its been a very long time since ive updated this blog but my latest design is a perfect excuse to write a blog post about this unique design that im very excited about. As with all my designs they start with a sketch and usually get forgotten about in numerous sketchbooks and scrap pieces of paper but this design came about from experimenting with a unique tool i have to create screw threads in wood. i already used this tool to make my multi purpose coat racks but always wanted to use it more effectively and this idea for a hat stand seemed a no brainer to me. A design of coat stand that could accommodate numerous pegs and accessories but also satisfy a wide range of users who i've found from previous designs, like the individual function led creations i make with the extra features to allow the user to use the design differently and in 'their' way and make that simple house hold staple (the coat rack) much more desirable, useful and hopefully prolong the life of that piece through engagement and the user finding a deeper relationship with that design.
Back to the coat rack. As above i wanted a hat stand that did more than just hang coats and the screw thread principle allowed me that freedom of designing a multi use 'frame' that could have features and tools added to it. This frame idea is key and thus the backbone that allows for a multi use adaptable piece of furniture i was looking for. So not only can this design be used for adding coat pegs or umbrella hangers (see pictures below) but other wooden 'tools' can simply be screwed onto the top quarter section of that frame to change it into a garment hanger or even a lamp stand. The possibilities are quite big with this design which is why i am so pleased and excited by it.
Back to its main use as a hat stand, i chose oak wood to make the main collapsible section of the stand and a section of walnut for the top quarter screw thread section. The whole frame flat packs down and screws together using that unique screw thread tool. I wanted this feature as a main requirement to hopefully sell this on my folksy shop, so the need for compactness in posting was high.
Once the cross base unit is screwed into the 1st section of oak dowel, another section is screwed into that and then simply the walnut threaded dowel is screwed into the 2nd section and the frame is complete. The user then simply screws the coat pegs, umbrella hangers onto the walnut section at the desired height and orientation, meaning the hat stand can be placed in any position allowing the user access to their garments without having to walk around the stand.
The photos below show the stand with the umbrella hanger, scarf hanger along with a standard 2 peg coat tool. there is no limit to how many tools can be added to this frame depending on the users requirements. Im now looking for somewhere for this design to be used in its correct context so i can observe its operation and adapt if necessary, then make more 'tools' for it so it can be used as another piece of furniture. An exciting future for this unique design.
Cunningham Design
Monday, 27 October 2014
Thursday, 22 August 2013
let the wood tell a story
So it’s time to show and explain another design which I have
just completed, and only just photographed. It has no name as yet, so I will
just jump straight into detailing my thinking behind it and the reasons for it.
A lot of the wood I
obtain from my local wood yard are small manageable pieces (offcuts sometimes)
because I as yet don’t have the capacity for too large a stock of wood, so I tend
to purchase the smaller sections of wood that I can make small items out of and
leave the bigger sections for my fledgling commission work. The trouble with
these smaller offcut sections I buy is that what there is, is what you get. So
you can’t really specify the size you want- it’s that size or you buy a massive
piece of wood and cut it down- which I find people shy away from. So with this in mind I wanted to turn my
attention to the redundant sections of wood that are fresh from the table saw,
that are cut off to obtain the bigger sections (the waste material). Uneven
lengths, roughly cut, untreated and just ready to sell as they are, ungraded
etc etc. I thought why can’t the
consumer have a closer connection to the wood, and understand/know where the
wood has come from and what it goes through to get to them? Why can’t I show that the discarded offcuts of
wood can still be used but also worked very minimally to produce functional,
unique pieces of design- that are just as attractive as the straight edged,
perfect sections of wood? -and retain their origins/routes back to the woodyard/human
interaction they had to get their shape. A lot of questions! So I decided to
design and make a product that used these rough redundant offcuts of wood and
adhere to a minimal interference ethic to produce a coat rack.
So basically the
wood of this design (English oak) specifically the back plate (which shows some
lovely heart wood graining) and the shelf are as they were, from the wood yard
floor. I haven’t cut or treated the back plate; all I did was sand it and oil
it. So the ends are still painted from the wood yard (which gives a unique identity
to it) the edges and end faces are not straight, so viewed head on it’s got a
natural bow along the length. It’s untouched as much as possible by me, to give
that connection to the user of where it’s from and demonstrate that not all
materials have to be planed, sawn and treated to strip the identity from it to
obtain a perceived aesthetic.
