My Inspiration

Water Bottle

The Go Chair- Magnesium Chair

Moroso Chair

Car on Stick

After the last assignment, I wondered if any designers truly inspired me. I looked backed to my last essays and the designer who I enjoyed researching was Ross Lovegrove- Captain Organic. TED video- Talks Ross Lovegrove: The Power and Beauty of Organic Design, is a video of Ross Lovegrove talking about his “fat free” design, inspired by nature to minimize form and maximize the natural beauty.

The theme of the video is DNA- Design/ Nature/Art, the three things that condition the world of Lovegrove. He translates his design into science and technology that is used every day and moment of our lives. Design is all about form. Form touches the emotion and soul of people. His design is all “fat free” design- lean, efficient and healthy product.

The presentation of the water bottle container was first drawn digitally with simple lines, just exploring natural forms. The final design of the water bottle appears like a regular bottle but almost crushed and beat up on the sides. Lovegrove explains that the design is not suppose to look attractive like most of product design today. Beautiful products without any sense of form and function are “rubbish”, “artificial” and “superficial”. The bottle is a skin on water itself. It fits the hand of a child and an adult. Lovegrove believes in designing for the condition and biopolymer.

Lovegrove does not allow the form to restrict him. He looks at the growing and living patterns. He showed a video of his furniture growing legs out of the table and other objects growing in length like a growing plant. He looks at water droplets and images it being a car. He thinks it’s ludicrous that cars have 30,000 components, why can’t cars have 300 parts? His concept car has no engine, but instead has solar panels in the back and battery in the wheels. The wheels can easily be pulled out to be recharged on a wall at home. He showed slides of how the future lightweight car is lifted up on a pole. The car is directed upwards for the sun to hit directly on the solar panels for energy and at night the car can be a street lamp. The future cars would not be parked on the curb, which will save space in the street.

The form of his chairs are studies of natural forms and takes fractal technology further and imagines a membrane shrinking and creating a chair, car, table, shoes, car seats, etc. He admits his forms look “funky” but they are natural and every part is essential. He thinks funky designs purely for aesthetic are a disgrace. The chairs have holes, making it light weight and almost breathable like a living organism.

I agree with Lovegrove that design today has too many “things” and the important elements are not emphasized. Whether a designer is inspired by organic materials or artificial forms, the designer should take the material and eliminate unnecessary parts, then beautify it. I love how Lovegrove goes to Natural History museum for inspiration and studies the bones of a dinosaur. He was the first to create a magnesium chair. The magnesium chair is a bone like structure that can also be hung on a wall like a sculpture. I like his concept of using organic forms- 100% relevant forms, and deliver maximum beauty.

From my past essays, I went back and forth on my perspective of design and our job as an industrial designer. On my last essay I sounded rebellious. I was fed up with disagreeable products. Listening to Ross Lovegroves’ lecture, I learned that many designers will be rebellious and strive to do unordinary work for innovative, creative and inspiring ideas. However, a designer does not produce a good design based on how “green” their product is or how harmless it is for our environment. Designers who understand the manufacturing process and design solutions that can change the way people utilize the problem is what I consider an inspiring design. Ross Lovegross is one of the few designers who encourage me to pursue my career as an industrial designer.

Video- http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ross_lovegrove_shares_organic_designs.html

Ross Lovegrove

Ross Lovegrove (born 1958, Wales) studied at Manchester Polytechnic, graduated in 1980 in First Class BA in Industrial Design and graduated with a master of design degree in Royal College of Art in 1983. He first started off in frog design in Germany. He is known for walkmans- Sony and computers- Apple. He then moved to Paris and worked as a consultant at Knoll International. He was offered to collaborate with the Atelier de Nimes with famous designers Jean Nouvel and Philippe Starck and other companies like Louie Vuitton, Hermes and Dupont. In London 1986, he worked on projects for Airbus industries, Kartell, Ceccotti, Artemide, Cappellini, Idee, Moroso, Luceplan, Driade, Peugeot, Apple, Issey Miyake, VitrA, Olympus Cameras, Yamagiwa Corporation, Hackman, Alias, Herman Miller, Biomega, Japan airlines, Tokyo ito architects and KEF Japan. Lovegrove work has been exhibited worldwide in many museums such as the MoMa (Museum of Modern Art) and the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. He was awarded the World Technology Award in November 2005 by Time magazine and CNN and Red Dot Design Award for projects for VitrA.

Check out his website- http://www.rosslovegrove.com/

Designers- Inspiring or Disappointing?

The open-air GlassLab video of the Brazilian artists, Fernando and Humberto Campana, blowing branch and bacteria like shape really interested me. The purpose of the glass container is to hold liquid. Their inspiration from nature gives the liquid container an appealing organic shape.

