop that their talents were most beneficially exercised."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">"Scheltens and Abbenes bridge the realms of reality and fantasy in their work, and continued in this tradition during the workshop. The participants had been asked to bring in an object that they wished to photograph or document. Each student presented the object, and explained his or her reason for choosing that object, including their intentions how they would document it. However, what Scheltens and Abbenes did next was to separate designer and object. Each student was given the object of another student, with the instructions to document it however he/she saw fit. The duo misled the group, a method which mirrored their visual work. They removed the objects from their original contexts, purposes, and meanings. In addition, they gave complete creative control to the artist/designer, which is an integral part of how they work. The workshop became an intellectually stimulating experience before the graduate students even began to document their pieces."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">"...it can be asked whether their works are design or art. The answer to the question would largely depend upon semantics, depending on who was asked. A more interesting question is how much their approach to design and art encompasses their life. Whether it is exercised through reason or intuition, design is every action that one makes throughout the day. Scheltens and Abbenes have shown themselves to be genuine in their daily attitude... it is all about the emotional context in communication that directly affects the audience. They showed that this is best achieved through repetitive actions."<br /><br />-Luke Jenkins<br /><br /><br />Video of Workshop Images<br /><br /></span><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dw4PPwi2rM79Bbk_FlJrBWvtvdEsSRVmo87nqjTNNDATrRm5rGCRxRu3zoXBIew208qda8q6ua9kgvhTNM7gw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />video by Thomas SaxbySOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-84518011832426107252008-11-05T11:20:00.000-08:002008-11-05T11:57:56.654-08:00Gijs Bakker lecture<img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 382px; height: 254px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SRH1hIi8eKI/AAAAAAAAAK4/pteBah8mylU/s400/Picture+1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265259388951361698" /><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><div>Gijs Bakker needs little introduction among designers, and in the Design Academy Eindhoven, where he teaches and heads the IM master course for many years, it seems he needs no introduction at all. So, when Gijs got up to start his lecture, it was intriguing to see what he will show. We all know the famous Droog projects, and seen them in books numerous times, and were hoping this lecture would give us something more. It did not fail. Gijs Bakker’s one hour lecture showed the life of an interesting man, not only his designs shown in chronological order, but in them woven his inspirations, the designers he admires, his environment, and his other works, finishing with his teaching career at the design academy and of course Droog.<br /></div>As these kinds of lectures often go, there was no time to go in deep into the ideas and projects of Gijs. It was a quick presentation of works and anecdotes, seasoned with a bit of humor, brief and general, but Gijs has done it very gracefully, keeping his audience sharp, telling us things we didn’t know, sharing a bit of his mind. </span></span></span><div><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /></span></span></span><div><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">There was even a message, not a very common thing in a one-hour general lecture. Gijs told the students of the academy: “don’t wait – do!”, telling the students not to wait for commissions, but to follow their ideas through, stating how this way of working created Dutch design as it is today.</span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">After the lecture, the master students of the DAE had another hour of Q&A with Gijs. This much more informal and intimate meeting took place in a classroom, with about forty students, when Gijs set on as sofa, taking questions from students. For the most part Gijs answered to the point and elaborated. It seemed Gijs had very clear views on design and could convey them very well. When asked if now that he functions, besides being a designer, as one of the biggest design curators in Holland through Droog, he heads the academy masters to look for talents, Gijs answered that this is a nice side effect, but he is looking for the arguments with the students, the disagreements. This is what stimulates him to teach. On some of the questions, Gijs showed a wonderful quality reserved to really great speakers. He was able to answer a very different question then the one you asked and still be very interesting, making you feel you got your answer.</span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">The one question that seemed a bit unanswered is around the subject that draws a lot of attention recently – the subject of limited edition. It seemed Gijs had trouble defining his view on the subject, and said he is against young designers duplicating some of their old designs in different materials and exhibiting them again. It is almost understandable why someone like Gijs would struggle with such a question – Droog, in many respects, set an example for independent, conceptual, limited (and many times expensive) products. This phenomena, as often happens, is now being taken to extreme by young designers who might be missing the point of boundaries and creativity.