small object design

Did you know that in the world of industrial and environmental design a "small object" can be classified as any object smaller than a truck? When I registered to take a Small Object Design course at my school three weeks ago I never knew that I'd find myself designing, modeling and constructing furniture!  But as weird as this might sound as a jewellery designer...I actually grew to like it.  There are so many similarities that can be drawn between furniture and jewellery design - yes, there are many differences too (scale being one of them) but they also hold many comparisons when addressing the form and construction of these objects. While I have always had a keen interest for interior design, my appreciation for environmental and architectural design have most definitely heightened in taking this course...I've actually found myself admiring the quality of design and craftsmanship in the furniture like forms I've seen in passing these past few days...weird.

Aside from the fact that I have grown to like furniture design; I did struggle with the time constraints of the course. For example, we were expected to design, model and construct a furniture-like form in the matter of two days - which is incredibly quick, considering we had just learned the rhino software a week prior.  Oh well, sometimes you've just got to push through.

process work

While I was not particularly interested in the style we chose to pursue for this project, I do feel as though I have acquired a skill set that I can continue to explore and apply to my own jewellery designs (and perhaps even a little furniture too...ha ha).  I think the most beneficial skill I gained through the course was the ability to output precise orthographic drawings! Yes, we've learned how to do draw from various perspectives in school, but this has got to be the most efficient way to produce a refined set of drawings. These actually made me so excited because I see potential in this technology as a tool for expressing one's ideas without having to construct dozens of samples (yes, samples are still good - but let's be efficient here!)

"end" bicycle seat I designed in the midst of all the chaos