Paladin the Talking Lamp

P A L A D I N

P H I L I P P A

A B B O T T

p r e f a c e : c a p a b i l i t i e s

There was a show on Scottish TV in the 70s called Glen Michael’s Cavilcade. A Scottish dude who showed you funny films and pictures and stuff. Throughout the show he would talk to a lamp named Paladin. Paladin said things like “this is how potatoes are formed”.The animated object. The know-ing object. The object with a voice.

paladin

P A L A D I N

T H E T A L K I N G L A M P

I N D U S T R I A L D E S I G N

P R E M A J O R

P H I L I P P A

A B B O T T

“the transactions between people and the things they create constitute a central aspect of the human condition… In the last quarter of the twentieth century we have the dubious privalege of seeing both the beginnings of the human romance with things, in the distant past, and also its possible end, in the all too immenent future.” [preface ix:Czikszentmihalyi & Rochberg-Halton]

contents

contents 5preface: capabilities 6

1. introduction project proposal 31 learning contract 342. design rationale & method 39 interview template 47 3. design strategy 52 abstract critque 63 4.storytelling of objects 73 design anthropology 75 scripting behaviour 77 data & meaning 79 comparison 87 reflection & design ideas 945. technology 1226. design outcomes 155

conclusion 183appendices 186

“Every object tells a story if you know how to read it” [Henry Ford]


preface:

philippa abbott: capabilities


I have a holistic design approach focusing on systematic eco-design and community oriented solutions. I am skilled at cultural analysis and developing context specific solutions that address social complexities as well as traditional design parameters. I am enthusiastic, hardworking, friendly, trustworthy and outgoing. I work well under high levels of pressure in foreign situations, have a high level of initiative and am capable of working efficiently with no supervision. I really enjoy materiality, nature, artistic response, creative concepts, problem solving, lateral thinking, engineering and project management.

I am an innovative thinker. This makes me advantageous within forums of various design streams and am confident at communicating and liaising at all levels. I am passionate. I believe in what I am doing and it is fuelled by social and environmental complex motivations. I really enjoy working with other people. I am outspoken and have excellent written and verbal communication skills. I want to be challenged by others and be challenging to them.


I am an asset because I am highly versatile. I draw together seemingly incoherent and intangible elements and considerations to create an in depth analysis, process, communication package, concept design and pragmatic result which are embedded in ecologic. These skills can be adapted to any project within any environment.


My motivation is deeply rooted in the social discourses of consumerism, disparity and environmental sustainability and I am driven by the belief there is a necessity for an overhaul within society to construct new methods of living. I see a key aspect of this understanding as redefining our relationships, structures and interaction with our environment and creating avenues to live differently as part of our ecology.

I completed a degree in Cultural Studies that informs me continually on methods of analysing social phenomena. This background mixed with extensive travel, has made me particularly curious about the fundamentals of people and has integrated to become a unique insight into cultures, interaction and social systems. Travelling is the most formative experience for me and gives more insight, observational depth, connection to people and the environment than any other.


Throughout my Industrial Design degree I have developed a style of interview and research technique, I look under and around things. My experts may not have degrees. This technique was developed in community consultation in the Diabetes project when researching the everyday personal experience of the diabetic. This was furthered in Vietnam in the housing design facilitation process, and was developed to a high level of confidence with villagers, corporate directors, activists, NGO representatives, peers and residence of the Ramapir No Tekro slum in Ahmedabad, India.


In India I developed a modelling method that maps the information and identifies key design intervention points. This deliverable was met with considerable praise by the teaching staff at NID and proclaimed by Professor Ranjan MP as the most innovative modelling method for tracing design concepts and concerns that he had seen in the last ten years of teaching the subject. This has been very helpful as a method for assessing whether design skills can be of use for a community and if so where and how.


Conceptually I enjoy sketching and find it the best method to set out ideas quickly; along with mind maps this is my usual brainstorm technique. Mind maps are particularly helpful to work out useability, and elements to a design process. These methods have been developed for greater organisation and communication through out my degree.

bushfire bunker


I enjoy the problem solving, engineering and lateral thinking involved to turn an idea and a set of parameters into a tangible outcome. I also enjoy the project management to turn ideas into physicality’s such as sourcing, costing, testing, and working out the nitty gritty details. In the Live House studio we had many layers of constraints and it was really interesting to combine these to create a live outcome.


Each project has been communicated in various ways. Graphically through poster series, concept sketches, technical drawings, CAD and website design. I really enjoy creating interesting graphics. In the LiveHouse studio we presented for 5 weeks new concepts, this developed both drawing and mock-up skills. In recycle wallah we had an exhibition of our work at NID that graphically conveyed complex ideas in an interesting and inspiring manner. Through presenting various projects I have developed an ability to convey ideas using Acrobat Professional, Prezi or Microsoft Outlook for live presentations.

Throughout my degree I have used CAD to communicate the pragmatic aspects of an idea; examples of this are using these drawings to get the Live House cart fabricated; giving drawings to lab assistants to create a laser cut model of a bookshelf design; creating various prototypes from technical drawings. I have advanced computer skills including Microsoft Office, Adobe Suite CS3, Solidworks 2008; and design understanding of Flash, Rhino, 3d Max and Autocad.


I have fabrication and model making skills with metal, wood, bone, plastics and biopolymers. Within the Live House studio we constructed a collapsible mobile space (which could fit through a doorway), which served to house a radio station, seated interview area, and projection cinema. The Aquaponics project at CERES was very hands on and involved learning basic landscaping/ building, construction technique. In Building the Community I learnt how to make architectural models.


In the past two years I have been involved with two development projects with two NGOs in India and Vietnam. I believe design is a key tool in dealing with disparity globally. Building the Community in Vietnam involved a multidisciplinary team of architecture, landscape, property management, construction and interior students. My particular role evolved to be implementing design process and development with cultural understanding as a priority and practical solutions for that community by that community. Creating ways of designing as social facilitation via consistent community consultation throughout the whole process. Creating a constructive global/local exchange through open communication, resulting in a collaboration of skills by using local materials and sourcing local suppliers and harnessing traditional techniques and knowledge.

In 2007 the outcome River House revolved around the sense of community for the residents through a spatial layout that clearly layered the public, semi public and private zones; the farm and incorporating of local farmers was an objective that both integrated residents into the community and provided a method of economic survival and sustenance. The house had decentralised energy, sanitation and water for independence of the residents; also to deal with issues of environmental damage in the Hoi An area due to poor infrastructure and expensive energy. We also recommended that the construction of foreign design elements were run as a set of workshops with local labourers to be a catalyst for sharing of skills within the community.




The designs I create are concerned with integrating sustainable solutions. This has many facets, in India in the Recycle Wallah project; the outcome was a loan scheme for rickshaw riders, a workshop to redesign them within the slum and an adapted design to lower exertion by an estimated 30%. The loan scheme was concerned with empowering the residents through a payback scheme for the redesigned rickshaw. Each rickshaw is loaned from a “middle man” for 20 rupees a day (earning about 100 rupees/day), however each rickshaw costs 6500 rupees to buy, hence it became clear the middle man was taking considerable advantage of the rickshaw wallahs. Even with the rickshaw redesign the social systems that it was part of would continue the disempowerment and loss of livelihood for the wallahs and their families. The payback scheme was set up by the NGO Manav Sadhna who would buy the rickshaws then the drivers would pay 20 rupees/day as a loan repayment without interest. In this way they could pay back and own in about 11 months.

The creation of a workshop addressed another observation. Realising that the wallahs themselves who rode these bicycles everyday were experts in the design of their vehicle. Providing a place and the tools to continue design facilitation within the slum so that the design could evolve as much as possible to suit those who used the rickshaws everyday. The rickshaw redesign looked to keep the cost of fabrication at the previous level and change small elements for the greatest impact; it is easily replicable and easy to source. The changes we prototyped were sealed bearings; addition of simple spring suspension; a shorter wheel base (through shortening the chain, bringing the centre of gravity forward and shortening the chassis); a stronger connection point between the cycle and the cart; replacing the breaks and replacing the heavy wood in the tray with a light, shockproof and strong aluminium mesh. Viren B Joshi then revised this prototype after testing settling on most of the changes bar the aluminium mesh.



The scheme has been initiated by Viren B Joshi from Manav Sadhna in March 2008 and 120 rickshaws have been given out so far with a pay back rate of 99.8% (with no special effort), some paying extra to own their rickshaw quicker.


I have consistently taken an environmentally beneficial perspective to every project. From building a solar cooker and passive solar heating panel to designing the plumbing for a large scale Aquaponics project. In Vietnam I was part of two groups, which designed houses with environmental priority. In 2007 River House included reed bed sanitation, solar panels, water collection, self-sufficient permaculture (with excess to sell), natural thermal management, vertical green landscapes and locally sourced materials and labour.


In 2008 The Living House further developed a holistic approach via a multileveled composting systems as a business model for fertiliser sales and a water filtration system to create potable water.Both these projects were working with multidisciplinary teams in foreign environments and both involved extensive discussion and reformulation of concepts according to many underlying issues in extremely short time frames – I am good at working under pressure in challenging circumstances. I really enjoy working with diverse groups of people and believe it is fundamental to a creative design process.


I have developed as a writer, to create passionate and substantiated positions to address aspects of design philosophy, ethics and critical studies. Such writing topics include retail therapy and the language of things; genetic design and corporatisation of crops; a report on design opportunities in remote Indian communities; renewable energy and new innovation in solar materials, design brief and scoping documents and many others. I have extensive use of various blogging systems and have used these to continue learning and commenting in forums about design. Such projects include LeanToo, Recycle Wallah, Wet Dreams: Living Machines, History of Design.


I enjoy communicating concerns and opinions in artistic ways. Within the oxen studio my outcome queried the place of technology in developing contexts and Aid through producing a bowl of soil as a design recommendation. Within the Nomad studio I used various craft techniques to tell a story of displacement and the origins of design. In the Elective Wet Dreams: Living Machines I explored materials such as human bone as art to

question the way in which we approach appropriate materials and taboo and the way in which we abstract ourselves from source and use. In a 2nd year multimedia presentation I used spoken word, image and music to deconstructed the system of engagement with the aid image by us as the consumer; and the embedded process of guilt, illusions and living room politics.


In a Projection Elective I created a three-minute artistic animation using Google earth images, with overlays of landscapes and urban environments to engage with beauty, abstraction, nature, civilisation and disorder. I enjoy making abstract sculptures from wood; I like reclaiming bits of construction timber and recreating them as organic shapes that display textuality and their natural design. I created a bookshelf from an abstract drawing as an artistic response to first arriving in India in 2008. In a form study exercise, I learnt traditional Rajastani braiding to create an amoebic 3d shape, to then put in a poster questioning who in fact was the amoeba – the definite formless form. I love drawing, painting and enjoy creating abstract reflection. I also do life drawing to develop drawing skills that focus on the way the body interacts with objects.

Art is the as balancing factor. An expression without parameter and unguided reflection on all the rest.


Through highly developed research and interview technique I create an in depth understanding of the context of a design brief. I then translate this into a concept and design process by collaborating, talking, information modelling, mind mapping, writing, and sketching. Through graphics, multimedia, fabrication, CAD, presentations, social strategy and artistic response I communicate insightful concepts and design solutions.

C H A P T E R 1

I N T R O D U C T I O N

P R O J E C T

P R O P O S A L

p a l a d i n . t h e . t a l k i n g . l a m p

introduction

It is chaptered by various aspects of this vision: my proposal, my approach, social research method and outcomes, what materials and processes I will explore and forming design ideas. Intermingled throughout are pieces of writing that relate to, however are tangential from this design process. These are insights into driving passion of the designs and the continuing development of the project.