</span></span></div><div><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">There is no doubt there was a lot more to get from Gijs, but under the time limitations, he gave an interesting, honest and different view of design, by one of design’s most influencing characters in the last 15 years.</span></span><span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">17th September 2008</span></span></div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 345px; height: 339px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SRH5gZ_3tVI/AAAAAAAAALI/akqGEvZi5QI/s400/Picture+4.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265263774502729042" /><br /><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 283px; height: 389px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SRH1peGo6CI/AAAAAAAAALA/Fs2qvG0N2oQ/s400/Picture+5.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265259532177172514" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-37801764456864139232008-10-30T10:37:00.000-07:002008-10-30T11:09:55.531-07:00Marcel Sloots - Publication Workshop<span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;">September 24 2008</span><br /><br /><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"></span></div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQnxiDjPUEI/AAAAAAAAAKI/Y96JdHKHnfo/s1600-h/workshop+(136).jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263003206930092098" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQnxiDjPUEI/AAAAAAAAAKI/Y96JdHKHnfo/s400/workshop+(136).jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">Marcel Sloots is a Dutch graphic designer working out of Eindhoven for nearly 7 years within the firm Volle Kracht. Translating to “Full Power”, the firm name describes the way he approaches his work, full of ambition and creative determination. Some of his latest work, the interior of the Mu Gallerie, celebrated the gallery's 10th anniversary. Located on the first floor of the De Witte Dame, the home of the Design Academy Eindhoven, the Mu is an exciting gallery exhibits design, music fasion, architecture and new media by local and international artists.</span></div><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><br />In September 2008, Marcel Sloots came to the Design Academy in order to conduct a workshop with the second year masters students with intentions of creating a comprehensive publication for the Source program. The Source program invites guest speakers to the Academy with the intention of creating a personal dialogue between student and professional through lectures and interactive workshops. During this particular workshop Sloots gave each student three packages each containing records of Source lectures from the previous year. It was up to the students to format each lecture into one easy-to-read and informative publication. By the end of the day the students had completely reworked the layouts of each Source document, in some cases condensing three pages of records into one. The workshop allowed students gain a unique perspective on visual communication design while completing the Source publication in just one day. Under the guidence of Sloots the students produced quality work for a client (the Source program) in a very short amount of time demonstrating a brute force mentality, aparent in his work and his outlook on the design industry. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">When asked about which projects he enjoys to work on the most Sloots states that he has no preference for what kind of design he may work on as long as he picks the right client to work with. He stresses that every designer should “Be very ambitious when choosing a client”, “find out what you may be asked to do” and understand the politics surrounding the client, something commonly overlooked by designers when taking on a new project. He offers this advice about the design insdustry to new designers: “what is important is the spirit of your work, as long as you are doing something what comes out in the end will be alright”, aiming to provide direction to those at a creative standstill. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">The workshop with Marcel Sloots was an important demonstration of the challenges a designer may face when working for a new client. Having the students work along side Sloots in creating the publications taught them his “volle kracht” mentality of hard work and determinations, which has brought him success in the design industry. Student-professional interactions like these provide unique opportunites to the students at the Design Academy, teaching key design skills straight from proffesionals through the Source program.