Why can’t the rough
edges, half painted ends be seen as an attractive individual quirkiness,
appealing in a way?
So once I had
prepared this piece of wood which was randomly bought by me from the wood yard
as I liked its appearance and uniqueness, I set about taking one of my previous
ideas for a coat rack and adapting it to a larger scale. And incorporate a
unique feature into it by way of an adjustable shelf that lies across the screw
in pegs. This gives the design a great added functional element to display or
place items that are needed close to hand, keys, letters, phone etc. So like my
previous coat rack design this gives the user options that other coat racks
don’t have.
I simply drilled
eleven hols along the woods length, placing six together at one to maximise the
storage space along this predetermined length. Then using my great little wood
threading tool I made 11 pegs (the only part of the design that has had
industrial machine contact, if time and resources allowed I would have turned
this pegs by hand) and put the screw thread feature on each of them so the user
can customise the rack to their individual requirements and place the pegs and
hence the shelf where they want. Lastly the shelf, which again was made from an
offcut, was routed to achieve 3 slots in it so it can attach to the pegs
anywhere along the length. The whole design is finished in Danish oil to
protect the wood and enhance that lovely heart section. The unit can then be
secured to a wall by means of simply using screws that are concealed behind the
screw in pegs.
The result of all
this…a very simple concept which importantly uses very simple construction
methods and minimal involvement by me, which was one the original
requirements/challenges of this project. So on first view this design looks
unfinished, messy, untouched in away, and maybe of poor quality. But by being
this way visually, it allows the user to understand where the wood is from and
what it goes through, it demonstrates that you haven’t got to disguise the
journey of the wood, from tree to table so to speak and it allows a closer
connection and understanding of what goes into the production/manufacture of
wood and wood based products. Hopefully changing people’s ideals and cementing
the notion that every piece of wood can be attractive and used purposefully and
still be just as desirable as a machined piece of design. Which could be seen
as being stripped of its personality and history? Not allowed to tell the story
of its industrial life.
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All links to these can be found on my Google plus page.
Tuesday, 9 July 2013
the pulse coat rail
Back when I started this blog, the idea of creating it was
to showcase my work and explain in detail the designs I make. It’s been a while
since I last made a new design but finally I was able to take some photos of
the completed design which are shown below. And I will explain my newest
creation and the reasons for it in this post.
It’s called the ‘pulse’
coat rail and the aesthetical inspiration behind it came from the digital readout of heart rate monitors and medical devices, with a continuous line spiking
up and down the screen to register heart rate etc. I had the idea in my
sketchbook for a while and finally decided to develop it into something
workable. I hadn’t worked with metal before so I spent quite a bit of time
researching into what I wanted the metal to do and how I was going to do that. And
it soon became clear from numerous mock-ups that I couldn’t shape the metal to
the aesthetic/functional requirement I wanted, so I hunted down a blacksmith. Luckily
I found one two minutes’ drive away from my home and he was happy to shape a
piece of a metal to the design I had drawn up.
The most important
and taxing part of the project was working out the profile of the rail and how it
would function and accommodate coats, hats, bags, clothes etc. and anything
else that might be stored in a hall way or with peoples garments. The reason the
rail is designed like this is by the way I observed people using coat rails and
stands. People seem to just throw their coats on hooks and stuff scarves,
gloves into pockets and hook bags on top of the coats they have just hung up. People
don’t seem to use the loops provided in the back of jackets anymore, and just
seem to throw/push their garments onto the stands/hooks and carry on with their
day. I observed this in my own home, cafes, and public places etc. So I wanted
a design of coat rail that accommodated this ‘bunching of clothes’ and ‘hang it
up and forget about it’ mentality. Also I wanted it to accommodate other items like
bags, gloves, even letters/papers. So people could quickly discard their over
garments without having to physically think about hanging something up, the
garment would just drape onto the rail effortlessly. And that’s where the loops,
horizontal sections and continuous line of the design come into play. The user
determines how to use the coat rail; they can loop, thread or stuff their
belongings into and around the metal profile. Hang bangs, stuff letters or
newspapers into the rail. And subsequently from my trials, hang a large volume
of items from this design, more than conventional coat racks/hooks. I trialled
many different profiles, using thin sections of wire I could bend by hand into
shape before deciding on the final shape shown in the photos. It allows varying
amounts of items to be stored along its length due to some straight sections
and a few traditional vertical sections for coats to be draped over.