This thesis explores the way in which I want to go about my major project for Industrial Design. It came at a point of redefining how I see myself as a designer as I go through this rite of passage to be unleashed on the world. It is an exploration of communicating what is important to me and integrating social responses with ecological action through design. I am making a series of objects however more importantly I am trying to understand the nature of objects and how as a designer of objects I will venture forward with an underpinning ecological imperative.

i n t r o d u c t i o n

People love things!!!We all love things so much we are killing the planet… Yet doom and gloom will not save us, it’s good for the initial shock [ ahh, world is dying] however then becomes a little tired and paralyzing. Positivity, community and good stuff will.This is a campaign project about environmental sustainability and sustainable consumerism. Through the research and process of making things I wish to highlight and realign the attachment of meaning for a few chosen objects. I want to add to an ongoing conversation about sustainability and meaning within the home.People love things! If you can inspire people with an object, this can insight or add to conversations, transitions in thinking and behaviour change.

how is your project a campaign project?


A series of objects for the living room.

what am I making?


Exploring the meaning of things within the home through interviewing people about their things. From this, designing with certain behaviours in mind to explore getting, keeping and getting rid of.Ecologically innovative in material and process: reuse and new materials. Form driven by the nature of material. Non-disposable, bio-degradable or organic. Scripting with certain behaviour/human interaction to be determined through the research process.

what attributes define this series of objects?


The Learning contract is an opportunity to set out my expectations of myself throughout my final year of study and communicate this to my peers and teacher. These expectations are the knowledge and experience I want to explore as well as the skills I want to develop. It is clearly stating the outcomes I wish to achieve and intricately describing the way in which I will achieve them.

learning contract


cloud computing

Through cloud computing I wish to create online content, discussion with absolute transparency, creating an online identity. Through the online blog I will research into contemporary design discourses and comment on sustainability, innovation and current trends. I wish to develop my critical thinking and writing skills whilst expressing views and opinions in design philosophy and cultural theory; sustainability and current issues. The blog will act to facilitate discussion on design issues and assessment by my peers. I want to use the blog to illustrate the process and formulation of my major project and to construct an online design identity.

There are various skills I wish to hone through this, administration, communication, writing and knowledge. Through online administration I will be using web tools effectively so that they are a catalyst for online communication with a level of speed and ease. I want to develop an easy and interesting writing style and explore design in all its forms to formulate a more intricate understanding of design and sustainable consumerism. This will be carried out continually through the year.


blackboard

Using Black board as an online classroom and interaction with other students and teacher. Black board has multifaceted use, firstly for updates, discussion and questions. Using blackboard to voice queries, have conversations with other students, seeing what other students are talking about outside of class time as well as keeping up to date with notifications. Secondly it is a gateway to relevant resources. Thirdly, to digitally hand in assignments. Fourthly, keeping track of attendance and grades.The practices I wish to further develop are organisation and keeping up to date with requirements and learning to use an online educational system. Also, researching my project using online design resources. Lastly group communication skills, interacting within the class, communicating at all points of the journey rather than through one class per week.


design process: research

I intend to conduct my research in various ways to understand peoples‘ associations with objects. Through interviews and visual documentation of people and their living space I wish to gain insight into personal experiences, then analyse this information in a comparative study. This will be supported with academic resources including online resources, books and articles. I want to research into innovation in sustainable consumerism; finding precedents and thinkers on the way forward to a sustainable consumer economy.

Also looking at popular culture and reflections of the personification of the object.Another method of research is by interaction through a series of design exercises. Talking with people in relaxed social settings, discussing and hearing opinions about things, people and the environment. These research objectives are to further develop in method and interaction to inform my design process. Through contacting and organising interviews with people, communicating intent and conducting interviews I wish to be approachable and establishing friendly working relationships.

I want to better my academic research, critical analysis skills and writing through clear and coherent, interesting and accessible pieces. Whilst drawing observations/knowledge from a wide type and range of resources, gaining a complex understanding of the elements of my project and the social/environmental considerations. This will develop a design methodology in which I can model information in a clear, concise and in depth manner. This process will formulate insightful conclusions about people and objects from drawing together this data, which will be collated in my thesis document at the end of May 2009.


design process: design development

My design development will be through out the year however majorly in the 2nd Semester. I will do rapid sketching and jotting of ideas throughout this semester. Engaging with materiality, finishing of folio pieces– making beautiful looking things. Looking into technology, particularly innovative ecological materials and processes through researching, sourcing and testing. Creating concept drawings and visual communication of parameters and interesting solutions. These will inform design scenarios - fully worked concepts with logistical considerations, which will create a fully worked design concept. From this I will do a series of models, and technical drawings if necessary. The conclusion of this process will be the fabrication of the final prototypes.

This is to further skills in creative thinking and exploring the absurd and then communicating it. Learning to communicate quickly ideas and solutions via sketching, visually communicate to inspire and entice people with associations of the object. Completing tangible outcomes, I need to learn to finish things off, see them through rather than moving on to the next thing and further develop my fabrication and model making skills. How to critically engage and be creative making objects; thus aesthetic development and appreciation in my own work. Finally furthering knowledge and use in ecologically innovative materials, their uses and sustainable design process.

C H A P T E R 2

D E S I G N

R A T I o N A l E &

M E T H o D

r e s e a r c h . m e t h o d

this is a Campaign project…

“the transactions between people and the things they create constitute a central aspect of the human condition… In the last quarter of the twentieth century we have the dubious privalege of seeing both the beginnings of the human romance with things, in the distant past, and also its possible end, in the all to immenent future.” [preface ix:Czikszentmihalyi & Rochberg-Halton]

d e s i g n . s t r a t e g y


My objective is to explore the meaning of possessions and the dynamics involved in how we associate with things on a day to day basis. Interviewing people about the things in their living room to find out about how meaning creation with possessions works and identifying behaviour patterns that can add to discourses on the designer’s role in sustainable consumption.

Conceptually I wish to explore changing object associations as a function of time, intention, materiality and space. The idea that all objects are usually related to us in the short time period which is our “use” however have a whole story before and after. Of how they came to be and what they are to become. This incorporates the life cycles of objects, and the inscribed behaviour patterns of getting, keeping and turfing.


My objective within the research process is to find out what people keep and why, how the construction of self through things occurs, and are we likely to keep stuff with more meaning? What are these meanings and can they be scripted? What is important to people in their living space. I will answer these questions by learning using a technique called visual sociology. I will support this storytelling of objects with age old and new cultural truthes - critical theories, design precedent and and philosophy. Simultaneously developing a critical as well as an emotional understanding of the way people associate with the things they surround themselves with.

storytelling through objects…

‘storytelling through objects’ harks back to a time gone by. Of oral history in traditional societies, of sitting around a campfire, of passing on knowledge from one person to the next. Within this process is an innate symobology, that the perception and telling is fundamental to the history of a thing or a people. This constructs identity and only through verbal communication – only with the passing of perception with information does the true nature of things become clear. The idea of this cycle is attractive and calming, reconnecting with the pre-industrial and human interaction. Of speaking of stories and meaning, of history being entirely personal.

storytelling through objects


the living room?

I think the basic purpose of interacting and relaxing in a small community that one lives with and their immediate circle is a timeless function of humans. There has always been a space, a tent, a banda.


“You are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Basically, civilization needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades.”

visual sociology

By carrying out interviews & visual documentation of living rooms in Melbourne I will be creating narratives through the storytelling of objects.

“Every object tells a story if you know how to read it” [Henry Ford]


the storytellers

Finding the story of things and thus constructing the owner. I want the interview process to really create the objects as a journey and be as intimate as possible. So I am going to interview friends and family to create a close, near and dear discussion and to explore various dynamics within an anchored cluster of people, to see the differences in such a close circle. The interviews are to take place in the storyteller’s living room, giving however much time is needed to get through the objects and the related stories. I imagine many things will take tangents into other experiences or people and so I want to allow this to flourish as much as possible. This story will be accompanied by still photograph of the living room, and the things within it.


annotated Interview questions

General demographic: This is to develop a sense of economic, social and cultural factors to be able to better understand the object conversations.How many people live here? What do you do? How long have you lived there? What were the circumstances of moving in? Why this place?

Quality of living: How they feel about their house and their living room and how they interact with the space.What is it like living here? What is your favourite aspect of the living room? Where do you spend most of your time? What do you do in your living room (watch TV, read, sit, internet, eat, laugh, play games)? What is your favourite activity in the living room? What do you not like in your living room?

Stories of objects: Sentimentality, meaning, inspiration and history. What is it? Where did it come from? Is there anything specific about it: feeling/memory?

Object reflection: Finding out what things have the most conscious meaning for people and how.What is your favourite object? Why? What sense do you use to associate with it? For instance do you: look at it and remember a time; talk about it to others and retell a story; touch it and remember how the story it anchors you to made you feel; smell it to remind you of a time and a place? What is the newest and the oldest thing in here?


Stories of use: This is to explore how often the space is changed and how. How often do you rearrange the room? What do you touch the most? [sculpture, tv remote, couch]. Does one person rearrange it? Do you change anything around or put anything away when guests come to visit?

Reconnecting with play: When we are kids we only choose to interact with things we enjoy.What was your favourite toy when you were a kid? How did you interact with it? [Did you take it everywhere, did you hold it, reconstruct it, create a home for it etc].

Perception Exercise: This is to explore the different reactions to things and space.Why do we keep stuff? Would you prefer an empty room without anything in it (if you could not leave anything in it) or no room at all?


Voice recorder, notepad, laptop and digital camera. Photograph settings: matrix of objects or clusters of things. Furniture as defined as ‘The movable articles in a room or an establishment that make it fit for living or working’.

tools outcomes

Visual narrative (photo and word) exploring how people live and use their living room through the objects that are in it and the way in which they interact with them. Create a booklet (B5) of the interview transcript and photos of each living room and things.

Comparison and ReflectionWritten reflection on each home and interview and from this draw any design conclusions. I will also perform a comparative analysis of the living rooms and stories of objects, and from this a model that visually displays meaning and object patterns.


insights

From this process I want to gain insight into the personal experiences of developing connections with objects and how this creates individual and community identity. “Examining the role of the object in people’s definition of who they are, of who they have been and who they wish to become” [preface ix:Czikszentmihalyi & Rochberg-Halton]. Identifying trends in meaning, how one associates with certain things, and why they keep them. Then connecting this to the sustainability discourse through linking material cycles and attaching ecologic value within the home.

inspire!

I hope to engage and inspire people through designing a series of objects for the living room, exploring the idea of scripting behaviour through design and artisitc response to issues. Reflecting on a thoughtful level about sustainablity and connecting the user to an object through inspiring material and form. Understanding why people keep things is an entry point into sustainable consumerism and exploring possibilities of using design to script behaviour which is characterised by ecologic.


parameters of the objects

The research and development I wish to do to explore possiblities of materiality and design ideas for making a series of objects.This research plan is to develop understanding and skills I believe is necessary and inspiring to embark on my major project in second semester. This will form in a half/half split of research [reading, interviews, interaction, sourcing] and creative development [making, sketching, graphic communication].

characteristics of the objects

Non disposable: Scripting meaning. Sentimentality - why do we keep things? Avenues to create close looped waste cycles. Hand me downs, passed on and other non throw away items. Ecologically innovative in materials and process. Exploring innovative manufacturing companies and products who are creating new ways of recycling plastics. Bamboo and uses, waste craft, organic and biodegradeable materials and form. Lifecycle Assessment (Centre for Design). Provacative & Playful: Giving life to the object. Sketching. Life drawing. Making exercises.

development of skills

Insight. Interviewing. Conceptualisation. Sketching. Play. Making. Interacting. Focusing creativity. Writing. Fun.

C H A P T E R 3

D E S I G N

S T R A T E G Y


For my pre-major project my design strategy deals with personal philosophy and how I will action it to create a series of objects. The design process looks at the research and development stage of this project and the way in which I intend to deliver insights that will give insight and help construct my design outcomes. The unique difference within the project is me; my origins, my motivation and how this is integrated into the design process. This project is part of an ongoing process of exploring sustainability within objects we use in our daily practice within the home.

My practice is concerned with how I construct the design outcomes to engage with sustainable consumerism and personal association with objects. This is in terms of genre, work, context and artistic expression. This culminates in my work being located within the realm of referential design, via exploring the status quo within the home and how this behaviour can be constructed as a product of time and materiality. My approach is through form and highlighting materials, textualities and storytelling.

design strategy: introduction


Functionality becomes incidental, usability becomes paramount through the fluidity of use beyond the set timeframe of the individual living room. The object is given a life, the user-defined function is only a stage.


philosophy ‘philosophia, ‘love of wisdom’.perception‘the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory information’.

