The Festive Period

It has  been a while since I have posted but I have news which is always a reason to write. The last few weeks have been filled with exciting events and probably less work getting done than should be but, well, these things happen. For example, I am writing this sitting looking out the window of the Tate Modern in London.

A new mix has been found for my final honours project which incorporates another recycled material, fly ash into the mix and this gives the small amounts of cement more to bind to. Also, working with circular moulds has shown to be a a lot more stronger due to all the stress points facing inwards. 

As far as my business plan is going, it is nearly there and will be handed in on the 15th as planned. 

What else is going on you may ask since I mentioned I had news. In the last week I have been culturally amazed by the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of Paris with accordion players on the metro, the Louvre, the Basilique du Sacre Coeur lit up in the night sky and countless amazing foods and wines. The trip topped off by seeing British group the XX in le Centre Centquatre, a contemporary arts centre.  I have then moved down to London and visited various exhibitions before meandering through the bustling streets of this great city. Visiting Christmas trees made of Jack Daniels barrels in Covent Garden, the ever joyous Hamley's Toy Shop as well as eating kangaroo and ostrich in Borough Market. So even though work may have taken a minor back seat it was definitely worth it!

Speak soon folks, and have a Merry Christmas!

People Design Technology

Had a hand-in on Friday called People Design Technology. This was to show how my project was going to relate to People, Design Language and Technology (in my case materials) and by materials I mean recycled building materials, mainly concrete.  These are my boards below:

Concrete Teacups and Mortar Saucers

So progress with testing the versatility of concrete is coming along. So far not only have I been testing different mixes of concrete but also different moulds to put the material in. 

The main mix that I have decided on is using GGBS or Granulated Ground Blast Furnace Slag. This is a by product of steel and iron making. The molten iron slag is quenched in water or steam which gives a glassy, granular product. This is then dried and ground down. It is light in colour which allows me to play around with different colours and finishes knowing they will show up more clearly. (This is will become apparent in the following week) I have also tried using cork but this did not work very well, however, I plan to try a different mix which hopefully will.

I have also been using different materials for moulds including silicone, different plastics, wood and I plan to try laminated wood today. 

The set backs so far have been that even though I can get a great smooth finish the material can be very porous and quite brittle. I think this may be from too many air bubbles becoming trapped and possibly too much water in the mix. Today I will test a mix with bigger bits of recycled aggregate which should help bind the materials more. I also plan to try using hay to bind the materials. Below are some images of what I have managed so far! (With loads more to come I might add!)

Progress

So, apart from being very aware that I need to update this blog more often, there has been quite a lot of progress.

As far as my business module is going, I am halfway through writing my first-draft which is extremely stressful but promising.

The final project, which I'm sure people are more interested in, is moving along more slowly than originally anticipated which means the levels are going to have to be cranked up starting Monday morning. I'm using mortar rather than concrete now, which still allows me to use recycled aggregate and cement replacements. I am also looking at using come ink toners to try some crazy colours so will keep you posted on that!

The main question I have to ask is how would you react to a dining set that was made out of cement, sand and recycled concrete? What if that dining set was magenta or cyan? Guess someone lucky will find out soon enough!

Guru Day

Yesterday we had "Guru Day," it was inspiring and really helpful to speak to people in industry and find out what they thought of where my project was heading and taking on board they had to offer. The gurus were Richard Banks and Tim Reegan, who both work with Microsoft Research in Cambridge, as well as Martin Bontoft and Paul Greenhalgh who both work at Team Consulting. Below is my set up for my desk and what I showed the gurus.

All the gurus were extremely helpful and showed great interest in what I had to say about my project and it was very reassuring that people thought the outcome would be exciting. As well as speaking to the gurus individually there was also a panel section in which questions like what are your pet hates? and what skills do you need to be a good designer? Other questions included what do you look for when you are recruiting? and who are are your personal design heroes/heroines?

This brought to light a hero for one of the gurus who I have always been in awe and inspiration of and even though I knew of his inventions never thought of him as a design hero and I am not sure why. I am speaking about Leonardo da Vinci. He was a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and a writer. His inventions were mind blowing, especially for his time below is one the I particularly like, the ornihopter; designed in 1493, it is explorative rather than working and this appeals to my own design values:  

Who are your design heroes and why? Who inspires you and gets you motivated?

Going More In Depth

After delving into the materials that are wasted on building sites and derelict sites and then narrowing it down into materials that are more likely to have been left, I have decided to focus my current research on concrete. I am going to look at the different materials that can be used in making concrete and the different finishes that result of these, how I can change the finish by trying different materials and how I can replace the materials to make concrete a more eco-friendly material.

I am also going to look into materials that can bond concrete that have an extremely low environmental impact or none at all what so ever. For a cultural probe I am going to look into making a series of objects out of concrete and see how people react to these items.

In the meantime here are some great items that have been made out of concrete.

Where am I?

So getting into discovering where I want to go as a designer and how to show this through my honours project is a lot more challenging than I originally thought but here is where I am at the moment.

After an inspiring talk last week by Colin Burns, who showed us how to find out where we are in our project and ways to figure out where we want to me using a process by Eddie Obeng "Walking in the Fog". It showed us different areas that we could be with our project and finding out which one would help us realise what we need to achieve and how.

Using this process I realised that I was a "movie." I know what materials I want to use and have ideas for what I want to create but I am not sure how to use the materials in an effective way. Back to the research for the time being. I have also decided that I can get valuable information from cultural probes and have some crafty ideas, so will keep you posted on that!

Here is another incredible bit of recycling design to keep you all going. It is a Buddhist temple in Thailand made out of recycled beer bottles and it has a very spiritual  feeling about it in my opinion, what do you think?