When I first watched the video I was not aware who was blowing glass. After the second time, I realized the Campana brothers were not actually blowing glass; they were ordering directions to professional glass blowers how they wanted the product to look. Can the designers take credit for a design they did not create? I guess this question can be asked to other artists like painters and writers. A famous author, James Patterson, is well known for his thriller and action books. He writes a summary for each chapter and has another writer complete a cohesive story. Some painters have interns start a painting for them and the artist completes the painting. Though James Patterson and other artists give credit to their assistant, the public recognizes the famous artists and authors, not the helpers.

While watching videos and links posted on the ID blog, I also noticed how uninspiring design has become. Maybe I am being negative about design, or maybe design has become a disappointment. I honestly found few products like the pewter chair cast in sand, innovative and attractive but most of the works were not encouraging. There was function and aesthetic attention to the design but I felt there could have been something more. More creativity, more challenge, more excitement.

In the last three essays I mentioned positive views of the design world but lately my views have changed. One student in my reactive matter class had an argument with our professor that designing a prefabricated home for our final project is pointless. His argument was that prefabricated homes are constructed in China and then shipped to England. He thinks the project should be more focused on how the prefabricated home is shipped more than the design aspect.

Going back to the Brazilian artists, some artists like the student in my reactive matter class might argue that the glass water container is useless and not functional. I might have agreed with him yesterday but I see an optimistic perspective of design now. Questions I asked myself while looking at the artworks were: What is the designers’ motive? What is the artist trying to communicate to the viewers?

The glass water container may not have a huge impact but it makes you rethink about nature in a different perspective. The crystal branch reminds you of the elegant shape of trees. It makes you appreciate the beauty of nature.

I believe art can improve the world, but one cannot expect designers to discontinue prefabricated homes from getting shipped from China to the UK. Designers design and artists produce art to express what they feel is important for their audience to be aware of whether it’s a cultural, political or economic message.

video- http://www.designmiami.com/forum/downloads/

Ecopod coffin- Ridiculous or Interesting?

The Ecopod is a eco-friendly coffin made from 100% recycled paper.

The Ecopod is designed for a non toxic burial or cremation, unlike mahogany coffin.

If you think it's cool, check out their website : http://www.ecopod.co.uk/

Are Designers Making Our World a Better Place?

As I was browsing through the list of organization presented at A Better World By Design I was interested in the prefabricated LivingHomes dwelling. I’m doing a similar project of designing a dwelling for two people using a smart material that can minimize living space and address a better solution to reduce the use of electricity and gas. The LivingHomes dwelling considers every single furniture, wall, floor and roof of the house. The furniture is made of 100 percent organic cotton and recycled materials. The use of water is from storm water, instead of the city irrigation. The solar panel on the roof powers the Jacuzzi outside the living area and the wood for flooring and the wall is sustainable. Even the paint used for the ceiling is low VOC paint that minimize off gassing. Not only did I think the home was brilliant but I wanted to live in it.

Though the house is eco- friendly and respectful to the community, there is one problem I came across. The prefabricated home is not affordable. I thought of what Nancy mentioned from the book, Design for the Real World, by Victor Papanek. He is negative about design and basically blames industrial designer for mass producing dangerous weapons. According to him, designers pollute the air with harmful materials and we “have become a dangerous breed”.

I thought to myself, “Wow, he is totally right” and had second thoughts why I am studying industrial design at RISD. My answer to why I am studying industrial design is to improve major problems whether it is environmental, social or economical issues. I agreed with Papanek, but now I take back what I said. I agree on some level that designers create purely for aesthetic purpose that has no function. Despite that fact, there are many designers who address answers to macro problems but most of the time it depends on the users on how they decide to use the product. For example, it is true that designers design life threatening weapons like guns but the gun does not kill people, people kill people. Designers can come up with great ideas to make recycling easier but the only real solution is for people to actually recycle garbage.

Our Job as a Designer

Everyday I turn on my computer, click “Internet Explorer” and my homepage “New York Times” pops up. I usually skim through the headline titles and if I’m curious to read more I click on the article, if not, I read my e-mails. I have been caught up on the presidential election, so I took no interest in any international events. But after Dr. Bruce Becker’s lecture on refugee and humanitarian relief on Monday, I became more aware of the ongoing problem in Congo today. Just yesterday (November 7), when I opened internet explorer, in size thirty font the title read “U.N Chief and African Leaders Seek Congo Peace”. Below it was a picture of a female child and five women carrying their belongings and dragging their goat in despair.

According to the article, the man who started the war is Laurent Nkunda. He is a general who has been using force and violence in the Congo. Laurent Nkunda has been training young male children as soldiers and attacking Congolese government troops and Goma, a city in eastern Congo. Mr. Nkunda is responsible for thousands of African refugees. Many are ill, injured and dying of starvation. United Nation is trying to establish agreements but General Nkunda rebels against all. Ban Ki-moo, the United Nations secretary general mentioned, “This has been one of the worst human tragedies of our time”.

