It’s art if can’t be explained.
It’s fashion if no one asks for an explanation.
It’s design if it doesn’t need explanation
Wouter Stokke
Gone but not Forgotten
Well, sorry about that, but I’ve been rather busy recently.
I wont keep you long, just thought I would check in to make sure you’re fine. You are? Excellent.
To keep you filled in, this is where im at:
Week 9 of my final year and in exactly a week I have to submit my draft for my Dissertation (which is trundling along without actually getting very far) and 6 days after that I have a project presentation – so you can guess its rather hectic at the moment. It gets worse when you’re also looking for a new place to live and you’re land baron is a complete cretin, but i’ll save that story for another time.
Unfortunately I haven’t had the chance to see any new exhibitions/discover some new cool design for me to discuss and wax lyrical about, or rant on about how crap it is, but I have read more books in the last 4 weeks than I did in the previous 4 years. None of which are overly interesting, but all relevant.
Anyway, the only real reason why im waffling is because I know when I finish typing I have to go back to reading books about interaction and furniutre written by boring people in the 70’s. C’est la Vie.
The hotly awaited 3rd year
So, its this time of year again. Everyone’s heading back to Uni, some to start, continue or draw a close to their degree.
I’m the latter. The end is neigh, but my lord there is a lot of work ahead.
Thursday was my first day back. It started like you would expect: a day of dread, fear yet sheer optimism about what is to come. The best bit of news being: “Forget the previous two years grades, everone in this room can achieve a first at the end of this year”. Music to my ears after I was slightly dissapointed with my grades so far. It also acted as a great spirit lifter and a focal point for everyone so soon after starting Uni again.
Anyway, the main task for the day was to decide on a theme and title for our dissertation. We split in to groups and talked about the sort of things we were thinking of writing about, bouncing ideas from one another, resulting in a mildly legible mind map. Wyn, Andy and Alex (our three tutors) then got us to explain our ideas in turn, with them offering input and getting us to filter our ideas and distill them in to a feasible dissertation title. They seemed to like my idea of how the Flexible Love chair (previous post) allowed the user to change the way people interacted with eachother by being able to adapt it in anyway, shape or form. Resulting in the title: Social Interaction through Mutability. I.e. looking to explore the affordances of furniture and how the customisation, flexibility and arrangement of furniture has an effect on peoples interaction with each other.
Im excited to get going, to get some serious knowledge and research behind me and hopefully crack out a brilliant dissertation to help me achieve a 1st class degree.
p.s. My blogging hasn’t been the most frequent in the world and at times this year it might be little and not very often. Sorry to both my readers for that.
Flexible Love – the worlds most awesome chair
Chishen Chiu, the creator of what I perceive as the worlds coolest modular structured chair.
Employing a honeycomb structure FlexibleLove chairs are capable of seating up to 16 people despite being made entirely from recycled materials such as paper and wood waste, and being built using regulated manufacturing techniques to minimalize the overall impact to the environment.
It incredibly clever, sustainable and actually quite pretty. By being 100% shape adjustable it means it can be used in any space in any room.
Youtube: demonstrating a prototype : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-OOGDeZjMk
Banksy who?
Childish graffiti ftw
Watch fetish part 2
So after mulling over the idea of forking out big bucks for a Nixon time piece I decided to go on to Amazon and find a credit crunch option.
Being the tight fisted man that I am I set myself a limit of £45. Reasonable; not too much that I feel like im throwing away money on impulse (which I was in reality) and not too little that I would limit my options too much.
In the end I settled on a nice Timex, £32 down from £60 meant I could waste a few £ on something else.
Nixon watches are awesome
It seems that everyone appreciates a good watch.
It can be a status symbol, a simple accessory or a functional sporting aid.
I like them because they look nice. Especially Nixon watches, its a shame I don’t have several hundred pounds to spare.
Oh well…
The Chronicle, £300
The Sentry, £130
The Spenser, £260
The Newton Digital, £100
Time Teller, £55
I like whimsical design
Apple – are standards slipping?
Since the release of the iPod in 2001, Apple has been on a none stop trip to world domination.
They make the best MP3 player (260,000,000 sold worldwide), the best desktop computers, the best laptops, the best phone. When will it end? When they run out of stuff to make? When they cant improve anything? When their standards begin to drop?
Well, I believe the latter has already started.
Apple products and reliability are synonymous with one another. They seem to have built up this impenetrable aura about their products, but is this beginning to end? Has Apple decided that because their products last so long, and work so well that they are know just going to join the rest of big companies and make products that are badly made and don’t work particularly well?
I first started to question my admiration for Apple when in April they released the ‘iPad’. There is always a massive hysteria that surrounds new and exciting products, and this was no different. But I seem to be one of the few that has not been taken in by this tablet computer come smart phone/mp3 player. It seems as though the powers that be went: “Right, we have made a shed load of money, lets make something that everyone will want, but not really need. It can do loads of stuff and look really cool”, well they did half of that. It looks smart, kind of like a large iPhone (which is a very pretty piece of design) but it falls short on the software/functional aspects. It claims to be “the best way to experience the web, email, photos and videos”, oh, is it now. How did you come to that conclusion exactly? I’m sure surfing the net or watching videos would be better on a PC with a 20″ screen, but whatever. Also, the lack of simple flash player means graphic heavy websites and a lot of video sites is going to be a massive struggle. But lets look at the facts, $500 could buy you a good laptop, which contains a lot of stuff the iPad deems not necessary, like:
– Flash
– Multi task capability (even blutack can multi task)
– Camera or web cam
– USB port
– HDMI output
OK, so maybe its not trying to be a laptop. Then what is it? Because I really cant understand why they have managed to create a product that solves absolutely no problems whatsoever and then have the gall to charge $500 for one. I say get an iPhone. Its sexy, its got a camera, you can multi task, it fits in your pocket and you can make calls as well as all the other crap that you can do with an iPad.
Oh, and dont get me started on the new iPhone4. Standards have dropped so much that Apple have released a new phone that is not only ugly but one that struggles to send and receive calls when you hold it. Wow, well done. Now they have managed to take £100’s of pounds of people for a glorified iPod Touch…But hey, at least you get a free case with your new iPhone to help cover up the ugly.
The bane of my very existence
Garden hose pipes are possibly one the most frustrating things on this planet.
Seriously, think about it.
When not in use it kind of sits there in the corner of the garden, or wherever you put it, just sitting there doing nothing. But when you come to use it it then develops the personality of a stroppy 4 year old. Awkward, difficult, doesn’t do what you tell it to, then makes you swear. Repeatedly.
But then! Success! So you’re now hosing your garden/car/sexy model in a music video…kink. Bugger. Fiddle, fiddle, fiddle. Right, nice steady flow again…kink! Kink!! KINK!!!
Bugger it, that’ll do.
Right, i’m now off to rid the world of the hose pipe reel. Dragons Den, i’m looking forward to our meeting.
p.s. Yes I did use a hose pipe today, in case you didn’t realise.
Chris Corfield 