As Editor of the Month this months, as well as designer of the Central Bar at 100% Design, I thought it would be interesting to theme this months posts, in accordance with the activities that are surrounding the design, assemblage and construction of this space at 100% design.

In particular I want to address the fact that although I am a designer I am also now heavily involved in the construction of the bar, a role I am not generally used to, and which has opened questions for me around my practice and more generally the relationship between designing and making. So as well as posting updates of the construction, I have also asked a series of designer and makers to comment on this complex and fascinating relationship. Posts will be uploaded over the next three weeks in accordance with the developments of the construction. Updates to follow shortly.

www.post-works.com/

Matthew Butcher is a designer working across the fields of architecture, art and performance art. He is co founder of Post Works, a dynamic art and design practice founded in 2008. Post Works recent projects include a reworking of Allan Kaprow’s ’18 Happenings in 6 Parts’, as part of the Hayward Gallery’s exhibition ‘Move: Choreographing You’, 2010 and ‘No Stop, Statue, Machine’ a film installation shown at the ICA in London www.post-works.com. Matthew also regularly teaches architecture, with positions held at the Bartlett School, U.C.L. and Greenwich University. He is a co-founder, and editor, of the architectural paper P.E.A.R.: Paper For Emerging Architectural research.

The idea is you walk into a white room and get your height measured on the wall. Your name is added and the date too.The exhibition began in May with an empty room and a few members of staff armed with pens. Almost 4 months and tens of thousands of names later the
wall is full.

My name is in there somewhere, although due to being average height I lost it soon after it had been added such was the volume of other names. The exhibition runs till 25th September. Go and see it. And be part of it too.

Peter & Paul

Website:www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/980

Each of the six chapters in the story depicts a different aspect of communication: learning a language, making small talk, expressing emotions, etc. Rich in opportunities for discovery, BLA BLA illustrates these concepts through endearing yet perplexing characters. The figures were designed by Caroline Robert using a variety of techniques, both traditional and hi-tech.

“BLA BLA uses xerography, drawing on paper, ActionScript-generated animations, puppet stop-motion combined with real-time 3D mapping, etc.,” Morisset explains. “I am inspired by projects that feel free aesthetically. I wanted BLA BLA to feel hand-made, imperfect, fragile, so we forget about the technology.”

The music as well as the characters’ speech were fragmented into tiny clips and then scored through programming. Composer Philippe Lambert designed a progressive soundscape that uses “controlled randomness.” Morisset relied on the skills of software developer Édouard Lanctôt-Benoît for the programming of BLA BLA.

The work stands apart in its emphasis on achieving an emotional response in the viewer/actor. “I wanted to create moods and generate emotions through an interactive piece,” Morriset says. “It’s quite hard to do dramatic crescendos on a website… I thought it would be an interesting challenge.”

As part of the creative process for BLA BLA, Morisset extensively researched interactive narrative. Seeking a filmmaking language specific to the online realm, he defined a new grammar of non-linear editing. Through the very format of the work, he therefore questions the challenges of communication and of telling a story in which the spectator is a participant: “The project in itself explores the grammar of a new medium,” he says.

BLA BLA thus offers a new vision of communication in the wider sense, of how our natural behaviours and interactions with others play out in the world. “The relation between the user and the film is part of the message,” Morriset explains. “We wrote and created it based on universal stuff: the social nature of humans, our fear of the unknown, the desire for appropriation and freedom, and paradoxically the love of being taken by the hand.”
Morisset has been exploring the narrative potential of interactive art for twelve years now. His pioneering work in the field has included several collaborations with the group Arcade Fire, including “be oNline B”, widely considered the first interactive music video, and MIROIR NOIR, a documentary portrait of the band. With the support of the NFB, he now offers us BLA BLA, a one-of-a-kind experience that further refines his hallmark: re-imagining “once upon a time” for the digital age.

Watch the Film:www.nfb.ca/interactive/

Peter & Paul

Peter & Paul

Website:www.shaunbloodworth.com/
Website:www.giveupart.com/

Kill Your Darlings is a motto used by writers to describe the painful process of cutting cherished ideas to refine the overall story.

We worked with Kid Acne and the Millennium Galleries to curate and design the show and merchandise.

Peter & Paul

Website:www.museums-sheffield.org.uk
www.kidacne.com/

Photos; Nigel Barker, Sven Davis, Dan Sumpton

Peter and Paul is an independent creative communications agency based in Sheffield – we’re passionate about design and how we communicate and connect with people.

Formed in 2005 by partners Peter Donohoe and Paul Reardon we are now a studio of six experienced planners, creatives, designers and developers. Our portfolio consists of branding and design projects for clients in the arts, culture and design sectors including several commercial clients and increasingly, third sector organisations.

LIVING
I would wake up in my apartment on the 100th floor in the centre of Paris, walk to the window to look out onto the metropolis below.