My project is seated in reflection on human nature, western hyper-consumption and the desire to realign behaviours and our associations to things to live sustainably. Humans need to reconnect to become part of a working ecological system. At the moment we do not and this is the primary factor in climate change – our want for things without consideration beyond our own use. Two characteristic flaws are apparent relating to this premise in our current context.

Firstly, every output from household, infrastructure and industry does not become another input or “food” for another element within the system – this creates waste. Secondly, that the material origins of all things/services/constructed environment are either a mine, oil well, or gas field making all things energy intensive and unsustainable. Socially, consumption has been abstracted from material source and process so runs rampant without anchor. Necessity has become socially relative thus thus a constantly shifting amoeba.


I am interested in taking part in social discourses that use beauty and things to proactively engage with these apocalyptical origins. Exploring and questioning the way we do things and interact with our environment are important. For a sustainable future, individual behaviour change is essential as part of a community, city and globe. A key factor in this is transitions in collective thought to design new ways of living. I see this facilitated in community initiatives, social innovation, and eco design.

Good design is a creative response to a defined problem. Good design is facilitation of needs and desires. Good design is innovative with conscious – just because it’s new doesn’t make it good. Good design insights. Good design incites. Good design inspires. Good design is pleasurable. Good design is useful. Good design communicates its purpose. Good design is ecologically frugal – in production & use. Good design is socially thoughtful & responsible. Good design is reached through understanding & insight. Good design engages on many different levels. Good design creates no waste. Good design is cyclic in material use and process. Good design is beautiful in its implications as well as its form.


action ‘Is what an agent can do.’ ‘it involves an intention, a goal and organised activity to accomplish an objective.’

My action is to create a series of objects that engage the user in time, function, materiality, waste and personal connections to things.


design process ‘Originating and developing a plan for a product, structure, system or component with intention.’

The purpose of this project is to engage in conversations about realigning people’s views of sustainability and things. The method of this is exploring attachments to objects in personal environments and also tracing materials from the home and embedding them within the lifecycle of function. Also, exploring their properties as possible characteristics for personal association. This is by locating within the personal space of the living room, doing interviews in homes and creating a narrative of people through their things.

Simultaneously researching commonly disposed household items, industrial waste product, material innovations; and exploring form and the aesthetic with this waste. This technology component will focus on waste craft, composite materials made from waste, manufactured recycled materials and reuse.Through the living room interviews I learnt a lot about the transitions of objects, accompanied by a common behaviour and similar situations of how objects move in, out and act within these spaces. For instance disposable things tended to be function based, hand me downs were value based, passing on of items were prioritised by useability.


Difference ‘the contrary of equality, in particular of objects… can only be stated on the basis of a comparison or categorization…only relevant or defining attributes are used for stating equality or difference.’

What makes this project distinct is me, how my perceptions have been digested to form motivation through my experience and context. My approach to design is informed greatly by extensive travel, a cultural studies degree, and an everyday life surrounded by so many things. I have had quite a negative critique of society, however this was tested through going to India and seeing necessity on such a large scale and such rapid development contrasted with such poverty levels. I believe that Western driven consumerism needs to create a paradigm shift in regards to sustainability. We have greater responsibility because of better quality of living. I want to engage with the design of things as previously I had concentrated on system design. I was tired of ranting and wanted to enjoy making things,

Re-engaging with the creative design process. At this time I am constructing myself as a designer entering into the professional world very soon so how one facilitates and creates this is paramount to this project. The material I have been connecting with is critical theories, eco-design, and people in their homes.Within RMIT Industrial Design there is a strong sense of social responsibility as a designer and reflecting on the environmental disparity of the Western world. This education has created a keen sense of exploring things and people in a system, observations of use and personal experience and engaging with this to design specific to context. The outcomes from this are service, system and object rather than product and branding with a rigorous approach of looking at all facets and impacts for people and the environment of design.


Campaign ‘organized effort toward specific goals’

Project ‘originally meant “something that comes before anything else happens”.’

The campaign is exploring ways of living and addressing sustainability at the perceptive level within the home. The scripted behavior is realigning meaning of things with not only individual however also environmental conversations about connecting to origins of materials and processes. The approach is exploring technology and simultaneously analyzing personal relationships with things. By modeling this information creating design intervention points and a systematic way of thinking about cultural observations.


Practice ‘The ongoing pursuit of a craft or profession’

Practice can be divided into genre, work, art and context. The genre is eco-design and lifecycle assessment and the characteristics of the outcomes can be viewed by the set of parameters earlier in this writing on what I though good design is. The composition is the juxtaposition of different behavioral elements and their function of time reflected in materiality and function of space. The objects are defined by materials, textuality and aesthetic engagement with beauty and waste.

I suppose the artistic reflection is about beauty in substance and of heightened engagement with an object with incidental tangible functionality. Exploring time as a narrative of things, transient function and association. I like the idea of story telling and the oral history, that this harks back to traditional cultures and the passing of information from person to person. Also personifying the object, function being an incident of this, a fluid and transient construction before performing another – of waste, of soil, of poison, of tonnage, of other use.


Positioning‘creating an identity in the minds of a target market.’of work ‘The effort applied to produce a deliverable or accomplish a task.’

I would like to say that my work is revolutionary however it is not. It is explorin avenues of thinking by observing at people and things around me. It is a referential project as it is constructing from this in a poetic manner. It does not engage through decisively changing the individual’s way of life. By planting seeds it is hoping to create a conscious shift in behavior to create sustainability.

Approach ‘to make advances to especially in order to create a desired result’.‘to take preliminary steps toward accomplishment or full knowledge or experience of.’

My approach is situated within the sphere of sustainable design. Within form I am juxta-positioning waste material with the aesthetic of value/beauty, through senses of sight and touch. The usability refers to time frames and how long it will be used for in current state - what happens to it next? The connection within usability is about comfort and giving the object a past. The function of this series of objects has deliberately remained amorphic, to create the function as incidental. The innovation is within the nature of the method and drawing of insights to design from; and the exploration of materials.


abstract critical thinking

“If you look hard enough – you can see everything. If you look closely enough at a thing, you can figure out how to make it, or how to fashion something just like it, or how to create something better. The circle is complete and the world is self-enclosed; reality has reproduced itself through the catalyst of human perception and manipulation, returning to itself in a reorganized perfect manner.”

….Take this concept with a breadth of cultural contact and use it to imbue an object with qualities of self and of art and of place…. This is a plethora of sensory and learnt with accessibility to infinite amounts (of exotic and sameness) whilst very much being right here.

If one can use an object as the culmination of cultural examination and the transitions in perception, insight and motivation… if as social patterns occur these are ridden upon to create and bring forth an object as a symbol of time through form and function.


Necessity drives design… money and nature have defined a need. Economic crisis and climate change are this need. Creative expression can instigate a network of solutions, through inspiring and experiencing.


Materials and process provide a platform for expression. Use becomes a functionality of culture. Culture is a snowball of combined use and interaction. The ball rolls on. A moment in time one can grab and add something and with it attachments and thought.Using materials that have already had a purpose and function, relocating them within a new context. Making them into something else. Attaching them with new meaning. Making them special again. They are then tagged at two points in the cycle of culture and of life. Simultaneously harking to a time before and the present. Hindsight may lead to foresight....


In the living room we sit and wait. We wait for an unknown, the precipice of everyday life and the cycle of meaning. time is unsure. Time is running out… things are taking too long… where did the time go. I had a good time.what time is it? IT has many meters….each unit may define a different reality… minutes, meals, boredom, happiness, work, life, giving, heartbeats, seasons.…we live our life by clocks. What should the units be? May a clock represent life by measuring by the things we love? What governs our life? the living room is a getaway, it is a sharing place, it is a caring place to be with family. It is for playing in, joking in. It holds the television…maybe it isn’t a caring place. Insighting by ITS method and function to create a window into another world. Effectively removing the connection to the events on the screen to the view and thus the people.


“the dutch world is essentially interior. It mirrors, maps and paints reality as it is so it makes sense to the observer who is already in that reality.”

Australia is an interior; it is a microcosm folding back on itself on a net of global connections, spewed out as a spider web to attach to the things near, known with distance and most structurally sound. There is a really big bug in the web… it weighs it down… it is what we want to eat however inedible because unmanageable… we keep reassessing and spinning, around and around, creating more supports, creating complexities that blur the pattern of the web….

Until we have lost our very selves in our work and made our work nothing. Use without function or form. It no longer matters whether the bug is tied up, stored and eaten or rips itself carelessly free…. Bugs can’t do that.. this one might.


Time is a spatial relationship with your space; at certain times you are in certain places. In certain places you do certain things. Iconography? A fear of death? It is ticking away… ever closer.


pyro-neandethal

‘In Western cultures the broad stages of history are marked by the kind of objects people could make…From this perspective the evolution of humankind thus tends to be measured not by gains in intellect, morality, and wisdom; the benchmarks of progress have to do with our ability to fashion things of every greater complexity in increasing numbers.” [ The Meaning of things: Domestic symbols and the self. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi & Eugene Rochberg-Halton. Cambridge Press: 1981. preface:ix]

This is interesting when thinking about the way in which we create our civilisation and ourselves. If one thinks of great designs and the periods that came directly after, it is indicative to say that the tools available to a people are incredible catalysts for the growth of civilisation and thus the gains in intellect, morality and wisdom. That in fact without life getting more comfortable the growth of the human consciousness could not be as such.

For example - fire. The period after man controlled fire saw massive increases in technology and knowledge. His health improved as he could cook and preserve things; his creativity and taste changed as he developed different methods to cook by; what and the way he hunted changed as he could preserve the gain; most animals were scared of fire and so it was protection; also these prehistoric people could be warm.


However most importantly he had artificial, controlled light. That is, the day was no longer curbed to only a few activities (sleeping, bumping into things and procreating) as it had in the pre-fire era. More time, easing of necessity, warmth and light conspired to give time to develop the mental faculties. There was more time for communication (rock paintings, language development, visual interpretation). There was more time to develop nets, coats, and tools. There was more time for internal curiosity, because although there was light, it was within a set domestic environment – sensations and external wonderment was not an option as they were still in the dark. Memory, visualisation and communication were to be the instigation of wonderment. Faculties outside hunting and gathering were fostered.

Did the first anonymous inventor understand the historical, lifestyle and world changing implications of his invention? I am sure he did, whilst also not really caring because it was of use to him right then. I can not be sure of the altruistic tendencies of the Neanderthal…This is incredibly portant for today. We are in different circumstance and are defining different needs. These needs are context specific and explore different threats and gains. However well placed design, is a trigger for a whole new engagement with everyday life. If design methodology can map and identify key design points then this acts to engage the designer in a series of consequences.


Yet the experience of the individual within their environment can be the most critical design phase. As the exploration into the nuances of everyday life culminate in bending these systems of use ever so slightly to trigger a solution or a new appraised need. Defining greater implications may be inspiring to our ego, and it is important for an economic and policy system; it is also valuable in history when tracing the drop down effect - however it is not absolute to the making and satisfactory use of the object.

After basking in the light of a man made fire what happened next? The organisation of this young prehistoric man or woman may have been just right so he showed his family and friends, who showed their family and friends; or his entrepreneurial skills my have been just so that he secretly went about starting fires for people and basking in the tradeable qualities; or his neighbour spied and stole the technique. Which ever way the spread occurred, it occurred.

Context and need were just so, that it spread to become an absolute, a fundamental - neither a luxury or a dream but an anthropological fact of human existence. The pyro-Neanderthal may have realised the implications of his invention for his community, the world and the future – maybe before it was a motivation and maybe after it was a ‘wow, this is rather handy - I wonder what else you could use it for?’ I doubt any thought of the snowball effect to slow suffocation of the earth would have entered his mind. These considerations are interesting however not absolute to the creation of fire.

The design came from a user, an idea, a need, patience, two sticks, rotation and friction... All in just the right amounts to create a spark.