Construction wise,
this was a fairly simple design to build, the metal element was made first and
luckily it was fairly spot on to the drawings I supplied the blacksmith. So once
I had the finished metal section I could make the plinth to mount it onto. Sapele
wood was chosen as from working with this wood before I knew it produced a
wonderful finish and machined well. I wanted the plinth to be a lot smaller in
proportion to the metal section so the design of the loop stood out. And I knew
the metal section was not too heavy so the wood plinth would easily support its
weight on the wall, via two screws.
Overall I’m very
pleased with the design and the look of it. Originally I wanted the loop
element to do just that, ‘loop’ from vertical to horizontal (effectively flow
along the wood) etc. With big radius’s between the transitions, but I was
limited to what radius’s could be created due to the limitations of pipe
benders and the minimum radius’s they could bend too, as this would have to be
fabricated in one piece. So the decision was made to bend at right angles to
allow the full shape to be made without the limitations of the machine
hindering it. I am currently working on having radiuses between the transitions
to give a more flowing aesthetic (finding the optimum radi that can be machined
will take time ). I am also looking into getting the metal section made by a
metal fabricator who could then possibly powder coat the loop, to give some
bright/bold colour options against varying types of wood plinths. Resulting in
a modern, stark appearance to further enhance the scope of this simple but
highly functional design.
Thursday, 13 June 2013
my week off
So this is my second week off in 3 weeks and as always its very busy with design projects ongoing and places visited. so this post is just a recap of whats been going on. I stayed at a very posh hotel called down hall in hertfordshire at the beginning of the week and walked around a great forest in hatfield. If you look on my flickr account http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastdesign/ you will see some of my attempts at capturing some images of my travels. And i ended up in deepest darkest suffolk yesterday for some posh food and walk around some antiques shops, as its always interesting looking and researching old furniture i find. but while going here there and everywhere this week i have always got my design projects in the back of my mind and my sketchbook in tow. luckily after a slow start my current project for a variation of my coat rack is finally moving somewhere and im visiting the local blacksmith at the end of this week to see if he can start making the metal sections i require, so keep an eye on here and my twitter feed as it progresses. https://twitter.com/eastdesign its been a while since i had a new project to show/promote so looking forward to getting this design out there.
Also i have acquired a new mobile phone so i can now start adding to my instagram feed as well! (social media overload here) so keep an eye on that as im off to cambridge today to catch a show and have a look around. Always a great place cambridge. Some great funky shops which is always a must for designers to look in, to see whats out there and whats selling. And the river cam is always a great place for photos and people watching so expect some photos from me tday on my twitter feed. Then at the weekend im off to centreparcs which is nearby in thetford forest. A family/friend thing which im not really looking forward too, but the scenery should be lovely and will give me a chance to play around with my camera and the HDR settings on it (a mine field indeed)
so a very busy week which is great but means my holiday is going vey quickly and to be honest i wish i could have a week in the workshop to really progress all the ideas i have in my head and sketchbook. but thats life sometimes. best make my way to cambridge and enjoy the sun
Also i have acquired a new mobile phone so i can now start adding to my instagram feed as well! (social media overload here) so keep an eye on that as im off to cambridge today to catch a show and have a look around. Always a great place cambridge. Some great funky shops which is always a must for designers to look in, to see whats out there and whats selling. And the river cam is always a great place for photos and people watching so expect some photos from me tday on my twitter feed. Then at the weekend im off to centreparcs which is nearby in thetford forest. A family/friend thing which im not really looking forward too, but the scenery should be lovely and will give me a chance to play around with my camera and the HDR settings on it (a mine field indeed)
so a very busy week which is great but means my holiday is going vey quickly and to be honest i wish i could have a week in the workshop to really progress all the ideas i have in my head and sketchbook. but thats life sometimes. best make my way to cambridge and enjoy the sun
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
a week off
So last week was a holiday for me from my day job, and I had
a lot to cram into it, including being best man at my brother’s wedding. I won’t
go into too much detail but it was a great day that I will remember forever and
importantly the best man speech went down well. So a perfect day but I didn’t
get any wedding cake!! Apart from doing other design related things including
hours in the workshop and visiting blacksmiths, I took a day/half a day off and
went to Southwold which is a gorgeous seaside town in Suffolk which I adore. I
went there with the camera to get some inspiration and see what was new as I
hadn’t been for a while. Included in this blog post is some photos I took, and to
keep the design theme of this blog alive I have included two photos (should
have taken more really) from a new coffee shop I went into called the two
magpies bakery. www.twomagpiesbakery.co.uk/ As soon as I walked in it reminded me of the
artisan coffee shops you find in London, with the open counters and fresh baked
goodies to tempt you in. but one of the reasons I was tempted to go in was for
the coffee. I am a coffee snob so was hoping to find somewhere closer to home
that serves proper coffee, the only other place is honey and Harvey in Woodbridge,
But the two magpies did not disappoint,
amazing coffee prepared properly from exotic blends. The other reason why I
went in there was for the design of the place. For a start there was a theme of
recyclability/reusing with the quirky idea of using rolling pins as coat hooks
as you walk in, but what struck me the most were the tiles on the walls (see
photo) just simple plywood slats about the size of a beer mat layered up like
roof tiles. A simple but stunning look was achieved. Also the shelf stood out
for me. Obviously a sculptural piece with the white rods representing a nest to
tie in with the name of the bakery. But a large striking feature in this unique
little shop. Which I loved. And don’t get me started on the tables and chairs!
