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Archive of "Uncategorized" Category
Furniture crisis
My faculty has been taking part in the Stockholm Furniture Fair for some years. We decided to put some proper effort into this event, funding a stand and transport for our students to participate in this most important event in product and furniture and interiour design in the Nordic countries. The autumns are full of student activity for the event. Our program includes a ’self defined’ project in the autumn of 3rd year BA. This is for the students to gain experience in creating their own brief, problem solving and self profiling. We have named the 3rd year in BA as the year for ‘FINDING YOURSELF’. At that moment in their development, the students should have a perspective of what they want to do: define a master project, get a job, travel or maybe even leave the idea of being a designer.
Many students try to create products to be sent to the Furniture Fair and our 2nd class in visual communication takes on the project of creating a visual profile including posters, name card, press releases etc. During my years here as dean producers and publications have approached the students after the fair, resulting in some press and some items have ended in the shops.
I think that furniture design is one of the most interesting fields of design these days. Why? Because the field is in a total crisis. People are definitely coming to the conclusion that there is enough furniture in the world already and no need for more. Last time I went to the Stockholm fair I estimated 1500 different ways to sit down were available and almost all of us have enough chairs in our life. So our students are trying to redefine their direction, with some support of the teachers while others keep hitting their head against the rock, promoting more boring versions of chairs that already exist in much better designed versions.We have started talking about situation design, including spatial and corporeal solutions. Often including relational design like things that change and respond to users needs. The users create the situations themselves through different interactions with the product. This is somewhat the same genre as the art referred to in Bourriaud’s book: Relational Aesthetics.
Some of our students, especially the students in MA are developing projects in this direction. I am excited to see how this kind of product and situational design will develop in the future. This reminds me of the crisis in graphic design in the seventies and the creative explosion that resulted after that crisis. I will report about those situational relational projects later, like a project about the redevelopment of the Norwegian West Coast furniture industry through the production of pieces for the users to create their own furnitur, a project about less energy use in the home for lighting etc. Many very interesting projects.
Last Friday we had the last selection of projects to go to the fair next month, here are images of some of the products.
20. Nov. 2007, Hacking and Security
What is a hacker? Is it a bad person? Not really. Is it someone that cheats? I guess so, but how? Answer: by knowing the systems that he/she is dealing with, looking out for new possibilities, new avenues, methods that are not allowed by the rules. But, that is design-methodology! We look out for the possibilities beyond what has been determined, and why? Because we are supposed to work on problem definitions while looking out for tasks. What is there to hack? Answer: electronic stuff. And today, lots of it because almost all products are computers. In last months Intersections07 conference the British product designer Richard Seymour from Seymourpowell-design said: “I AM A CORPORATE ELECTRICIAN!” Last year a friend was passing by our copier in KHiO, stopped and said: “This copier has a bluetooth!” Took out his phone and fiddled for a while until the copier printed out a picture from his phone. No wires, no password, no problem. He could have used up our paper and toner if he wanted to. Our system in the copier had no defence system. He could probably communicate to our toaster, microwave etc. I guess this is no news to all of you ’switched-on’ people out there, browsing over web, picking up blogs and soundbites and videos. But this podcast that I have been watching is revealing stuff to me. Pablos Holman – is a an inventor, futurist, IT security expert, blogger – and a notorious hacker and innovator showing some tricks of the hacker and that the world is not so ok. It is amazing what the hackers can do. All products today are computers. Product manufacturers have no update processes for their products. In the interesting podcast Pablos as a hacker explains the world of products. He says: “I am over worrying that there is no security out there.” “There is none.” Logging into bluetooth, rfid, wifi, gsm, gps – all give signals about our movements. All tools are now computers, our clothes have embedded rfid’s. — I recommend the podcast named Implementing Science Fiction + Future Technology Trends + Education through Social Play – especially the first 30 minutes when Pablos discusses. He says: “You have to spend a hell of a lot of time finding out what is possible, this something companies are not good at. Hackers are good at that” There are more podcasts and info on the PICNIC07
reorganization
We are doing a reorganization of our site. We have archives in other locations and will upload them here when all is ready. Here is the site that Dori has used over 4 years and here is the old DogS site.
