First Ideas

During the first class of our third and last term, we were briefly introduced to the three topics that we have been given for the project brief. I wanted to write down some initial ideas that came to mind in order to be prepared for our next session

These topics are the following:

- Oriental Surprise, Explore the art of the Orient both traditional and contemporary

- Primitivism. Enjoy a ride into the past.

- Ultimate Black. Create your pieces using the colour of the night.

The  most important goal this term is to move away from the usual topics that I use. This includes multifunctional furniture and the target market being university students. I have familiarised myself with these topics, therefore, it is time to explore something new.

Additionally, this is a good opportunity to move away from furniture. I am definitely very keen on working with furniture so it is highly likely that I will incorporate some furniture elements in this project. However, I also want to add a few items that are not connected with furniture. 

During this term, I will be designing 4 products. Three of these products will be digitally, and the other one will be manufactured. Therefore, I need to ensure perfect time management skills and create items that are achievable and realistic. 

Having this in mind, when looking at the topics, I tried to set a specific target market first. Then, I could potentially develop my products from there. 

TOPIC 1

Looking at these topics at first glance, I am definitely not interested in the first topic. I know for a fact that if I work on this project, I will get bored and alienated. It does not entice me and I cannot generate multiple ideas from this title. I am glad that we have a few options as it is inevitable that some titles attract you more than others.

TOPIC 2

Looking at the second theme, 'Primitivism. Enjoy a ride into the past.', I do think that this has a lot of potential to be developed into a great project. It is a very broad topic that freely allows you to branch out to multiple outcomes and be very creative. 

In the past, I have mentioned that baby furniture and baby toys is something that attracts me a lot, but never had the opportunity to explore. This can be a great opportunity for me to use kids as a target market. I can use existing examples, surveys and my own personal experience to form unique products that I consider necessities or useful in kids lives. 

Expanding on this idea, I could potentially use elements from a children's life in order to form my pieces of furniture. One example could be origami. Origami was a large part of my childhood, therefore, I can use the pattern and shapes in those origami designs to create furniture.

Additionally, I can potentially explore products based on my own experience. I could potentially sketch out multiple events that happened during my life and then get inspiration from them for my own products.

This is a good topic for my target market. Enjoy a ride into the past can be interpreted in many ways. I can choose to include any age. 

Moreover, this topic does not specifically refer to my own experience. I have linked it to my own experience as it can be easier to relate to and get inspiration from. I prefer when my work is related to my own experience as it makes it easier to spot out mistakes or areas of improvement.

However, another aspect of this title that entices me a lot is to go back in the future. I could potentially choose an era that I did not have friction with. To elaborate on this concept, I could research 70s and 80s pieces of furniture and then create modifications to improve it. I could conduct surveys from parents and grandparents and then learn from their own experience.

My parents always help me generate and process different ideas, so I think that it would be a good experience to have them narrate some parts of their life.

It is always very interesting to look at furniture from a different time. 

One idea that came to mind is to create a chair inspired from a juke box. 

I could research different patterns used, colour scheme, the specific shapes and make it resemble an 80s era. 

This specific topic excites me a lot and I would like to create further research on it before finalising my topic. 

Further to the previous idea, I could explore different artworks or songs written in the past and then draw inspiration from those for my own products. 

I could potentially look at an artwork and then recreate the products seen in that artwork. I could add my own touch of modern elements and use those products as primary inspiration to my design. I could draw inspiration from those elements to create something unique from artworks that were completed decades ago. 

TOPIC 3

When looking at the third and final topic, multiple ideas come to mind.

The first idea that I consider is researching and finding a poem about the elements of the night. Then, I can use that poem and interpret it in different ways in order to create products. I believe that products inspired by a poem is something very unique and different. I have never created something like this and I believe that it is a good opportunity to explore new outcomes.

The second idea that comes to mind is to create high-end, expensive furniture. This can incorporate patterns and expensive materials. However, since I will be manufacturing one of them, I need to keep everything between a limit. If I do decide on very expensive materials, I can perhaps use cheaper ones to replicate the manufactured product. 

In the last two terms, I had to ensure that I worked with plywood. My target market was university students, therefore, I needed something cheap and durable. This term, I can create something completely opposite. I can create very expensive and modern furniture dedicated only to the sector of the market that can afford it.

An artist I can look at potentially for high-end, complex furniture is Tom Dixon. I briefly looked at some of his work and it looks very delicate. 

Fan Dining Chair Black (n.d)

Pylon Chair White (n.d)

Far Chaise Longue right wool (n.d)

It is clear that Dixon uses a unique and original approach to his furniture. He makes it very specific for a target market and uses unusual shapes and dimensions for each. I could look at his work in more detail and clearly examine each one in the future. 

CONCLUSION:

It is evident that the last two themes have generated the most ideas. Over the weekend, I will carefully consider each idea and start researching different aspects in order to reach a conclusion on which topic I will be using. I did not include research in this post as I wanted it to be only based on my initial thoughts. I had a lot of ideas so it would be very time consuming to research all of them. In the next posts, I will be filtering and choosing some ideas to research to see which one is more suitable. I am currently mostly interested in the 70-80s themes in the theme Primitivism. However, this may change in the future.

It is important to note that these are just initial ideas. In the future posts, I will be adding inspiration that comes along the way. My end products may not be related to any of these ideas mentioned.