Again simple paired down designs with tubular wooden/trestle legs painted half
way up with contrasting colours to add a modern minimalistic feel to the shop.
Really great. Even the counters were made from what looked like reused plywood
all tied together with simple white walls and pale colours for
cushions/pictures. If you ever get a chance to head down this part of the
country pop in, it’s a great little place. I will definitely be back there as I
have to make more of an effort to go to Southwold regularly.
The rest of my
photos from my day trip/week off can be found on my Flickr account www.flickr.com/eastdesign whilst on the topic on Flickr I really like
the new redesign they are rolling out. Making the photos stand out/be more
prominent and having some lovely little graphical icons to tie it all together.
Great layout too with the changeable banners. Look out for more photos on there
soon as I try and remember to take my camera everywhere I go, just like I try
and remember to take my sketchbook with me. Also I need to put all my photos
back on this blog as for some reason they have all disappeared! That will take
a while! Trying to get the bottom of why they disappeared but can’t think why.
Very frustrating.
Don’t forget to keep an eye on my twitter feed to see what I’m
up to design wise and day to day ramblings. just to note, for some reason I could not upload any photos to this blog post, so I need to look into that but please look at my flickr photo stream as this has all the photos from my week off including the ones showing the great design details in that coffee shop I swooned over. hopefully technical issues will be resolved soon
Tuesday, 28 May 2013
long over due
So I am not going to begin to explain why this blog update
has taken so long and I am not going to bore with you excuses either. What I am
going to do is detail what I have been up to, what I am doing now and what I hope
to achieve this year.
Also I am going to make a few new mirror designs too. My
previous mirror designs –Scape for example- proved popular and I have so many
ideas for new designs. Not only that, I have a local supplier of mirror glass
and so much wood to use! (I seem to buy wood like women buy clothes at the
moment!) So I thought I would do something I have experience in and know I can
make well, so look out for these in the summer months. Summer months I hear you
say! I know we haven’t had the best weather this year so far but I’m hopeful.
As I mentioned above I am still hunting out commissions and
have had a few interested people requiring quite unique items to be made but its
not as easy as a few phone calls and a quick sketch. But I am learning all the time
how to approach people’s requirements when it comes to making something and I know
they will come thick and fast soon. Until then I continue to promote myself on
here and twitter to name but a few social platforms that have proved fruitful
in gaining recognition and interest in my work.
Also in my last post I mentioned I had setup a flickr
account which I have been slowly filling with photos and more will appear on
there soon. So keep on eye out. Also I have acquired an instagram account too,
so all I need to do is get a phone that can run the instagram app!!!! And then fill
it with daily inspiration, images of my journeys and design projects. Its annoying
and frustrating that I haven’t sorted this out yet but I will and I am looking forward
to sharing my design journey in a different way as I know it will benefit me long
term.
But the main thing I am going to do more of is keep this
blog regularly updated. I know I have said it before but I will make a bigger effort
to keep this going now as I have a jam packed summer ahead of me (fingers
crossed). So as always keep an eye on my twitter feed which will link to this
blog as new posts arrive. But the most pressing big thing I have to do this
week is be a best man at my brothers wedding!! Wish me luck! A post will appear
on here when my best man duties have been fulfilled!
