http://alissahsanders.blogspot.com/2009/10/upcycle-lamp-shade.html?showComment=1256818219164#c5909439834175761047
http://lucindawaters.blogspot.com/2009/10/upcycle.html?showComment=1256818454409#c4277969389629763372
http://filpulido.blogspot.com/2009/10/upcycling-unwanteds-geared-up.html#comment-form
http://arezziguida.blogspot.com/2009/10/project-3-upcycling-unwanteds.html#comments
http://robotronblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/project-3-upcycling-vinyl-chair-peer.html#comments
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Project Three: Upcycling Unwanteds ...
Upcycling refers to the process of transforming something that is disposed of into something of similar use or grater value. Here I have definitely transformed golf balls into greater value, turning this type of trash into an object of utility and beauty. Not in any way, shape or form have I built up any more waste by creating this object of usefulness and beauty. The brief was upheld by displaying a high degree of innovation, through drilling holes into golf balls and threading them through a small wiring to create its beauty. This product is not just decorative but it also comes into great use when relaxing back and having a glass of wine. It incorporates the relaxation of the sport and the relaxation of the object itself.
The shape of the golf ball enhances a DNA molecule, hence the shape of the object which has been twisted using wire to show this shape. The indents on each of the golf balls shows how the DNA molecules are joined together to form this type of shape, wrapping around a wine bottle. Like no other ball, the shape of the golf ball has this special “dimple” feature which was designed back in 1908. Officially sanctioned balls are designed to be as symmetrical as possible and are designed based on platonic solids such as a cube which are regular polygons where all faces of the shape meet at a vertex.
Most golf balls used on a golf course through observation are usually white so I have kept the pattern of white golf balls in my product. The reason being is because of its high visibility colour which helps find the ball when lost or playing. The white coloured golf balls were used to pull away from the “trashy” look that the word gives itself. By continuingly using the same colour it provides a more elegant look and shows of the DNA Molecule shape when wrapped around a wine bottle which are usually dark coloured.
The shape of the object as mentioned a few times above represents a DNA molecule curled around a wine bottle. Once the wine bottle is removed from the golf ball wine holder, the shape of the wine bottle is still enhanced and very effective to the eye. This functionally and aesthetically pleasing object has both an interaction between the wine bottle and the golf ball, both being relaxing sports and activities to get away from the outside world of work and study.
The reasoning for the object being laid down is that when the wine is poured it is only being poured on a 45 degree angle and nothing above that, so therefore when the wine is being held in the wine bottle holder the wine settles at that level.
Inspiration came through as having to have grown up in front of a golf course and over the years collecting hundreds of golf balls which end up on our front lawn. Many shapes and ways were experimented into twisting and turning the wired golf balls around the wine bottle but this shape and length was chosen due to the proportion and weight of the golf balls as a whole the shape of the DNA molecule strand and the wine bottle both having that generic shape.
Upcycling golf balls and turning them into such a characteristic form was done so that all the lost and unused golf balls do not go to waste. Simply having to drill holes right through the golf ball and threading them through a strong and flexible wire and turning it into a wine bottle holder. When not in use the product could be simply a decorative or ornamental piece either for those who love the idea of wine bottle holders or anybody who loves the sport.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Seymour Powell: Designing Dream Machines
Seymour Powell gives us a sneek peek on how Industrial Design companies work. Guiding us through the steps into the design and manufacturing process of products in general, from the brief to the brainstorming and onto the research of every detail. In order for a successful product to be accomplished it was found that the process is undertaken through a lot of attention to every detail and endless effort for a well produced product.
Through the design industry the process of desiging dream machine products helps us to understand the difficulty and endless options we have to produce a product which the designer is satisfied with. In accordance to this, materials would be a very important part to the design as well as the ergonomics, the environmental issues and so on. The materials must be chosen carefully in order to accomplish less environmental products when the product is going to be destroyed of or thrown out at any time of its lifecycle.
Seymour fills us in on the design practices that go into designing industrial products, helping us to incorporate the importance of effective solutions. Although effective solutions starts of with a simple brief and constant communication which is the key to design. Without communication, the consistancy of the design and manufacturing process may fail miserably or succeed depending on the communcation involved. Communication is a necessity when designing and producing a product which you are planning to accomplish as it is always required.
As i have been learning through the year, the brief is always a major key part of the process as it is always needed to be referred to so that what the client wants is what is achieved in the end. Which leads me to the next point, the client. The clients needs and wants are always an important factor or else the design brief will not be achieved resulting in disappointment and anger to the industrial designers involved in processing such a product. Seymour emphasised how important the brief is and therefore is always a key factor in any design field.
