experiment project

Inprevious posts i said i would start to make a few experiment pieces to test out theories i had explored in various sketchbooks and scrap pieces of paper. And while making stock pieces and items for galleries i made a small prototype of an idea involving changing the structural framework of furntiure and seeing if this could produce different aesthetics based on structural requirements. The images below show what i created from scrap wood and dowels. I wanted to see if i could create strength and structure by using the void space of storage as the defining element instead of seperate pieces of wood braced across certain areas to provide the strength and support we see in modern manufactured pieces. By protruding the legs of this console table through the void/storage space and then fixing them halfway into the top section i created a new structural identity that did not require any other elements to produce a functional table/storage space. Further experimentation found that by increasing the depth of the void space the structural integrity of the concept was increased considerably. This might seem obvious to outsiders but to me this was very interesting and opened up a whole range of ideas based on this principle. the legs were painted to identify the main purpose and structural efficient areas of the legs. i also liked the idea that the legs were shown in the piece emphasising even more the importance and simplicity of this design. unknowingly i also discovered i was considerably limiting the amount of workmanship involved in ceating a modern piece of functional furniture was a worrying but enlightening discovery.

having produced this concept it has proved that this idea can work and now the challenge is too adapt it to work in a modern environment/home and transfer these principles into a workable, desirable item of furniture. expect some more experiment pieces in the new year.

catch up

 So I thought this post should really be a catch up and detail what I have been up to in terms of making and getting my designs out there as I have not been very regular with my posts of late. I finally dropped the two nest of tables off at the gallery in north Norfolk last weekend and I was really pleased with them, so they now join the mirrors being displayed, quite an achievement for me. However Im finding that all this negotiating and ringing and sorting does take time and that is one area im getting more and more experience in, be patient is the lesson.

  So my making time now is filled with continuing to get a stock level behind me, so I can take some proper photographs of my designs and have them ready to show potential customers etc. so I have some beautiful pieces of wood I can use up to make some more scape mirrors and hopefully a couple of tables. Also I have ordered some felt which I will apply to the back of the bare mirrors on my scape series which I feel will give them a more professional look and also a splash of colour.

  Also I am continuing to contact shops and galleries to see if they want to stock my work, this will always be an ongoing project so more on this in the future.

  I have started to make a small commission as well for a client up north, nothing big but it’s a great way to improve my skills and gets my name noticed, so that’s not a bad thing at all. So that’s what I will be doing this weekend, getting this finished.

  But the biggest and best thing I’m starting to do now is experimenting with some of the ideas I have had in my sketch book for years. This project will be very interesting to me and hopefully eye opening as I have certain views on how things could be and why, so this will undoubtedly give me some great new directions. As many designers do I’m always asking questions and in turn questioning the norm, so it’s in our nature to explore, try new things and push boundaries (sorry very cliché that). Im planning to show these experiments on this blog in the next few weeks once I get things made. So look out for that as its certainly going to be a contrast to what I usually make. And will hopefully show a different side to my design thinking