As I continued to read the article, agreements have been accomplished by both sides. However Mr. Nkunda’s rebel army ignored the agreement. In my understanding, the United Nation is doing their part by sitting down in a conference and discussing the issues to stop the chaos. The African government is displaying consent but not following the order they have agreed upon.
Since 1998 the war has murdered about five million people. Hunger and disease are the main problems. Angola has been supporting Congo since 1998 when Rwanda and Uganda attacked the country. There has been a rumor that Rwanda is aiding Mr. Nkunda. The United Nation investigators were sent to Kiwanja, a village in Goma, to capture villagers killing innocent lives. The Human rights groups are complaining that the United Nations can do more to protect the civilians. Just last week, the Congolese government troops raped women and killed children in Goma. Though the United Nation peacekeepers were aware and only a mile away, they did not take much action to cease the tragedy.

Like the Human Rights Group, many people and even I blame designer that they are mass producing unnecessary “things”. We have enough “things” so why produce more when there are starving children in Africa with no sanitation? This got me thinking, as a designer what is my job? Can I help the world with my skills? Am I wasting my time re- designing “things” that will only target specific users, while there are bigger problems that affect much bigger groups?
Dr. Bruce Becker showed us alternative cooking and sanitation solutions for civilians in third world countries. He told us the advantages and disadvantages of the alternative toilet and solar oven. Engineers and designers are drastically researching solutions to make it better, but it takes time and patience, especially when they have no access to the environment and have to rely on information on the internet and other sources. I realized that as a designer, I want to change the world. When I graduate from college, I do not want to design fancy accessories (jewelry, i-pod, etc). I want my ideas to affect thousands of people around the world.

Some might think that the United Nations are taking little action. They also see engineers and designers who creating solar powered stoves, and only see that these ideas always needs to be improved. This might be true. Maybe the United Nations need more than 17,000 peacekeepers in the Congo and designers need to stress more problems on their design. However the key factor is that they are taking action and their help is improving, even if it is one step at a time.

Vibrator- Medical Device

Growing up in a conservative Christian family, I was restricted to do certain activities, like attending slumber parties, having a boyfriend and inviting male friends over to my house because it was considered improper. I was not conscious of the fact that my religion influenced me to think about design in a certain perspective, till this summer. I would have never considered sex toys like the pink dragon vibrator and naughty bunny dildo as serious design objects.

Just this past summer, my friend invited me to “Miko”, a sex shop, on Wickenden Street. I have to admit, at first, I was uncomfortable going inside the shop. As we walked around the store a friendly employee asked if we needed any help or information about the products. My friend asked a question, “So what’s the difference between this vibrator and that one?” She replied, “It depends on what type of pleasure you want” I was shocked. Each sex toy is specifically designed for one’s size and desires? The vibrator is actually a sophisticated and complex object. It is not only designed to give a person pleasure, it is also designed to suit a person’s specific needs. We had a long conversation with the employee about high technology vibrators that can be hooked to an i-pod or a karaoke machine and sing to feel different pleasure when the pitch changes.

That same night, I went home and did some research about sex toy design. Vibrators have gone through a long evolution, now they are compact and have fascinating features for better and varying effects. Vibrators no longer look like medical devices packaged inside a medical case. They are well considered, and often look like the penis with a rubber exterior texture for a cleaner and better feel. The designer who created the first vibrator obviously did not think of its aesthetic quality. Early versions of the vibrator look like a vacuum cleaner or a weapon in from medieval times. Though technology in the 1970’s was not advanced enough to create smaller vibrators, the designs could have appeared less awkward. It is the designers’ job to study the user group and design to fit the user group’s personality and needs.

I wonder how bizarre it would have been in the 1970’s if industrial design had sex toy production. If people were outspoken about the situation of sexual desires, the vibrator could have been designed sooner and could have even become a better technology today. When the vibrator was first introduced, it was to reduce manual labor for doctors but have the same effect at a faster pace. In the 21st century vibrator means more than a treatment to gratify women’s satisfaction. The vibrator is used to upgrade a couple’s sexual relationship and improve certain medical conditions that restrain sexual feelings. Diabetics and patients who undergo Caesarean section and sclerosis have lower nerve transmission then an average healthy person, which decreases sexual arousal. Patients with high blood pressure, patients suffering from depression and women experiencing menopause feel less nerve on their clitoris, leaving the only option to use a medical device- a vibrator that relieves stress.

Reference

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/article4032852.ece

http://www.ezilon.com/articles/articles/1519/1/A-History-of-the-Vibrator