“In the last quarter of the twentieth century we have the dubious privilege of seeing both the beginnings of the human romance with things, in the distant past, and also its possible end, in the all too imminent future. For the first time in history there is increasing awareness that the resources of energy that have fuelled material expansion are finite and that their desperate pursuit threatens the continuation of life on the planet. The modern culture of materialism, or the belief that the ultimate goals of personal life can be fulfilled by things and sensations, is losing credibility in the face of facts. It is not merely ideology but accumulating empirical evidence that forces us to re- evaluate our relationship with objects. Whether human kind will heed the evidence and respond to it adaptively by redirecting is goals is perhaps the most important question for our survival.”[ The Meaning of Things: Domestic symbols and the self. Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi & Eugene Rochberg-Halton.Cambridge University Press; 1981.]

proliferation of objects: distinction is the silver lining?

This is a very curious environment to be in as a designer of things. Throughout my degree I have engaged with this discourse through the development as a designer of non-things. I have always been incredibly passionate and motivated by the necessity for change and a shift away from hyperconsumerism. This has been an incredibly interesting journey and has formulated many designs as system, facilitation, social comment or a hope for social change. Yet I seem to have lost where design is, or what it is, who I will be once I have worn a flat hat and been given a piece of paper.There is both a hypocrisy and ultimate problem in designing by an anti-consumerist ethic. A designer makes tools for living. It is a helpful and tangible role. If you are not making things that people can use, you are no longer a designer. This is a problem that I am engaging and developing a creative response to in my Industrial Design major project.

Design is not to be confused with the proliferation of objects that is hyper-consumerism and marketing. This refers to a three dimensional conversation that occurs as a construction of social hierarchy and identity politics. This proliferates due to the loss of direct communication and social structures due to popular culture and urban patterns of living.How does one separate what is a modern day design necessity and what is product proliferating social noise?

C H A P T E R 4

S T O R Y T E L L I N G

T H R O U G H

O B J E C T S

s t o r y t e l l i n g . t h r o u g h . o b j e c t s

introduction

I find the living room an interesting spot, it is semi private, however a social area. It has multiple functions particularly with technologies such as internet and laptops. I think the basic purpose of interacting and relaxing in a small community that one lives with and the immediate circle is a timeless function of humans. There has always been a space, a tent, a banda which acts as the living room. Sometimes it is just a chosen time of day and the one room acts as a living room for different group function.


How you adapt this to a culture that is familiar is more complex. You are trying to recognise your position as the outsider to something that is inherently inside, you are a very close part of this community. A focus on difference and recognising my perception as part of the study, whilst simultaneously observing with absolute tolerance, empathy and interest.

My research is storytelling of objects within the living room, and the way we associate with them as a function of time and space inherent to being human. I am interviewing friends and family so there is an absolute connection to the people and their space. Performing a self-analysis is also important to recognise how my own construction of reality through objects will fundamentally impact my understanding of other peoples.

“Perspective and reflection: Anthropology is about understanding the others point of view, trying to see the world through the eyes of the people studied .The anthropologist starts as an outsider, through fieldwork and participant observation s/he gradually obtains an insider perspective. From this combination of outsider and insider perspectives new understanding is born.Within participatory design the same process is happening in reverse. Through participation in the design activities and reflecting upon their own work practice users see themselves through the eyes of the designers hereby obtaining an outsider perspective. From this combined insider and outsider perspective they are able to conceive new ideas for future work practices. Design anthropology is a point of view: Not our (the designers) point of view not their (the users) point of view, but an additional point of view, a double perspective. “ [www.nwow.alexandra.dk/publikationer/Design_Anthropology.pdf]


design anthropology

Dr. Elizabeth ‘Dori’ Tunstall presented at the Design Victoria seminar, ‘The Human Side of Design – How design anthropology adds value’, in August 2008. This started me on a better understanding what design anthropology is.Basically design anthropology (or anthrodesign) “tries to combine making sense of what is there with remaking what is there into something new” [Design Anthropology – When opposites attract]. This involves ethnographic observation and recognising one’s own place in entering into a situation you intend to study and then formulating a design outcome that engages with an incident from this ethnography.

I think that this methodology reconstructs the design process in a fundamental way. As one is doing an anthropological study of a product, usability, cultural habit, space or service system it is beneficial to the outcome that it is not specified until analysis of information is performed. This is because the social patterns that are drawn out may in fact divert the most efficient, viable and successful concept away from the original interest. I mean that the research and development phase can become quite distinct rather than object driven before concept design starts.

I am really interested in the idea of design anthropology in contemporary Western society as a way of cutting through the heady weight of hyper-consumerist, globalist, economic and marketing discourses which have constructed so much of our unsustainable ways of living. I guess to make it about ways of living again, not constructions of symbols as a foreign and ethereal discourse however as anchor points for meaning to the person and the way they live.

d e s i g n . p r o j e c t s

scripting behaviour

Scripting behaviour within design, also called pursuasive technology or design with intent, refers to designing with a behaviour making constraint. This defines a ‘correct’ behaviour and then designs a product to benefit the user if this behaviour is followed. Warning bells go off for me already, as this is construct of power and control and has an even greater invisibility of the Panoptic (see Foucault). See work by Winner, Moses in landscape design (design a bench so homeless people cannot sleep on it).

I want to be a designer who is facillitator, I want to respond with tools to my environment and from this create something that has low negative impact or preferably positive impact - both socially and environmentally. All design is pursuasive [Lockton, Harrison & Stanton also see Redstrom] however the bridge to scripting behaviour [Akrich & Latour] is intersting. The precarious circumstance is majorly due to ‘coersion’ which is primarily in the form of advertisting and consumerist culture.Lockton, Harrison & Stanton identify the possibilities for social gain which are not incongruous with economic benefit - see the diagram above.


There is an element of scripting in most responsiible design, of how you respond favourably to your intended user. In terms of this project this is not my concern, my concern is to inspire and connect to material cycles. I want them to be informative and attach through the meaning of behaviour and will connect the user to the product.


The data collected was from seven households and twelve people. They had very different lifestyles, wealth and perspectives. From this process I documented over 300 objects and their meaning to the people that lived with them. The information was very widespread and there was a lot of random placement of things. The people in each home had an interwoven identity and attitude towards things. Less attachment towards things gives higher levels of consumer objects and the stories within objects creates inspiration and enjoyment.Comfort was high on everyone’s list, and an ability to interact in a relaxed nature with family and friends. It was common for objects with a random, funny story to be a favourite. Favourite objects have very little to do with aesthetic. And there was a lot of objects where function was incidental or long gone – the object was still there however had lost it’s utilitarian meaning.

data



MEANING

SELF

IMMEDIATE FAMILY spouse

we

children

mother/father

siblings

grandparents/grandchildren

whole family

KIN relatives

ancestors

in-laws

NON FAMILY friends

associates

heroes

PERSONAL VALUES embodiment of ideal

accomplishment

personificationINTRINSIC QUALITIEScraft

uniqueness

physical description

STYLE

UTILITARIAN

EXPERIENCESenjoyment

ongoing occasion

release

atmospheric

ASSOCIATIONSethnic

religious

collections

gifts

MEMORIESmomento

recollection

heirloom

souvenir

different types of meaning

Our ability to create meaning and give it to things makes us human, Our construction of reality is directly tied to how we create meaning.

Meaning categorisation: Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi & Eugene Rochberg-Halton: 1981]


There are many different ways that we associate to things - the meaning that connects us to the object. As social beings many of these are to people: ourselves, our family, our friends, associates and role models. These people personify feelings, values and experiences as well as the objects. They give us a sense of self within a community - a connected being.

As conscious beings there are many other ways that we construct our perception; through various - usually visual - sensory triggers.These objects can be the embodiment of ideals, indicators of accomplishments and accumen, or personification - characteristics that we see as ourselves (cosy, loving, organised, successful, ethical etc.)

people & personal values


Memories are a strong factor in the construction of our personal environment. These can be categorised as momento - a conscious token as part of an experience; recollection - a trigger for remembering a time and a place; heirloom - a historical/generational object that is from another time (that the owner did not live in), however comes with stories of a time gone by. And finally a souvenir, a consciously chosen/taken element of a ‘different’ experience that is brought back to the familiar environment.

memories


There are elements within the home that have asscoiations to larger community groups such as ethnicity, nation and religion. There are then those affiliations created by the category of object - a collection or range, or in the act of getting such as a gift.

There are ‘experience’ based things that you engage with through a process or action that causes a sensory reaction and emotional response on a day to day or occasional occurence. This can be for enjoyment, an ongoing occasion, a release or an atmospheric purpose.

associations & experiences


The intrinsic qualities of an object are related to it’s physical characteristics: it’s materials, craft or technique in making, it’s uniqueness or other quality that you relate to it with a physical description.

intrinsic qualities style

The style of the object refers to the referential indicators to culture as an expression of form; the fashion, the elegance in which a thing is expressed or objects that benefit a ‘comfortable and elegant mode of living’[www.freedictionary.com] or add to a conception of lifestyle.

simon lloyd:www.craftvictoria.com.au

nautilus1: www.inahbitat.com


And of course there is functionality. The capability of performing a designated aim; to be able to be used for the purpose it was made for. In design this refers to being able to fulfill a use or a defined need however commonly these days this is confused with a percieved need.

utilitarianism


MEANING FURNITURE VISUAL ART ORNAMENT/SCULPTURE MUSICAPHOTOS TV STEREO

INSTRUMENT

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 # 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31-36 37 38

SELF M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M

IMMEDIATE M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M

FAMILY m d md m m md m m d m m m d m m m m m d m,b, m m

KIN? M M M gp,gm,sf

who sf gp gm sil, u, a

NONFAMILY M M M M M M M

who f f p s f f f

MEMORIES M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M

type r H r s r s rms s r r s r r r r r m r r r r r,m

ASSOCIATIONS M M M M M M M M M M M M M

type c c e g trad g g e eg g g g

EXPERIENCES M M M M M M M M M

type eor eor e touch plal peor oare

INTRINSIC QUALITIES M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M

type up p,c pc pc pcu p,u,c cpu pu pc pc cup cp p p p,c

STYLE M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M

UTILITARIAN M M M M M M M M M M

PERSONAL VALUES M M M M M M M M M

eco eco soc sub sub eco so subversion

VOID of intented use M M M M M M M M M M M M

type mfa a f f f m a f f d d m

BOOKS SOFT NONVISUAL ATMOSPHERIC PLANTS Totals

FURNISHINGS

39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 49

M M M M M M M M M 33

m candl cand tealig incense

M M M M M M M 32

m,dad mum, dad m m bro md m mum 24

davi 7

M sf sm M kin 10

a sil dad 2

M M M M 13

t a f f friends 7

M M M M 29

ms r h r sm recollect 23 souvenir 7

heirloom 2 momento 10

M M M M 17

e g g g collection 2 gift 10

ethnic 5

M M M M M M M 16

comfort l e l l heat smell

M M M M M M 25

pcu p p p,c,uP p u

M M M M M M M 24

M M M M M 15

M M M M 13

p p sub n

M M 14

fa d

data analysis of my home: distribution of meaning

The above table allows us to see the multiple referential nature of meaning, that simulatenously we will give meaning to an object through many different avenues.There is no particular patterning to which sort of object we give which sort of meaning however it can be generalised that as long as we do create many associations, the object will remain part of our environment.


The object with the most associations (9) is a tealight holder which was a gift from a good friend of mine. The piece of furniture with the most meaning were the couches (9), they are a heirloom, hence associated with family and kin, are art deco originals, made from cane and I really like them. They are incredibly uncomfortable though so are appreciated as ornament rather than experience.I think this displays that the meaning types are quite unequal in importance and this personal priority construction of meaning is really relevant. As this is a conscious identity formulation, through perception we constantly grade our environment on whether it is liveable, enjoyable, or other self defined quality.