If this design by Rochambeau Cyrille, Bertin Joel, Herizo Randrianarison is an indication of my future apartment block I would be very happy. The mixture of shapes and forms reminds me of the game Tetris and leads your eye through the design. The building boasts parks, shops, housing and cultural facilities so it is really a mini city. Maybe in 2050 I will have the possibility that I could sleep wherever I wanted? Just think of a location and mentally I was transported there, similar to the film Avatar where your mind was taken to another world.

Next would be the preparations for the day, breakfast and clothing. For cooking and food storage I would have installed my Electrolux modular kitchen.

This design oozes modern living. The modular aspect creates a very personal area that is individual and unique for your needs. For food preparation and cooking I would not have to lift a finger. I would simply think cut this carrot into strips and I would get a carrot that was cut in strips, maybe you could even buy food by thinking this way, which is not dissimilar from home delivery we have today just a lot quicker, well instant.

Clothing myself has drastically changed by the year 2050. I now simply print the clothing I want to wear in the morning and recycle it at night by the device shown above, no more washing dirty clothes.

TRAVEL
Although by the year 2050 I would like to think I could just imagine a location and appear there, a little like the film ‘jumper’, I cant see this being a reality. However I do think that that individual eco transportation is a definite reality. Such as this BMW ‘Halbo’ concept, and if it could drive on air then even better. Sucking air in like a vacuum and pushing out like a pressure washer to propel myself through the skies would be great fun. With this flying transport method I could live in Spain and work in London, great!

FOOD
Isle 10 is where I can find the eggs I believe, not in 2050! Vertical skyscraper farms are a reality now. I realise some may say we will be taking food pills but I am not a fan of this future prediction, I like eating. Therefore vertical farms are the solution. Everything you need contained within levels. Chickens on one floor and wheat on the next. The design below by Lee Dongjin, Park Jinkyu and Lee Jeongwoo of South Korea considers everything from the cycles of grazing, alternative uses such as restaurants and urban markets to eco sustainability. Great design. Of course shopping may also involve you not having to travel. Maybe when cooking your tea you realise ‘oh I need flour’. Currently you would have to stop cooking and rush to the shops, but this is 2050, just think I need flour and it instantly appears. Obviously this is being quite imaginative but hey its 2050 now.

Of course these are not the only aspects to consider. Will we be working 9-5 or will by then we have the ability to split the brain in half, working in London and swimming in the Mediterranean at the same time? Will we actually move from place to place of will we just move the environment to us?

Below is a small Q and A with Michael Goatman, Head of Industrial Design at Coventry University, about the future of lifestyles and the design industry.

Q AND A – MICHAEL GOATMAN

What is your background within product design?
Graduated in 1977 and spent 5 years involved with various design consultancies. Following this 10 years was spent at Phillips, in the UK and Eindhoven. Upon moving back to the UK Michael moved into higher education whilst also recently working with Cannon and Samsung as a design consultant.

How do you feel the future design industry will develop both within the UK / Worldwide?
The design industry will develop into a worldwide platform, instead of many national platforms that currently operate, with China being key in mass production. The UK will still remain famous for design intelligence throughout the worldwide platform however there will be a increase in individual product production, with the consumer being involved with the design process designing their own products.

For the younger generations that are thinking of or currently undertaking design studies what advice would you give them?
Do not think that your careers will be like mine, designing particular types of products. You will be the designers that think how, when and where can we enable / use this dynamic product methodology. You will be thinkers.

In 2050 how would you like to live?
Imagination is the key here. Transportation without having to control things manually, shopping without having to leave your chair by thinking I would like a chocolate bar and one appears and sleeping anywhere you wish like a beach not a bed.

During the discussion with Michael he was very enthusiastic and passionate about methodologies and design potential regarding the future. He mentioned there are already research programmes being undertaken into the area of individual product production. Now this may seem odd you being able to design/produce your own products but it’s not dissimilar to Apple allowing you to make your own music using Garage Band.

There are no limits for the future, just the limit of you imagination. There will be people that say, ‘you cannot think I want that and it appears’, but just remember one day people were saying man cant fly, it just needs that one spark of genius to snap in someone’s brain. Who will be the Leonardo da Vinci of the 21st century, is it you?

Although this is just a very small area of lifestyles in 2050 I hope it has been an interesting read and made you consider how you would like the future to develop.

Author – Nick Morris

‘SHELF’
This one-piece powder coated steel form oozes simplistic design, as does their entire collection. The slightly matt finish and crisp edges of the steel help to create that high quality desirable finish and product.

‘WOODENLEGS’

The second product ‘Woodenlegs’ uses a mixture of materials, creating an interesting balance between the natural and man made world. Featuring oak legs that are secured by the glossy aluminium top, this light would look great in any designer’s apartment. Although not stated on the site I think that this design could also be a chair, this may not be the original design purpose but people use products in many different ways that the designer does not anticipate. For more information / products check out their site.

Author – Nick Morris

Website:www.benoitdnb.com/