<br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQnyVy1oFyI/AAAAAAAAAKY/ZKtzF0qwNH8/s1600-h/workshop+(63).jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263004095797008162" style="WIDTH: 267px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQnyVy1oFyI/AAAAAAAAAKY/ZKtzF0qwNH8/s400/workshop+(63).jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQnyVrFhZiI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/GPfRunqQ-T0/s1600-h/workshop+(42).jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263004093716194850" style="WIDTH: 267px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQnyVrFhZiI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/GPfRunqQ-T0/s400/workshop+(42).jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQnyWTteSVI/AAAAAAAAAKg/NU25c2S9cdE/s1600-h/workshop+(129).jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263004104621181266" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQnyWTteSVI/AAAAAAAAAKg/NU25c2S9cdE/s400/workshop+(129).jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQnyW-sZjCI/AAAAAAAAAKo/5pHoAjS3zjE/s1600-h/workshop+(147).jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263004116159400994" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQnyW-sZjCI/AAAAAAAAAKo/5pHoAjS3zjE/s400/workshop+(147).jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div align="justify"></span></div>SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-86222975551396479582008-10-29T10:04:00.000-07:002008-10-29T10:49:35.772-07:00Satyendra Pakhale<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><strong>Lecture from a cultural nomad</strong></span><br /><div><div><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQico_ptvmI/AAAAAAAAAII/GxBa169mOB4/s1600-h/Pakhale.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262628392677523042" style="WIDTH: 270px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQico_ptvmI/AAAAAAAAAII/GxBa169mOB4/s320/Pakhale.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">On the 22nd of October of 2008, Satyendra Pakhalé gave two lectures to both bachelor and master students at the Design Academy Eindhoven and accorded us a private interview. He began his presentation by sharing his vision of the world and questioning the audience on its own perceptions. He then proceeded to reveal himself through his works and motivations.<br />It was a great privilege for us, participate in the event, as well as an opportunity to get to know the designer behind the Man and Humanity Master department better. The team coordinating the event is composed of first year master students, Maurizio Montalti, Bart Nijssen, Cecelia Tzuchun, Timothee Magot and Carolina dos Santos Reis.<br /><br />Satyendra Pakhalé is a very inspiring speaker with a persuasive manner of communication. His approach was very open-minded and he engaged in very interesting discussions on every topic. He started by addressing modern issues that haunt our planet, like environmental crises and social inequalities. According to Pakhalé, such issues are no longer isolated and need to be addressed by everyone, especially the new generation of designers. He preached appropriateness in our practice, which can be reached by approaching every project according to its context. Sustainable and ethical issues need to be part of the process but there are no rules on how to incorporate them. According to Pakhalé, it is all about perspective. For example, a material that in one context is not environmentally friendly can in another case be the best solution. To support his argument, he cited famous thinkers in the field like Vitor Papanek and Buckminster Fuller. Altogether, his discourse was very inspiring and moving, however it is one that has been around for many years without really producing any impressive ideas. Ultimately, Pakhalé urged us to take a position and to have our own point of view, but there was a contradiction in his reasoning: he answered every question with a positive and negative response and ended up questioning everything, and by doing so, never really took a position himself.<br />Next, Pakhalé showed us some of his most emblematic creations, like his famous ceramic works and his metal crafted horse. It was highly stimulating to discover the details of the production methods he employed. Without going too deeply into technical considerations, he explained his process, of how he joined traditional techniques and materials with modern expertise throughout his work. He built his reputation by transcending materials and techniques to come up with uncommon uses and results. That is what makes his singularness, and his view of design refreshening.<br />The interview session was for us the time to bring up Pakhalé’s role as the head of the master in Man and Humanity. He at first hesitated to accept the position, but the system in which the DAE works appealed to him. By having a freelancer status, he is able to contribute to the education of design without having any time-consuming administrative tasks involved, and thus he can continue to devote time to his creative activities. In creating the structure of the program, he brought in different professionals from the industrial design and creative fields, enriching the course and making it very resourceful to the students. In this way he definitely crossed the lines between disciplines and gave the master his cultural-nomadic flavour. Getting to know the person behind the program permitted us to have a better understanding of the program’s agenda and to see how his influence shaped the master.