The environments most lived in and enjoy had nothing to do with meaning creation associated with style, physical qualities, and associations.Favourite things were commonly a mix between utilitarianism and sensory experience, for instance the heater (Appendix: Keele St, Dad & Nell, Fiona & Steve, Bec & Brett) or only enjoying a room when a certain atmosphere had been created through creating a specific environment (Appendix: My house, Dad & Nell) In my house this was clearly through the heater, music, candles, incence, cleanliness, company of pet and partner/a specific activity.

comparison of meaning


MEANING AMOUNT % DISTRIBUTION OF MEANING % OF OBJECTS

self 33 13.6 67.3

family 32 13.2 65.3

memories 29 12.0 59.2

intrinsic values 25 10.3 51.0

style 24 9.9 49.0

mother 24 9.9 49.0

associations 17 7.0 34.7

experiences 16 6.6 32.7

subverted functio 14 5.8 28.6

utilitarianism 15 6.2 30.6

personal values 13 5.4 26.5

total 242 100.0

The type of meaning associatied with each category of object provided a really interesting graphic patten (see page 91). It displays both the volume of meaning and intensity of each. Ornaments and scuplture are of of most prevalence in amount, however atmospheric elements had more meaning per object.

meaning of objects within my house


scale of meaning assoications in my home

Interstingly function is quite far down the list, it is nearly equal to subverted function - this is an anomaly.


FURNITURE 7 MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 1

1 Sideboard 30 Guitar

2 Bookshelf

3 Couches PHOTOS 6

4 Piano bench 31-36

5 Coffee table

6 TV Cabinet TV 1

7 Director's chair 37

VISUAL ART 6

8 Vietnmese enamel STEREO 1

9 Cardboard wall sculpture 38

10 Vietnamese enamel 2

11 Vietnam photographs BOOKS 150

12 Mirror above sideboard 39 DESIGN/ART

13 WooWooden frame 40 FICTION

ORNAMENTS/SCULPTURE 16 SOFT FURNISHINGS 2

14 Wooden sculpture 41 Cushions

15 Mum's vase with champagne corks 42 Doona cover

16 Poland vase

17 Blue coffee maker

18 Vase Op Shop ATMOSPHERIC

19 Vase Op Shop 43

20 Alberto box 44 Mirror

21 snail ball 45 Mantle candle

22 46 Ceramic candle holder

23 47 Tealight holder

24 Borsch bottle 48 Incence box

25

26

27 Brithday cat sculpture

28 Candelabra mum

29

meaning categorisation per type of

object


this means?

Patterns creating meaning of meaning...Incorporate these coded meaning clusters into the colour/textuality of the designed objects.Many meanings create many sites of engagement. These are opportunities for scripting behaviour that connects the user to eco-meanings; the journey and creation of material, the disposal of it, the necessity to realign the way we view objects and our construction of our environment to become part of ecology.The meaning avenues that facillitate memories and people.



reflection: my house

It is very obvious in the comaprison of data that I am living in my mother’s house. I don’t think there would be such a strong connection to family otherwise. This is fundamental to the analysis as so many objects - particularly furniture are not mine. As I see this as a temporary arrangement it also impacts my enjoyment of the space as a home. However the way in which I have adapted the space to me is quite interesting.

Interestingly it is quite random, as people very close to me did not come up in the storytelling at all. Neither did some interests. I think of my friends as my family however this is not that obvious in my living room. This is mostly due to it also being my mother’ house. I think also as I have bedroom, studio, dining room a lot of things are spread through out the house. My partner connected to only five objects however is intrinsic to my enjoyment of this place. This illustrates no direct translation of people meaning to objects, and not necessarily to enjoyment or interaction with space.

I think that I subvert function a lot. I find it really interesting that I have all these things that have a purpose however I have them there for their aesthetic form, which is embedded with the original function however is now void of it.I have things around that are visually stimulating for me, reflect personal values and memory whilst also connecting with my family and friends. The experiential meaning comes very much from atmospheric quality which I get enjoyment from. Anything to do with Davi is enjoyment and ongoing occasion of play.


By far the most amount of objects of one category were ornaments/ sculpture. I think this displays my own tendency to live and get enjoyment out of stuff outside of their functional use. Also that as the house came fully furnished it is a temporary way of personalizing the space.The meaning of things were most often connected to me and displays a strong sense of self, or maybe a self absorption.I am deeply sentimental about things and they are all connected with multiple layers of meaning. I am drawn to form for aesthetic, physical attributes and craft that also hold memory of a previous time and are connected to the people around me.

I have indicators of personal values & beliefs around me however do not directly connect with heroes or display trophies. Or do I – the references to Vietnam and favourite thing being the sculpture I made.It does seem highly hypocritical that I tend to keep things without function/subvert function. Maybe because consumerism is based on selling and justifying and creating functions that have nothing to do with necessity.


my home: design ideas

function less

Designing funny things that appeal as ornament or sculpture, have an embedded use that is thwarted. A kettle that is solid, a vase with flowers as part of the form made out of the same material.

light sculpture

Create a light sculpture with reflection. Use less energy to light areas. Light areas during the day with natural light.Light that is a series of reflection through mirrors on 2,3,4 walls and ceiling to light ups dark places even during day or at night. Use one source. Utilitarian could be used for daylight to get into dark rooms. Test: Torch and mirrors on Velcro.


organic bookshelf

Due to the large amount of ornaments - a display case for them. An organic form that reflects changeable nature of things, a physical canvas for holding all these things that has and holds meaning for. Or push to get rid of what you don’t. Fitting together. Pieces of wood with a simple join to make a 3d structure out of 2d. Set distances apart for the joins so that can put together in many ways. Random or set; clean cut or organic; playful, investing time into construction to imbue with ‘an experience’, connect with user.

planters

Deliberately designing things that have another related function. A glass vase that is actually a plant box, actually growing flowers in your living room. Replaceable pots as different flowers bud that fit into an exterior vessel that remains inside.



quotes - dad & nell’s farm

‘nothing you say makes any difference. Goes to war…throws children overboard. So instead escape, bury your head by the getting away. It did have that function quite a lot.’ [p3] The quiet, the relax, doing practical things that are more or less in my control.Control over your environment, disconnectedness of home making the space more insular and hence special.

‘It’s what he use to have to do and has revived with a new reason. Ways you are brought up are highlighted a lot when thinking of the environmental impact you have. My mother always turned off every light, and I find myself reverting to it a lot these days. [p6]

Sustainable behaviours are already there and have been fundamental in times of economic hardship. Thus there is an element of rediscovery rather than innovation.

‘If money were no object I would have bought something else however money is an object.’ [p7]‘Not throwing about money, no big income so no wasting. Comfort out of other things. [p6]

This is an important aspect of the difference in generation of baby boomers to my generation. There is a common conversation about the younger generations having less of an awareness of money and the worth of it – acting with conscious frugality.


‘I think I like having aesthetically pleasing things around me but as I get older it somehow seems less important. I don’t see, any sense of keeping up with Jones or making statements about oneself through ones furniture has gone really. [p9]‘Aware of not having huge amount of space unused that’s making statements. [p10]

The idea that useable space is really important, not constructing environments that do not get regular use. This is also a comment on new homes, and the way in which many rooms are set up however not used.

‘I put a high value on that sense of domestic security or stability or harmony [given by fireplace] or all of the above. I put a high value on that.’ [p12]‘Most of our objects come with very clear stories – they have been alive for long enough. ‘ [p13]

‘Those chairs outside are horrible and uncomfortable and waiting for them to break. However until they do then they stay and I hate them. I can give things away – that are useful for their lives.’ I suppose sentiment, is essential part of ahhh being part of a community. That community can be family, or a wider community, a sense of oneself as both someone who changes but who also has a past and a present. [p14]


reflection: dad & nell

I found this interview really interesting, and a great counterpoint for all the others that looked at less controlled environments. The objects as part of a second house took less aesthetic importance and were about creating an internal landscape that was functional. Where that function is security, relaxation, cosiness, and homeliness. Things became a catalyst for this. This was very much in the choice and the use of things and the importance of livable spaces to both Dad and Nell. There were no items that were purely for style or form. The visual art was inspiring and all had strong memory associations.

I particularly found interesting that they cannot throw things away, only pass them on. That this overrode deep loathing sentiment for some items. The design objectives of the space were achieved through atmospheric considerations in the building construction – as they were working with this and most people would not have such an option. The fireplace, the north frontage of glass and the open space were the main factors that created the meaning in living that was important to both Dad and Nell. It facilitated the qualities important to them in a living room and they were very clear what was important to them in a living room.


dad & nell: design ideas

Due to the lack of sentiment about form any designs that were in reaction to this space would be about facilitating further atmospheric function or purely functional, such as a moveable TV cabinet that also hid the TV. I really like this idea in terms of making the space less about the TV and more about the space with TV as an option. I also really like the age of the TV. I really like the style of the TV however this does not fit in with sustainable ethic.They had no lamps however lamps were never mentioned or any problems with light. Due to their coherent objective to find more sustainable ways of living, any design that championed such aims would probably be loved.

An option here is making the fireplace more efficient (pellets) etc. Again the lack of design ideas is partially due to the fact that they designed the house as they wanted it only a couple of years ago and they do not live in it full time. The quality that charcterised this set of objects were memories and ‘second wind’ – they were coming around for another go.



reflection: zana

When interviewing Zana she chose to have me interview her about her bedroom, as she said that she did not feel comfortable in her living room and did not use it. The functions of a living room, of relaxing, watching TV, reading, listening to music she did in her bedroom. She only entered her living room to walk through it to go to the toilet, shower or make a cup of tea. She is currently looking for a new house to live in. Even when I go over there to visit her we hang out in her bedroom.

Her living room therefore was firstly a function of time, as one room existed in many characters. Due to space constraints and this multifunctional aspect I asked her to pick the thing that were important to her in this capacity. It is then interesting to think of what elements are necessary to create a living space. Activity, atmosphere, sitting space, collecting space (books/ornaments), TV. The person’s interaction with the space creates this. The amount of things that were randomly picked up was a lot.


zana: design ideas

I like the randomness of different phrases, pieces and like the idea of incorporating this into graphics or parts of the objects. Maybe the idea of a memory box which is an older tradition which has been lost. However most people do keep a box of stuff that reminds them of past experience. A sort of album of random pieces of things. A photo album which can act to hold more robust things – somewhere near a botanists book



reflection: shama

I found this house really interesting because everything was gifts and hand me downs/heirlooms. She really had an attitude towards stuff that you would keep and that you only buy once. It is really interesting as everything had meaning associated with people. However the house was sparse and kind of felt unused which is a product of only being moved in for a short period of time. It would be great to do it again in a while to see the difference. Nothing in Shama’s family gets thrown out, it gets passed on always.

Shama’s consumer habits were on dispensable items or experiences such as going out and socialising. I would say a high level of spending however on things that passed – on a night out and such.


shama: design ideas

Due to the short-lived time living there design ideas that come from this are quite pragmatic needs. A floor covering, art for the walls, a lamp and a large chair to make the space more lived in and cosy. The high priority of the gift/hand-me down at being retained is incredible. Gifts are a whole sector of design that I am not looking into at this stage. How you design in values of ‘heirloom’ I am not sure. What is an heirloom? An object which has a story connected to family and whose characteristics are specific to that point of time. A thing of value and non-disposable. The aesthetic does not necessarily have to be timeless as the status as heirloom excuses the aesthetic in some ways, because it is so full of other meaning. I

think to ensure hand me down status it has to have a pretty timeless function; ornamental bowl or box, table, seating. As Shama said she does not want to fill her house with crap. The material/process has to be unique and of value/craftsmanship. There has to be a story of sense of passing that moves the object to the next generation. As you are trying to design this into a new object the story needs to connect with a different, or wider ongoing community (rather than a fashion). This is easily done in this context as I am making it, so it is therefore embued with personal meaning for Shama. Maybe an ability to enscribe the owners name on it and so as it gets passed on one can see where and whom it came from, maybe within a secret compartment so as to add to the “specialness”.


reflection: fiona and steve

I think this interview really demonstrates the demographic of young share houses where things are passed along from one person to another. Due to people traveling or moving into an already furnished house so do not need to buy or construct the utilitarian parts of the living room. I know the longest stretch I have lived in one house is 2 years. We do not have such strong associations to homely things yet so as need to take them to each home. There is a lot of moving around, a nomadic quality. There is also a whole milieu of objects that are purely functional and so are good for each person however have not got meaning outside the utilitarian, they are not disposed of as they still serve their function.