So the last update detailed that I was going to try and do
some smaller projects while the commissions slowed down and try to promote my
work and also see if I can get it displayed in more local shops. This as always
is an ongoing/slow process. Currently my work is taking up a lot of space in my
workshop and I am still searching out shops and galleries that potentially could
show my work, but I feel that it will take time to get noticed. So all I can do
is continue working away doing small designs from my mountain of sketchbooks
that I have and see what comes of them.
So currently I am
making a variation of my popular multifunctional coat hook that is detailed in
previous posts on this blog. It involves using my trusted material wood and a
new material to me, metal. This means I needed to track down a local
blacksmith. Luckily I found one only a few minutes down the road from where I live!
so while I am on holiday from my day job this week, it gives me a perfect opportunity
to get this latest project moving and involve a local blacksmith to make a piece
of the design that I currently cannot. When the design is finished I will show
it on this very blog. I am very excited about it and hope it continues my ethos
so to speak of unique functional designs that play on how people live and
interact with their surroundings in this fast paced world.
Thursday, 31 January 2013
new year slow start
Well this is a very long over due blog post after the last one was back in early december! but here i am and ready to update what has and hasn't been going on in my creative journey. So the last post detailed some car design views about the new car i had purchased and so far the car is exceeding my expectations. And the post proved popular so i will do more blog posts reviewing designs and giving my views on them and they reasons why, how etc.
But back to my news, i had a quiet christmas taking stock of what i had done that year and what i needed to do this year. Then the bad weather came which put paid to any workshop time i had planned in my freetime as it was so cold and to be honest motivation was low at that point, and since then i have not made anything new and instead have been concentrating on developing new ideas and taking stock of what i had to do in the coming year. I had a quick trip to north norfolk the other weekend to pick up some old pieces that had not sold in one of the shops that stock my designs. So i am in the process of sorting all that out and then listing it on my various design pages on www.stylisticgallery.com and www.folksy.co.uk once they are listed i can then start to design and make the new ideas i have been thinking about for too long over the cold winter months. One thing i have to do is use up the piles and piles of old wood i have lying about as i am finding wood prices have increased slightly round my way and so i am having to make sure i do not end up with too much stock but also try and make new designs to promote. So in this quiet period i am sticking to making small managable designs like my candle holders and also making some small items for my own use as im trying to find a new flat so i thought making some furniture would be a good idea and would show off my making skills too. alos i am planning to sell some of my designs at a local craft fair in the spring so more news on that later in the year. Apart from that i will continue advertising my designs that are for sale on the above websites through twitter and this blog page.
Also i have started a flickr page which i am going to use to show the various photos i take of life, experiences, designs made and things that inspire me, so keep an eye on http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastdesign/ as it will add another dimension to what i do and what drives me. So I had best get back into the making and designing swing of things as i have alot to do and a lot of time to catch up on.
But back to my news, i had a quiet christmas taking stock of what i had done that year and what i needed to do this year. Then the bad weather came which put paid to any workshop time i had planned in my freetime as it was so cold and to be honest motivation was low at that point, and since then i have not made anything new and instead have been concentrating on developing new ideas and taking stock of what i had to do in the coming year. I had a quick trip to north norfolk the other weekend to pick up some old pieces that had not sold in one of the shops that stock my designs. So i am in the process of sorting all that out and then listing it on my various design pages on www.stylisticgallery.com and www.folksy.co.uk once they are listed i can then start to design and make the new ideas i have been thinking about for too long over the cold winter months. One thing i have to do is use up the piles and piles of old wood i have lying about as i am finding wood prices have increased slightly round my way and so i am having to make sure i do not end up with too much stock but also try and make new designs to promote. So in this quiet period i am sticking to making small managable designs like my candle holders and also making some small items for my own use as im trying to find a new flat so i thought making some furniture would be a good idea and would show off my making skills too. alos i am planning to sell some of my designs at a local craft fair in the spring so more news on that later in the year. Apart from that i will continue advertising my designs that are for sale on the above websites through twitter and this blog page.
Also i have started a flickr page which i am going to use to show the various photos i take of life, experiences, designs made and things that inspire me, so keep an eye on http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastdesign/ as it will add another dimension to what i do and what drives me. So I had best get back into the making and designing swing of things as i have alot to do and a lot of time to catch up on.
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