Seymour Powell finds that drawing by hand is what makes him achieve the final brief perfectly and successfully. He tries not to allow technology take over his thinking or design and therefore he will be able to accomplish a fulfilled product that the client will be happy with in the end.
Through the design industry the process of desiging dream machine products helps us to understand the difficulty and endless options we have to produce a product which the designer is satisfied with. In accordance to this, materials would be a very important part to the design as well as the ergonomics, the environmental issues and so on. The materials must be chosen carefully in order to accomplish less environmental products when the product is going to be destroyed of or thrown out at any time of its lifecycle.
Seymour fills us in on the design practices that go into designing industrial products, helping us to incorporate the importance of effective solutions. Although effective solutions starts of with a simple brief and constant communication which is the key to design. Without communication, the consistancy of the design and manufacturing process may fail miserably or succeed depending on the communcation involved. Communication is a necessity when designing and producing a product which you are planning to accomplish as it is always required.
As i have been learning through the year, the brief is always a major key part of the process as it is always needed to be referred to so that what the client wants is what is achieved in the end. Which leads me to the next point, the client. The clients needs and wants are always an important factor or else the design brief will not be achieved resulting in disappointment and anger to the industrial designers involved in processing such a product. Seymour emphasised how important the brief is and therefore is always a key factor in any design field.
Seymour Powell finds that drawing by hand is what makes him achieve the final brief perfectly and successfully. He tries not to allow technology take over his thinking or design and therefore he will be able to accomplish a fulfilled product that the client will be happy with in the end.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Annie Leonard: The Story of Stuff
Annie Leonard is fiercely dedicated to reclaiming and transforming our industrial and economic systems so they serve, rather than undermine, ecological sustainability and social equity. She is the author and host of the online film, “The Story of Stuff” which exposes the hidden environmental and social costs of current systems of production and consumption.
She begins to explain to us the important system in process which is in crisis at the moment. The materials economy starts off with:
extraction à production à distribution à consumption à disposal.
This process is the system where stuff moves through. Its a linear system which interacts within the world and involves things like the economy and culture. As a result of this people both live and work along the system not only creating “stuff” but also creating the crisis, ie. Polluting the environment.
EXTRACTION: is the natural resource explortation, which wipes out animals and therefore running out of resources for the rest of us. As a result, figures show that a third of natural resources are consumed on this earth which is equally equivalant to cutting down 200 trees/minute in the Southern Hemisphere.
PRODUCTION: the creation and assembly of goods. It is said that there are over 100 000 synthetic chemicals which impact the environment. These synthetic chemicals are put into all products, as a result putting toxics in and taking toxics out to manufacture products. These toxics are not only harming us as humans but also bringing them into our homes, schools and public environments which we interact with every day. Toxics build up in our food chain and as a matter of fact people still work with toxic products, still knowing how dangerous toxics can be for them to inhale and at the same time work with. Contaminated and lethal toxics leave our factories and create pollution all over the world. What makes it even worse is that factories are moved overseas for cheaper labour and resources but do not think about the pollution they create somewhere else.
CONSUMPTION: the amount of money and expenditure used up to create these products is unbelievable. Materials are kept flowing and not only are used for a small amount of time but are then thrown out. 1% of products are used after six months of being bought and the rest of the 99% is trashed and never used again. Things like health care and education are a significant part of this wide world put people don’t take it into as much consideration but rather ignore it.
Planned and percieved obsolescence are a major part of the system in crisis. Both of these make products useless as quick as possible so we can buy new ones, eg. Compters and bbq’s. It’s amazing to know how quick manfucaturers and designers make “stuff” break, potentionally making people to go out and buy more of the same product or an alternative to what you already have.
PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE: is changing the look and aesthetics of a product. For example, fashion. From one year to the next fashion changes from fat heels to skinny heels back to fat heels the next. This type of obsolescence keeps us buying things as the trend or fashion changes from one year to the next, just to keep up-to-date.
RECYCLING: there isn’t enough recycling at home so it is all then sent to the waste to be sorted out making the job harder for workers and time consuming. Some things are manufactured to not be able to be recycled or burnt because of the toxics in the product.
Dioxin is a man made substance which disallows products to be burnt when it is sent to the landfill. A substance like this is very harmful to society and creates more rubbish on this earth, adding up to the equivalent of 4.5 pounds of garbage a household creates in a day. All this rubbish is burnt in the insinerator and then taken to the landfill, although if the product cannot be burnt it is just left in the landfill to rot.