fiona & steve: design ideas

The ‘passed on’ object. An object that is so void of meaning as it is good at serving its purpose. So that it continues moving throughout circles of transient people who have temporarily set down their swag and are creating a home and have a living room. These objects are the basics of the living room – seating, tables, TVs. Made from long lasting materials, easily taken apart for reuse.


reflection: bec & brett

I thought this was really eye opening. When starting this project I assumed everyone created meaning outside of utilitarian for the things they surrounded themselves with everyday. Maybe the use of the TV as a portal into other world’s means it is unnecessary, as have so many other symbols and methods of attachment. It displays a connection of lack of meaning for one’s possessions to consumerism. I had previously assumed that the object meant so much that had to have many of them, not that it was easily exchanged or updated due to the lack of meaning or

ties to the “thing”. Obviously their level of affluence has a lot to do with it. I think back to the various houses I have lived in and think I have maybe bought two pieces of furniture; everything else has been passed along. Everything within their house was bought new – except the fish tank.Bec was not throwing things out however passing them on to someone else who uses them. This works in the object food cycle, unless everyone is aspiring to the same level and patterns of affluence.


bec & brett: design ideas

I am not sure how I would try and design something for this room within this project – the only thing I could think of would be something of high value and absolutely functional. Any gadget would be highly sort after, however these are inherently disposable. So maybe designing things from biodegradeable materials to encompass the relatively quick timeframes of ownership.



reflection: davi, dav & emma

This house was really interesting because they all really loved their space however not for the aesthetic at all or what was there. There were huge amounts of sentimental objects that were not liked objectively. This living room has a lovely feel to it and this is clearly because of the interaction within it giving it life. It was really interesting that things were being kept for a reason of someone else’s meaning however then throughout the process of the interview worked out that it didn’t actually mean anything to any of them.

davi, dav and emma: design ideas

That passing on of objects happens a lot and is adapted to the space. That most objects do have a story and this helps make a space homely, and makes you hold on to things. The tray made out of recycled paper had a story in itself, which made people love it. This married form and association perfectly, connecting it to people through interesting use of material. Creating an object that responded and incorporated the heater.


other design ideas

I am interested in voids in space, time, and growing or breathing objects. I like the idea of carpets that are carbon sinks… lamps that absorb heat to produce light at night….waste that is compacted on site to produce building materials, canvases or replaces disposable items such as toilet paper (that could get a little gross)…. Ornaments that dissolve with time or with pollution…. Art that is grown as a vertical landscape…. steak plates and cutlery made of cow bone and resin…fake plants made out of money…furniture that is missing parts that are inherent however remain unused in the day to day… scrabble using computer keys…. a chandelier made out of waste acrylic using leds and solar energy source… casting objects from packaging from technology such as TVs and stereos in a biodegradable material…a bookshelf that is flatpacked rubbish that creates a bookshelf that is maleable to the user and their books – grows with the book collection.


conclusion: storytelling of objects

This process was informative and interesting. The way that people interacted with each other and their own environment gave insights into how we create meaning and the way this effects the things we get, keep, and get rid of. How these objects then take on a life of their own as they get passed through various hands is also insightful to juxtaposition the objects and the sustainable behaviours that create them as possessions.

As a methodology to design by it is great if you are looking for functional ideas or context specific solutions to a space. To understand a cultural patterning it was not on the scale that could really develop a cultural rather than a personal understanding. The behaviours of gift, heirloom, passed on, and chucked were really curious. I have chosen to separate and contrast the different behaviours witnessed to design my objects from.


behaviour of objects

This is the realm of getting, using and getting rid of. “‘Most of our objects come with very clear stories – they have been alive for long enough.”[Appendix:Dad & Nell, p13]Journeys of objects take on their own meaning, they become community artefact. The life of many objects share similar patterns of movement. “The same thing may be treated as a commodity at one time and not another”{Kopytoff, 1986:64].

The objects are defined by a commonality. They are all functions of time.


passed on: the furniture food chain

typical of the share house. purely functional with little attachment to it besides utilitarian. Cheap materials - synthetic. would be used until death/replaced then put on the side of the road for someone else. At the top of the chain is IKEA or other large furniture outlet.

Bec [when move out in 2 months]“Bought most things from IKEA because cheap, functional and doesn’t look bad...have served their purpose... Everything is going, would just like to open the front door.”

Davi, Dav & Emma“[couch] given to us by Tommo [very close friend to all three peeps] – couldn’t figure out what to do with it so basically dropped it off here because he couldn’t be bothered taking it to the Salvos. “


heirloom: revered and kept safe

This piece is very valuable. has family history, handed down - not passed on. Can be keyed to a period of colonialism. material is high quality/craftmanship/intricate. Function may have become dormant or occasional with time - now serves as ornament.Shama: “Filled with my great, great grandma’s crystal wear and a bowl my great grandma use to make trifle out of. Absolutely amazing – can you imagine serving trifle out of it? The cabinet was my grandmas…. I like it – useful, it’s alright and the tile on top use to sit in nanna’s big cabinet filled with many antiques from Japan. Put my name on it twenty years ago. “


material use vs object life: imbalance

anything made of non-biodegradeable material that is not easily taken apart or social behaviour dictates it is not recycled.Anything which the material will last longer that the function, that degrades through use however not enough to break down. anything the fishies end up choking on

Zana: “ I don’t even trust those green bags, there still made of plastic. Whose to say they are more sustainable? there are no shit 50 at my house, someone buys one everytime. If you reuse the sleeve ones or take them back to the recyling atthe supermarket isn’t that better? Ahhhh, it’s all bullshit, go the old cotton hippy bag!”


Emma: Ornamental bowl made from folded recycled magazine pages, the dish of goodness, always has papers and filters and lighters, dish of goodness. Colours!! Dav: Oo recycled goodness, what fantastic ingenuity - full homeless peeps working out how to make a buck - very practical. Davi: really cool, colourful, just it’s shape and the skill that has gone into actually making that one – seems to get a lot of comments to.

wastecraft

Reuse of a deemed purposeless object for it’s material.Using textuality to highlight beauty and craft


Juxtapositioning of these themes is going to form the basis for designing my series of objects.

C H A P T E R 5

T E C H N O L O G Y :

M A T E R I A L S &

P R O C E S S E S S

t e c h n o l o g y . a p p r o a c h

introduction

My project is creating a series of objects that use ecologically innovative material and process to create a beautiful thing that is in response to the discourse of shifting to sustainable consumerism. The technology aspect to this project will explore waste and biodegradable materials and the innovative processes that shape these materials. Through looking at how things work, how things are made and how I wish to fabricate prototypes I will create a series of objects. It is categorised into how things work, how things are made, waste analysis and life cycle assessment.


How things work…

How things work will be exploring innovative new lighting and energy harnessing technologies. I want to dabble in energy harnessing materials or carbon absorbent indoor materials. For this I will be looking at the particular specifications of the mechanics of elements of the living room. This will be the electronics and mechanics of the atmospheric characteristics of lighting and warmth (comfort). I want to look into various types of low energy lighting (LEDs, low energy bulbs), the circuitry of the lighting, and the way in which the colour is created from the electricity – the science of ambience. On another level how things work is looking at manufacturing, waste and recycling systems.


waste analysis

I want to do an analysis of my own waste output/habits and the conduits for waste in Melbourne to give insight into the materials I will select. This will be through contacting Melbourne Waste and interviewing them about the process of waste collection and disposal. I will also study information on the make up of household (after use) waste compared to industrial (before use). I will compare this with information about where waste ends up and the implications of each type of waste. This will provide depth to the technological characteristics of my project.


life cycle assessment

“The goal of LCA is to compare the full range of environmental and social damages assignable to products and services, to be able to choose the least burdensome one. At present it is a way to account for the effects of the cascade of technologies responsible for goods and services…a fair, holistic assessment requires the assessment of raw material production, manufacture, distribution, use and disposal including all intervening transportation steps necessary or caused by the product’s existence.” [wikipedia]

I am going to research Lifecycle Assessment to implement my design technology ethic on a social level. I want to use a cradle to cradle approach when designing these objects – thinking beyond their current use and into their next life, using probably SimaPro. I would like to incorporate a LCEA which incorporates an electrical energy analysis also and even in conjunction with an agro-ecology approach. I wish to integrate this information into the end products as part of the labelling method.


how things are made… materials

This is looking into the materials and processes I am interested in.The materials I want to look at are classed into:1) Waste Reuse: Plastics, structural materials, packaging, paper, cardboard, flexible/textile off-cuts.2) Manufactured Biodegradable: Bioresins and organic plastics, composites.3) Natural: Renewable/recycled timberI will research by contacting manufacturers and visiting manufacturing plants and testing their materials; exploring precedents that inspire me; a series of material and process testing and exploration of process samples. ¬This will culminate in the fabrication of a series of objects that explore these different methods and draw together stylish and fun eco-design.


how things are made… processes

Processes are split into waste craft techniques and innovative high tech options of moulding and fabrication with a third integration of the two which is design experimentation on my behalf. Specific waste craft techniques will be exploring waste use in poverty areas where material is prioritised to necessity and used completely. Examples of this are plastic bag weaving, compacting non-biodegradable materials, spinning of flexible plastics into twine, weaving, and rolling paper. From this I particularly want to explore the traditional techniques of many cultures that have been adapted to using rubbish. I want to look at flexible prototyping and fabrication methods to designs that can interchange materials according to what can be found. For instance textile off-cuts for foil wrappers or plastic bags.

I want to look at traditional joinery, simple locking methods, tying and natural adhesives to join the elements of the objects.High tech options are the moulding of organic plastics and the specifications of such, bamboo, composite material and recycled plastic manufacturing into structural materials. How these existing processes may be explored as a form design option for manufacture. I want to conduct design experimentation into flexible moulding techniques for multiple shape moulds in the same caster, for use with previous sunken objects in bioresin. I also want to look at compositing through compressed saw dust, shredded plastic, bamboo and cardboard with bioresin or a natural hardening agent to produce a structural material that can be fabricated for object design.


development and making

Model making will be using sourced foam off cuts/ vegetable matter and laser cut recycled materials for 2d to 3d elements. Fabrication will be using a mixture of hand held and workshop machine and hand crafted techniques. Non-adhesive joining method will be wooden fixing, tension, weaving, and simple locking mechanisms. Natural adhesives may be used. Finishing will be using waxes and manual polish. I will account for all energy hours and offset any balance required to make this design process carbon neutral.

visualisation

Digital technology will be using Solidworks to create 3D models, Rhino for rendering (may outsource). Graphic posters will illustrate how craft techniques and process have been explored as well as the overall design. Through sketching and then rendering this in Photoshop to be situated within the chosen environment of the living room.


hands on technology

I will be constructing a mould maker for resin caste objects. Creating a method of compacting and soaking materials in organic hardening agent for structural qualities. I will also do the wiring for lighting options for the final series of objects.

prototypes

One off prototypes will be the culmination of the above research; this will be as a series of objects for the living room. The prototypes will all be an exhibit of the various tried and tested materials. 1. Casted bioresins and immersed bone or other organic material. 2. Form for manufacture in Melbourne with recycled plastics 3. Mixed Materials - composites and bamboo elements mixed with waste textual elements such as packaging and off cuts. 4. Mixed materials – found structural material with waste textual elements. One/some of these objects will explore the lighting technology and high tech options, this may be in the form of a lamp, reflecting or light emitting sensory object.


summary: interview with ralph horne

On Tuesday 28th April I met with Ralph Horne, Director of the Centre for Design to discuss sustainability, the designer’s role, innovation, lifecycle assessment and material innovation. I first introduced that my Industrial Design major project is exploring sustainable consumerism through creating a series of objects. This is divided into two areas: 1) Technology and Communication, which covers material innovation, lifecycle assessment and technology.2) Cultural Practice & Visual Sociology, that is storytelling through objects in the living room. It is an investigation into the nature of object associations within the home and how we can realign these associations.

Where do you see changing attitudes towards sustainability as being inherent to a sustainable future and how do you see that working?