<br />Pakhalé’s presentation and his concepts fit the Man and Humanity Master perspective, but his professional success is more of a commercial accomplishment, being associated with big names that have no true link to social issues. What is unsettling is that his achievement comes from his stylistic and material approach, not in giving and sharing real solutions for the future. His clients and his projects don’t address the issues that worry most of the young generation, those who will have to pay the bills for the decisions that are made today. However, this does not take away from his considerable contribution to the design world. Satyendra Pakhalé remains an admirable designer and a greatly motivational speaker to inspire worldwide designers and creators of all generations.</span><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQigO5Ws0oI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/hhCl3vSn3sY/s1600-h/_MG_3490.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262632342357070466" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQigO5Ws0oI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/hhCl3vSn3sY/s320/_MG_3490.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQigY1vQiUI/AAAAAAAAAIY/ePpJccQqQvE/s1600-h/_MG_3497.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262632513185024322" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQigY1vQiUI/AAAAAAAAAIY/ePpJccQqQvE/s320/_MG_3497.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQihF7TC8DI/AAAAAAAAAIw/3ySd4z0plzQ/s1600-h/Source-Pakhale-1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262633287771418674" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 213px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQihF7TC8DI/AAAAAAAAAIw/3ySd4z0plzQ/s320/Source-Pakhale-1.jpg" border="0" /></a> </div><div><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQigkBvLDQI/AAAAAAAAAIg/-mwXDiWojXk/s1600-h/_MG_3487.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262632705384451330" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 213px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQigkBvLDQI/AAAAAAAAAIg/-mwXDiWojXk/s320/_MG_3487.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQihqmfJtvI/AAAAAAAAAJA/7er9p56VEHE/s1600-h/_MG_3470.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262633917840209650" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQihqmfJtvI/AAAAAAAAAJA/7er9p56VEHE/s320/_MG_3470.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQih77OSw8I/AAAAAAAAAJI/OpjraBFrlGE/s1600-h/_MG_3458.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262634215464420290" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SQih77OSw8I/AAAAAAAAAJI/OpjraBFrlGE/s320/_MG_3458.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">Article: Carolina dos Santos Reis<br />Poster: Timothee Magot<br />Photograph: Bart Nijssen and Maurizio Montalti</span></div></div></div></div>SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-6202452936600401292008-06-11T00:59:00.000-07:002008-06-11T01:01:21.517-07:00John Thackara lecture<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SE-GJZZXIlI/AAAAAAAAAHY/ZsXhgU-vrFI/s1600-h/3.JPEG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5210530789885157970" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SE-GJZZXIlI/AAAAAAAAAHY/ZsXhgU-vrFI/s320/3.JPEG" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SE-GJ7yqLII/AAAAAAAAAHg/sUozPoGkBeo/s1600-h/1.JPEG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5210530799118068866" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SE-GJ7yqLII/AAAAAAAAAHg/sUozPoGkBeo/s320/1.JPEG" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SE-GJyX37RI/AAAAAAAAAHo/AOP1vLTLHxc/s1600-h/9.JPEG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5210530796589804818" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SE-GJyX37RI/AAAAAAAAAHo/AOP1vLTLHxc/s320/9.JPEG" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SE-GKE74dkI/AAAAAAAAAHw/bqmCResuQOQ/s1600-h/6.JPEG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5210530801572673090" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SE-GKE74dkI/AAAAAAAAAHw/bqmCResuQOQ/s320/6.JPEG" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SE-GKvUdp9I/AAAAAAAAAH4/yUWxUddBsBs/s1600-h/8.JPEG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5210530812950063058" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gxu8b2PpZF8/SE-GKvUdp9I/AAAAAAAAAH4/yUWxUddBsBs/s320/8.JPEG" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div>SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912272916438882375.post-5361013699506668422008-06-11T00:56:00.000-07:002008-06-11T00:59:19.386-07:00John Thackara lecture<span style="font-family:arial;">John Thackara<br /><br />John Thackara is a enterprising design lecturer, author and symposiarch. He leads a number of design projects including Doors based in Amsterdam and DOTT from the UK. He has advised numerous government organizations on design including the Dutch government and the European Commision. Constantly travelling, Thackara has lectured in over 40 countries and written 12 books about the predicament of design in contemporary society. His primary research focus is to answer explore advances in technology and how it affects our lives, that is, not what technology and design can do, but what can they be used for.<br /><br />Transcript of Interview:<br />This transcript begins mid talk; Thackara has been introducing the St Etienne Design Biennial which as Director of Doors, he is co-ordinating. The subject being discussed in the nature of objects to comprise the Biennial and whether could be contributions from the Design Academy masters students.