As they said in the video, ads make us unhappy with what we have, although it makes us “right” in some way if we go shopping to fix the unhappiness. Media is another major influence as there’s more “stuff” and less “stuff” of whats meant to make us happy for example leisure, family and friends.
THE STORY OF STUFF – some say its unrealistic but others say its BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE.
She begins to explain to us the important system in process which is in crisis at the moment. The materials economy starts off with:
extraction à production à distribution à consumption à disposal.
This process is the system where stuff moves through. Its a linear system which interacts within the world and involves things like the economy and culture. As a result of this people both live and work along the system not only creating “stuff” but also creating the crisis, ie. Polluting the environment.
EXTRACTION: is the natural resource explortation, which wipes out animals and therefore running out of resources for the rest of us. As a result, figures show that a third of natural resources are consumed on this earth which is equally equivalant to cutting down 200 trees/minute in the Southern Hemisphere.
PRODUCTION: the creation and assembly of goods. It is said that there are over 100 000 synthetic chemicals which impact the environment. These synthetic chemicals are put into all products, as a result putting toxics in and taking toxics out to manufacture products. These toxics are not only harming us as humans but also bringing them into our homes, schools and public environments which we interact with every day. Toxics build up in our food chain and as a matter of fact people still work with toxic products, still knowing how dangerous toxics can be for them to inhale and at the same time work with. Contaminated and lethal toxics leave our factories and create pollution all over the world. What makes it even worse is that factories are moved overseas for cheaper labour and resources but do not think about the pollution they create somewhere else.
CONSUMPTION: the amount of money and expenditure used up to create these products is unbelievable. Materials are kept flowing and not only are used for a small amount of time but are then thrown out. 1% of products are used after six months of being bought and the rest of the 99% is trashed and never used again. Things like health care and education are a significant part of this wide world put people don’t take it into as much consideration but rather ignore it.
Planned and percieved obsolescence are a major part of the system in crisis. Both of these make products useless as quick as possible so we can buy new ones, eg. Compters and bbq’s. It’s amazing to know how quick manfucaturers and designers make “stuff” break, potentionally making people to go out and buy more of the same product or an alternative to what you already have.
PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE: is changing the look and aesthetics of a product. For example, fashion. From one year to the next fashion changes from fat heels to skinny heels back to fat heels the next. This type of obsolescence keeps us buying things as the trend or fashion changes from one year to the next, just to keep up-to-date.
RECYCLING: there isn’t enough recycling at home so it is all then sent to the waste to be sorted out making the job harder for workers and time consuming. Some things are manufactured to not be able to be recycled or burnt because of the toxics in the product.
Dioxin is a man made substance which disallows products to be burnt when it is sent to the landfill. A substance like this is very harmful to society and creates more rubbish on this earth, adding up to the equivalent of 4.5 pounds of garbage a household creates in a day. All this rubbish is burnt in the insinerator and then taken to the landfill, although if the product cannot be burnt it is just left in the landfill to rot.
As they said in the video, ads make us unhappy with what we have, although it makes us “right” in some way if we go shopping to fix the unhappiness. Media is another major influence as there’s more “stuff” and less “stuff” of whats meant to make us happy for example leisure, family and friends.
THE STORY OF STUFF – some say its unrealistic but others say its BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE.
Peer Comments for Project TWO
Maria Park:
http://yhsggool.blogspot.com/2009/09/creating-prototype-of-gift-that-could.html#comments
Kate Barclay:
http://katebarclay.blogspot.com/2009/09/project-two-postal-presents.html?showComment=1254735729138#c1304494849094255508
Nina Harcus:
http://ninaharcus.blogspot.com/2009/09/postal-presents.html?showComment=1254736069454#c8893763190900114114
Julian Chow:
http://julianides.blogspot.com/2009/10/project-2-postal-presents.html?showComment=1254738311488#c6564221391459327572
NianCi Liong:
http://nianciliong.blogspot.com/2009/10/project-two-postal-presents.html?showComment=1254738947501#c5024730532412832994
http://yhsggool.blogspot.com/2009/09/creating-prototype-of-gift-that-could.html#comments
Kate Barclay:
http://katebarclay.blogspot.com/2009/09/project-two-postal-presents.html?showComment=1254735729138#c1304494849094255508
Nina Harcus:
http://ninaharcus.blogspot.com/2009/09/postal-presents.html?showComment=1254736069454#c8893763190900114114
Julian Chow:
http://julianides.blogspot.com/2009/10/project-2-postal-presents.html?showComment=1254738311488#c6564221391459327572
NianCi Liong:
http://nianciliong.blogspot.com/2009/10/project-two-postal-presents.html?showComment=1254738947501#c5024730532412832994
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