The realignment of objects and cultural practice is looking at materiality and culture. Firstly who is doing this realignment? And attitudes: what are they, do we choose them, are they conscious, unconscious, below the radar or habits. How are notions related together and to what extent does the design and creation of objects script behaviour. A small part of object use is conspicuous consumption and 80-90% of a person’s individual eco footprint is daily practice.Design is about use and the way we utilise things differently; apart from the creation moment the object lives out in behaviour. Design does have the opportunity to script certain behaviours and lock in impacts. However this does not prevent smashing these uses; use is not locked however scripted.

Designers are part of a system of consumption and from this suffer myopia, using an analogy that in a car you cannot look down from a helicopter. The solution lies in a range of agents. Acting as agents and recognising that we are a subjective part of a system. Here we are looking at the reproduction of everyday life and the use of objects in everyday life. The interesting juxtaposition of objects is the position of technology, the ease of digital technology (voice recorders, phones etc) have enabled different ways of being and doing. We are recognising that rapid change is happening in everyday life. The interesting thing is if we want to change it - it is really hard. For example green initiatives are not working quick enough against technology uptake to lower carbon emissions. Saying this objects can play a role in change.


“There is a tension. There is a tension between the idea we can change versus the idea we do change. We need to reconfigure the way in which we relate to interior spaces and the services related, provided, received and organised.”

So what can designers do?

At the pessimistic end designers are servants to an enormous marketing machine looking only to sell stuff. On the other hand the designer is a key decision maker who has the creative powers to script in certain cultural practices, certain ranges of function of daily life which ideally mean that particularly bad forms of consumption are scripted out – they are no longer going to happen. Ideally the outcome is no one gets hurt, services remain the same or better whilst emissions and polluting practise decrease dramatically. If we look at packaging. The most eco friendly packaging is non-existent, packaging as protectant of product is very rare (a lemon, a banana are good examples); packaging is mostly facilitating branding, it is a place to stick a label. If this is the point of design then it is pointless and wasteful, they should be ashamed of themselves. If on the other hand designers want to look at changing practices than that is admirable.

We need to not just do more with less, however venture into this arena of scripting practice. Bare in mind it is an experiment – we don’t know what will happen as we try to prioritise certain behaviours. There are systems and there are objects. In systems it is difficult to conceive of designing systems that guarantee certain outcomes. This can be said for objects also. We cannot guarantee how something will be used. That is why Lifecycle assessment is good as it creates a set of assumptions and a scenario. Proper assessment and declaration of information makes things transparent. It also means we can learn by experience, to inform us in future design and production.


How do you envision a green future?

If you could respond to this quote: “how can humankind escape this vicious cycle in which its unlimited appetite devours the world on which its life depends”.

The way we live is fundamentally unsustainable and we are victims of our own success. This is from the creation of capitalism, with a political system that supports and sustains it that keeps an unequal spread of wealth. This system has been very efficient in exploiting the things that are not within it. What is not valued - as in priced - the externalities of it are pollution, waste, emission, human relations and community integrity. Basically the social and environmental stuff.

Now the bubble has burst economically (credit markets are not working) and we are all aware of apocalyptic climate change. The system does not work. So we are at a political and economic crossroads in many regards. We have big choices to make. We have to decide our political will. To leave all the remaining fossil fuels in the ground and devalue fossil fuel wealth to zero. And do this voluntarily. If we don’t we are stuffed.


Some say the greatest innovation is necessity driven. In a way innovation in capitalism works because if you do not innovate you die as you are deprived of resources – competition drives. However innovation is not a guarantee and there are tried and tested old methods – such as stealing. Unintentional uptake of innovation such as defence technologies like the Internet evolved to be a world changing implication as a global communication. Just because it is unintentional does that make it good? The amount of money going into defence - is it really innovation? From America’s enormous wealth and investment have we really seen innovation to the scale that fits the scale of wealth? One of the reasons the Empire is clearly in its death throws may be the lack of innovation. It is not about the amount of wealth however how that wealth is utilised. Is innovation even good? Is change good? It is an uptake of new ideas at scale, an air conditioner in every house is not a good thing. Doesn’t necessarily mean a higher quality of life. So there are good innovations and bad innovations and the distinction between them can be hard to predict. You have to question what is it and why is it there, what are it’s implications?


When it comes to Lifecycle Assesssment could you explain the best approach and the differences between them?

LCA is a technique: it is a tool in a toolbox. The toolbox is a range of ways of assessing the provision of services through systems. As a tool it requires a goal, scope, functional unit and should be a service for a particular time. Services are the reason we make things and LCA is a method of looking at this. It should take in the whole lifecycle systematically. Whether it is cradle to cradle or cradle to grave it always ends up in a coal mine, oil well or gas field. That’s why we have such a big problem in shutting them off.Whether the material is petro-chemicals or steel, that material has had to be created through other mines and other fuels. If one could do LCA that ends up completely with energy inputs that are renewable – solar, wind or other then this could unlock a new way of thinking about things just by looking at them.

“Whether it is cradle to cradle or cradle to grave it always ends up in a coal mine, oil well or gas field. That’s why we have such a big problem in shutting them off.”

It allows one to assess and compare, for a designer this is helpful as it is based on a range of assumptions. However this range of assumptions cannot predict use. This is a problem for a designer. For example if we take a shopping bag versus a reusable PVC one, if you are to reuse the first versus buying the second and chucking in a cupboard then which really is more sustainable? LCA answer is usually that it depends. Life depends. LCA means having to write down the assumptions. Unlocking these is a key to sustainable design. If you could design objects that script behaviour and lower the amount of assumptions you need to identify the LCA. This can demonstrate how good your design is.


Data is always a major problem, because it is often used within production systems with proprietary information discourses as part of capitalism. So data is a challenge - private interest and consumer systems come in to it. How you conduct the modelling can also be a problem. Measuring impact can also be a difficulty. Identifying green house gas amounts is easier as it is embedded in material manufacture, therefore products and therefore services. However water, even just the embodied water is quite hard to work out. Where did the plastic come from? You look at an inventory of water use of a certain plastic and then convert this into impact, however where did the water come from? If it is in an arid area then water is really important hence the impact is greater, if the rainfall in an area is high and water is plentiful then the effect is lower.

These challenges are the complexity of production systems and proprietary – of private and commercial interests. These constrain LCA however are not faults in the tool of LCA however the context it is working in. Government regulation has some impact, governments have decided that these companies can get away with what ever they like and not tell anyone. Companies are not allowed to withhold financial information however can with environmental information, there is pollution regulation it is just not as there as financial regulation.For LCA you look into end of life, the point where the product associated with that service become no longer useful for that service. It is no longer useful or desired so what happens to it? Close looped – remanufactured into another chair. Open looped – recycled, reclaimed or reused materials. In uni-dimensional context it would get chucked into sea, landfill or the

what are the problems with LCA?


is material innovation in Australia good?

It is a question of what you think innovation is and what you think good and bad innovation is. Australians are inventive in how and why materials are used, humans in general are. Within the constraints of political, economic and resources you have ways of operating that lead to new ideas of operating. In building industries in Australia innovation levels are fairly low. Construction is done by small business, and generally don’t have time as work long and hard hours so are just producing. It is a cost based industry and reproduce existing processes.

Material providers are quite monopolistic, a one firm per material kind of situation. They have lots of resources and time to experiment however don’t really have the drive as have an industry niche. In manufacturing in general in the Western world is an interesting tension. Production is going offshore, innovation and design seems to be following. Do you get the brightest and best in design? Or are they picking different industries? Innovation can only happen with certain framing conditions, and those framing conditions are not always favourable.

[end of interview]


Waste: Plastics & the Ocean

What is really recycled and thus sustainable? The amount of plastic waste is incredible and thus making sure all aspects of a product are recycled is more and more important. Almost all plastic waste ends up in the ocean, [see The World Without Us by Alan Weisman], “89% of the trash observed floating in the North Pacific Ocean was plastic” [http://www.blueoceansociety.org/plastics.htm], with plastic production by 1988 reaching 50 billion pounds. Gyre currents keep the rubbish moving and together within patches of the pacific and other oceans - there are estimate to be six gyres.

Reuse is one arm of solutions to environmental issues however a blanket approach to production levels is necessary. “A “plastic soup” of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean is growing at an alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States, scientists have said.” [http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/the-worlds-rubbish-dump-a-garbage-tip-that-stretches-from-hawaii-to-japan-778016.html] On that note...Well it is just bloody scary and makes innovation within the manufacture of products that use a plastic base really important. These bags are great for inspiring people to create beautiful objects whilst being sustainable.



reuse: handbags

Secco Shop are a collective that harvest the wasteland and have great product and website.Check these Helsinki people out. Innovative way of imparting on an inspiring journey into the wasteland and coming up with some lovely stuff! [http://seccoshop.siirrot.neutech.fi/index.php?k=3919]Mash design by Escama as part of the Panteras do Lacre cooporative are chic and elegant. [http://www.dedeceplus.com/plus/dedeceplus_product.cfm?ID=2447]

Secco Shop

“SECCO products are Treasures of Wasteland. We discover and transform them from the endless stream of waste material.ECCO was born in the Electronic Waste Age in Wasteland,in a small village in a valley between the Rubber Hills. On the horizon you can just make out the giant Computer Mountains where the river of Qwerty springs. At the edge of the forest that surrounds the village you can find the LP-Towers reaching towards the white clouds. From the top of the towers you have a breathtaking view across Wasteland.On an adventurous journey SECCO meets the Collector, Producer- and Inventor tribes. SECCO’s mission is to bring those tribes together and, with their help, transform used materials into funky design products and discover treasures that no one has ever seen before.”


Mike Reynolds makes houses out of anything that are completely sustainable and use all waste material. See the documentary ‘Garbage Warrior’ - amazing. It got me thinking on exploring processes of cleaning and using household waste as a building material. I like the idea of compacting waste into brick forms or other forms with some sort of binding agent…. I may start saving all my non recyclable waste and exploring processes into how could reuse without making crappy garbage craft… However at the same time turning waste objects into a reusable material may be quite difficult due to the risillient nature of waste – particularly plastics….

Reminded me that in India they spin foil wrappers into twine and use it as a weave for bed structure, incredibly strong. Also when working in the Ramapir No Tekro slum in Ahmedabad this NGO Manav Sadhna had built a community centre which utilised all waste materials such as fly ash, foil, plastic and glass bottles etc. It was really incredible. The difference between using for building and using for object is what?

Garbage Warrior


After Use: Household waste

I am exploring waste for materials to use to create a composite structural material for an element of my living room (bookshelf or table or tv cabinet). I am targeting materials that are least reused/recycled: the waste of the waste – what ends up in landfill/litter and why. 27% of landfill is municipal waste, 30-40% is food waste. A majority is packaging (bags, cling wrap, wrappers)or else this ends up in the ocean (46 000 pieces/mile 2) or as litter (32% of Clean Up Australia litter in 2007).I have created a flow chart of Melbourne household waste, and have categorised it according to before use-waste and after-use waste. Which can be thought of as production and household waste. This does not target the energy intensiveness or polluting capacity of creation/transport/recycling processes.


I photographed my houses waste levels to create the flow chart and to explore materials for waste craft. I put out my rubbish once every two weeks and this is the amount after 12 days, I usually eat two meals at home a day.I was surprised at how little recycling 2 people created in 12 days. I guess I buy meat from the deli and do not use plastic bags for vegies. Drink lots of hot drinks, (tea, dandelion and herbal) which is reflected in milk consumption. Do get the paper everyday which adds up. This does not include the bathroom or studio bin which fills up over … months.


The kitchen rubbish in the bin is stuff deemed “soiled”. Been in contact with meat or liquid. This is basically glad wrap, plastic bags and individual cat portions – my cat is a snob and will only eat kanga. I am reusing the shopping bags as bagliners however do have to consider that these will also end up in landfill – they can be recycled by supermarkets however the way up of then buying another product to use instead, i don’t know how successful green bags really are, they are plastic fibres, imported and end up in the landfill more often then not. Should really look into biodegradeable binliners. Consumption amount is less than expected. One and a half bags for 2 weeks is pretty good.


Food waste happily decomposing and getting munched on.