<br /><br />*** represents inaudible dialogue.<br /><br />QUESTION (Saron Paz) - Usually we find in design that the things that succeed are not always the things that work the best… we like simple things that can make a difference in our lives, but some things are very efficient, but no one will actually use them…</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />> Exactly. And thank you for saying that. That’s we need to find out the difference between something that is clearly brilliant but is never going to make any difference, versus, that looks sort of “hand to mouth” or *** but will make a difference. So the criteria is, how do we know the difference between those two things. So for example, Cisco Systems has decided that $500,000 video conferencing machines, about which they say, nobody need ever go in an aeroplane again, if they have one of these things. Its just bullshit, whereas, maybe some man in Kerala makes telephones calls work better for people so that we wouldn’t feel isolated when ringing up our mothers and loved ones, having no longer the possibility of going on aeroplanes, which the future I am facing for myself. Two extremes. And I don’t know the answer by the way. 12 months. Its 5000 square meters this show. It’s a bloody huge empty space. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />QUESTION (Saron Paz) – So what about setting up criteria for *** any object?<br /><br />> Yes. So I am happy for all suggestions, whether its criteria, or individual exhibits, I don’t mind. I foolishly agreed for the 50th time in my life for a too small timetable. And um, I am just entering the maxium anxiety phase, well, after christmas, when there is no more time left, at all, is when I will panic in a major way, so if you can find someway to help me I would be very very grateful.<br /><br />QUESTION (Guy Keulemans) – I think that when you said “first aid kit” I think you hit the nail on the head, because if we soon get to the point where we cannot produce new objects, it’s all going to be about repairing the stuff we have, so first aid kits of repair kits for all these things –<br /><br />> Well I had this conversation with someone recently who said, it all sounds very mcuh like going into hospital – but can it be beautiful, can it be a beautfiul first aid kit.<br /><br />QUESTION (Guy Keulemans) - And can we create more attachment by repairing things?<br /><br />> Well a bit part of this show will be people lashing up wireless networks from old nintendo consoles and stuff, because that’s part of it. And a friend who called *** who runs a festival called Pixelate, and there is a whole world of completely insane hardware and software hackers out there, which is just one bit of it but in terms of the rest of it… things like design software, do you encounters you know this “lifesycle analysis” this is a very sort of heavy and boring subject ,but various people are making tools to help designers understand the material consequences of a products. Do we need one of those? I think we need one of those in one of the tents. But there are all these snake oil salesmen, software companies, who do we believe?<br /><br /> QUESTION (Frans Parthesius) – Well, I would like to thank you for coming and talking about something very close to our hearts, and *** thankyou for bringing John here.<br /><br />> Well, your welcome, and really I need help and between now and after christmas it would be great to figure out something tangible. Its 5000 square meteres before you agree to anything rashly, it’s a bloody huge shed. **** The risk as already been taken *** to genetically engineered ones ***** Do you know Stelarc? He’d now growing an artificial ear on his arm.<br /><br />End Transcript.<br /><br />Analysis:<br /><br />John Thackera’s lecture was interesting and mainly concerned the activities of the British design initiave DOTT, which applies design thinking to problems usually considered in other disciplines (such as healthcare, sociology, nutrition). Its does strike one that as much as designers can offer new solutions in these areas because of their fresh persective, it also means they can become lost when delaing with subject matter out of their experience or training.<br /><br />The St Etienne Design Biennial that John discusses in the discussion after the lecture, sounded full of potential as a design exhibition focussing on new well considered solutions. On Thackara blog website, he repeats his call for young designers to submit ideas based on the concept of “first aid kits” for technology and design. Hoever, the Biennial is due to begin in November and while Thackara’s conceptual initiative does not seem to have such a presence on their website, the exhibition does include references to urban planning and eco-design solutuons, as well as the usual fashionable new chairs and other meaningless products.<br /><br />Thackara’s blog however, can be recommended for any design student as a casual and timely discussion on contempory problems in design. Recent posts touch on urban planning for increasing food localisation, the problems of bulk retail refridgeration, and the concept of “de-growth”. </span><br /></span>SOURCE BLOGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09614407952633137109noreply@blogger.com0