This is the rubbish left over, the plastics that are not accepted by the council recycling or had no recycling information. Felt like a bit of chocolate lately! Technically they are recycleable it is just that due to the additives and difficulty in sorting, seperating etc that they are not. These end up in litter or landfill. I took two photos of compressed and free! Interested in creating a thermoset composite with the packaging, it would basically act as structural filler so is not remelted or any thing however tightly compressed.I could use alot of the binned plastic by cleaning it. This would mean my house would be zero solid daily waste. Actually would have to incorporate my bathroom and study.


Again the theme that keeps baffling me is this whole time of material life (plastics 5 – 5 000 years) versus time of funtion/utility. Why the fuck do we use plastics that keep on going for a use of ripping it off and chucking it? Even the relative time line of transport of goods and keeping it fresh still is tiny comparible to the material life expectancy. Why? Because packaging as function again is tiny in comparison to its functionality as branding. It is bright and enticing, it gives space for a name. I wonder what I could design that is 5000 years of function, what is that timeless? Fossils. Pyramids. Rocks. Archeological artefact – Scribe.

material life

intended use


Think about a banana. It’s packaging, -the skin- is deliberately and beautifully a protectant then as time passes an indicator of it’s inedibility. It lasts for human consumption just that little bit longer than the insides then they help each other degrade and become food for another creature.


bioresin

I have been trying to source some, bio-degradeable, non harmful resin as part of my technology research. I was told at Barnes that this was not possible in Australia - It is import only with no known supplier. This defeats the purpose of a lovely eco-product if it needs to be transported globally.

what is wrong with polyethylene resin?

It does not break down, and is used for an immense amount of products. Polyethylene resin is used for most packaging which is the most disposable, and least recyclable. Polyurethane is used in different grading for foam in bedding and cushions, low density foam, gel rollers, hard solid plastics for structural parts and artistic resin.The manufacturing process to create resin is highly carbon intensive, fuel intensive, produces toxic bi-products, and creates air and water pollution. 4% of the world’s oil use is in creating plastic bags. [http://www.islandnet.com/~vipirg/publications/pubs/student_papers/05_ecofootprint_plastic_bags.pdf]

The plastics end up in the ocean and gets ingested by marine life, typically getting lodged in their digestive system and killing them. The creature biodegrades however the plastic doesn’t. It then goes through this murderous process over and over, leaching toxins into land or sea. ”Over time it goes through a process of photo degradation and breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces” – however it does not decompose so the colon and the bioaccumulation just gets smaller and smaller. This is commonly the plastic bag, tupperware, packaging, etc.


There is nothing organic (non-geological) that takes that long to break down in that global amount, it throws out the environmental budget as there is a whole lot of waste building up. Ecologically, systems work because all biproducts of a reaction become the input/fuel/food to another player in the ecological world whether it be microorganism, plant, dolphin or human. Plastics don’t. They bioaccumulate in animals. Besides photosynthesis, they continue as is, leeching toxins into their environment. To give an example of toxins and timeframes, bottled water PET is a health risk to drink from after a month. It starts leeching toxins into its enviornment – which in this case is water ingested by the human body. The materials we so commonly use in daily practice have life expectancies well beyond the use we are using them for.


I have been searching for bioresins to use to caste a bone scuplture in. This is inspired by East African jewellery where cow bone is caste in resin to make some very beautiful jewellery; form, process and use of surrounding materials. These were made from naturally occuring resins. Degradeable polyethylene does not break down in your backyard or landfill in a year or so, it seems it needs special industrial treatment to do so – this seems a little off the mark. In terms of my bone and resin sculpture, I might use toxic version in the hope that it does last forever and archive a little human piece and the hypocrisy of the modern age.


Imagine aliens coming to earth once human civilization is well and truly gone, no life left, however a sea of partly recognisable (to the human eye) rubbish. Where we forage for archeological samples of cultures before, these will be in abundance for our alien future friends. They may have to forage for any sign of organic life that may have created this chaotic mess of different size fragments of our age. The erosion caused by our large and productive machines drilling the earth for fuel, the salination of the planet could erode at an accelerated rate all the rest to disfugure the planets face so that fossillisation is incredibly rare. To such an extent that the alien may scratch its pre-verbial head.

future scenario


bioresin part 2

I found a supplier however it does seem like I will be offsetting that kilo package of clear resin (£40/kg) as it has to get shipped from London. It is toxicologically safe, incredibly versatile and is made from sunflower oil and other natural ingredients. The hardener does contain isocyante however it has been blocked, “so the potentially harmful substance is prevented from escaping” [www.canonburyarts.co.uk] An Australian jeweler, Loop [http://www.loopdesign.com.au] uses bioresins who may know of a closer manufacturer.

I was then thinking that could create the mould out of resin too (rather than silicon) and display the product as a twin set (vessel and ornament). However you would loose the flexibility of shape (overhangs etc) that can get with silicon rubber.Interestingly, I started looked for a biodegradable silicon for mould making. There is a new process that uses nanotechnology to create degradeable silicon, the original use is for ingesting pharmeceuticals [http://www.psivida.com/about/b io_presentat ion.asp] . The silicon breaks down into naturally occurring silica in the human body. A world of weird design possibilities! You have your furniture and when you get sick of it you chop it up and eat it, kind of like tofu.

I am guessing that the process of creating silicon nanotechnology is rather energy intensive and would be very expensive. I like the idea of crossing borders of medicinal science and art/design though, particularly as it would connect to using human bone for art.There is another avenue of manipulating process – the mould maker rather than trying to use the existing process with new and better material; a water fill up mould with a skin – gravity may be a little too prevalent though. Maybe using food stuffs to create a mould? Jelly? This would be dependent on the setting temperature of the resin.


conclusion

I am looking forward to next semester and having the opportunity to continue sourcing materials and start testing out ways of utilising these materials to develop prototypes. Technology informs and inspires me hugely and I see a realm of possibilites. I defintiely will be using bioresins and bone for a sculptural element. Also, creating a composite from shredded pakaging and bio resin.

C H A P T E R 6

D E S I G N

o U T C o M E S


This chapter explores the design outcomes from my proposal, planning and research. They are by no means definitive and are more an abstract creation of a few objects defined by various parameters that I have formulated throughout this semester; this will be given form and function throughout the process of conceptualising and making next semester.

These design ideas come from various inspiration however are primarily concerned with how the objects as a series are contrasted to explore ideas and conversations about meaning, sustainability and ecologic and how one equates eco with behavioural meaning within personal space.

introduction


passed on objects.heirloom objects.material vs use:imbalance.wastecraft.comforting..

objects as a function of time

Juxtapositioning of these themes is going

to form the basis of my series of objects.


Behaviour cycles creating sustainable objects. Materiality of objects: Exploring waste as a function of time. Process & material reflecting sustainable object and thus person life. Function and use reflecting insights from the storytelling of objects.“Issue embodied in the material, the form or the composition rather than being present as a reference.”

paladin the talking lamp


SUSTAINABILITY TOOLKIT

WASTENATURALBIORESIN

ORGANIC

COMPOSITE MANUFACTURED

HOMEMADE

WASTECRAFT

JOINERYINTERLOCKING

WOVEN

COLLAPSIBLE

LIFECYCLE PREUSE

USE

POST USE

OFFSETS

HOUSEHOLD WASTE

INDUSTRIAL WASTE

sustainability toolkit


object concepts and materiality


the heirloom

valuable. craftsmenship. family history.referential to a cultural era. rare material.timeless function however mostly ornamental


heirloom: the modern colnialist stool


I made this stool from a 160 year old piece of spotted gum (and who knows how long it lived for) from a far North Queensland bridge. I was amazed at the quality of the timber when it had been in the elements and used as structural support for over a century. This beautiful wood was an inch or so underneath the old and cracked surface. I called it the ‘modern colonialist’ because of the old world settling associations of the material’s journey and it’s reformation as 21st century furniture. The inspiration for the design is the shape of a Chippendale ball and claw dining room chair leg. Creating a contemporary counterpart with stark edges that harked back to these antiques and the aesthetic of tapering legs with the ‘ball’ protruding out from the bottom of the seat.

Only the inner side of the four legs inner faces are perpendicular to the top so the narrowing to the feet is emphasised further by the small diameter of the top. The sharp lines of the form contrast with the textuality of the timber’s spirally pattern through the grain.I have really enjoyed working with this wood, it really is beautiful timber and the association as reused with this whole story behind it of a previous existence adds an interesting and special connection for me in creating a form driven object. It has been finished with natural Carnauba wax

heirloom: modern colonialist stool




heirloom 2 :chairs [set of three]

Organic, fluid, contemporary, antique in the making.Set of three, collapses down into a tetirs pack of pieces that lock together to create the chair. Outcomes from each stage of the process:1.Caste: Wood.2.Prototype: Bioresin.3.Manufacture: Composite recycled plastic.4. Material moulds used as vessels.


passed on

function is paramount. always used.never revered. flexible.collapsible.moveable. nameless.


Making a composite from found packaging set in bioresin. Using this as a structural material to create a functional element of the living room.Collapsible, flatpacked. Standardised pieces, can go together multiple ways, and grow to the size needed for the space and objects to go on it. Can be split into multiple objects. Flexible to space. Can be flat packed for easy moving.

passed on: growing bookshelf


process


passed on 2: the kitchen chair

spare. plonked on, pulled up. odd. slightly contemporary however referential to mid 20th century. removeable back and legs.Composite bioresin frame with woven braiding plastic bags as seat and chair back.


comforting

get close to your heater. lie on the floor. hug your rug. Tactile. Zoning the house to a specific area - in front of the heater, saving energy whilst loving your space.


organic floor covering. hugs you.inflatable core, industrial textile offcuts. easy storage.

comforting: hugyourrug


moulded blown bioresin or industrial foam offcuts. the flopping chair, flexes to the user whilst also supporting. Based on lounging on a large armchair.

comforting 2: flop


floor cushions: comfort on the floor, get close to the heat. Also could be for covering cushions for an existing couch frame. Made from woven plastic bags iwth a green bag outer shell. Woven through 6 pack holders

comforting 3: floor cushions


material = use: human fossil

so much plastic. planet overflowing.there is an imbalance of material lifetimeto use lifetime.polyethelene resin = 5000 years.What use for 5000 years?archive....fossil....

In 5000 years everything is dead because of so much plastic and toxic atmosphere. Archive of human DNA caught and fossiled in own artificiality...for the aliens. transparent polyethylene resin with skeletal piece in it, tea candle lights up the piece creating atmosphere - uneasily.Based on East African traditional jewellery.


materials & process


organic

whatever the use. it will serve it’s purpose until it no longer does then it will go back to the earth. no unnatural preservatives or additives.



organic: wood sculpture

tactile. touching the wood, feeling it. conencting with the natural beauty of it. reclaiming constructiion timber, returning to an organic form.this wood is a found piece of construction timber.




objects as a function of time

we are robots. time makes us mechanical.

time is given too much importance. time

is valuable. where did the time go? stuck

in time. time is money. the hands of time.

time is going backwards.

brooches/necklaces made from clock

faces found in a flea market in India.

C O N C L U S I O N

P A L A D I N

T H E T A L K I N G

L A M P

c o n c l u s i o n

conclusion

Through the process of premajor I have clearly identified the way in which I will move forward with my major project.Through self analysis and research, the ‘storytelling of objects’, I have gained insight into peoples lives and the way that they assoicate with things. Meaning makes us human, and understanding the way we attach meaning. This is to explore the possible connections between objects we hold dear and sustainable consumerism.Through engaging with ecodesign specifically waste and mateiral innovation I have become really inspired with how I will make a series of objects.This process has developed skills in writing, graphic design, research technique, presentation skills, cloud computing, analysis and design methodology.Now to make things!

This book is 100% landfill paper, ink cartridges recycled, electricty used whilst working on it is 100% renewable. The other elements such as printing, heating and elctricity will also be offset.A typical fully grown tree will sequester 40kg/year.

ecofootprint

carbon neutral processthe objects and the processes will be as ecologically friendly as possible in material; and any remaining energy use or pollutant creation will be offset through tree planting. As I will be sequestering carbon through creating the composite this will balance a small amount. Carbon footprint of technology, MacBook: 460kg CO2 over 4 years. So 1/12 (4 months use) = 38.3kg CO2 = 1 tree.

A P P E N D I C E S

I N T E R V I E W S

Documents

Paladin the Talking Lamp