About the process

WEEK10-DAY 7

1. Soundtrack of the day
Superstition - Stevie Wonder
Overjoy/ Lately - Stevie Wonder

2. Places to discover

The city of Milan

3. People to know
Stevie Wonder -  “Ya gots to work with what you gots to work with.”
Born prematurely, Stevie Wonder became blind just after birth. He played
instruments from an early age and nurtured his natural gift. His blindness
was never an obstacle nor a limitation:

“Do you know, it’s funny, but I never thought of being blind as a disadvantage, and I never thought of being black as a disadvantage. I am what I am. I love me!”

4. Question of the day

5. Inspiration

A little about the Letters's process:

Pierluigi and Carlo use After Effects to animate the various photoshop layers we send them. Then, Mr.Duccio adds the special sound effects, music and voices over the whole thing.Regarding our letters, we prepare our stickers and “santini” (our little saint cards of our favourite people and designers) in photoshop. Then, we edit the letter, add the hyperlinks etcetc. in InDesign.

To make flowchart  - mural.ly

Explaining things is the best way to test and measure your own understanding.

Free on-line tools to create flowcharts and diagrams.

“My father had a Super 8 camera when I was a kid and sometimes he would use it. I did some animation with it. I did a lot of flipbooks,” says Michel Gondry.

This camera was first manufactured in 1965 by Kodak for “amateurs” to use. 

6. Homework

How you generally proceed when doing a Design 101 homework. Do you always
follow a certain workflow?

This is the simple flowchart

It's the color game!

WEEK 10-DAY 6

1. SOUNDTRACK OF THE DAY

2. PLACES TO KNOW

Weimar, Germany

The Weimar Republic documentary

3. PEOPLE TO DISCOVER

Josef Albers - taught at Bauhaus and at the Black Mountain College. Josef Albers studied and explored colors and their interactions. Experiments relating to perception and resulting into optical illusions.

4. QUESTION OF THE DAY

5. INSPIRATION

Bauhaus -  the very first design academy in the world. A very special school where students got basic training in the properties of colours, forms and materials.
 
Short video about “Homage to the square” paintings’ series.

A pdf with some extracts of the book

Enter the realm of colors.

“Interaction of Colors” application for ipad 

“Interaction of Color” -  the link to the pdf or the whole book: 

 An article on the Interaction of Color

“A color has many faces...”. Colors is about relativity.

 Albert Einstein  - the proof

The Magic and Logic of Color: How Josef Albers Revolutionized Visual Culture and the Art of Seeing.

The work of Johannes Itten, another one who was associated to the Bauhaus.

 “The Art of Color.” - a book to read

 J. Wolfgang Goethe’s “Theory of Colors.”

A nice article about it.

A nice color matching game!

Corrugated cardboard style

WEEK10 - DAY 5

1. SOUNDTRACK OF THE DAY

Just starting over - John Lennon

2. PLACES TO KNOW

Weil am Rhein, Germany

Vitra Design Museum 

3. PEOPLE TO DISCOVER

4. QUESTION OF THE DAY

5. INSPIRATION

Frank Gehry was probably the first to have introduced cardboard as a material to make objects and furniture.


“One day I saw a pile of corrugated cardboard outside of my office – the material which I prefer for building architecture models – and I began to play
with it, to glue it together and to cut it into shapes with a hand saw and a pocket knife.”


Frank Gehry wiggle side cardboard chair.

The fruit bowl 

How to make the fruit bowl?

Hippocrates -  “the life so short, the craft so long to learn…” 
- “it takes a long time to acquire and perfect one’s expertise and one has but a short time in which to do it”.
Mr. Isamu Noguchi - lamps and vases and again vases. The link to Nogushi org

Yaacov Kaufman - the “studies” section of his website and the “personal exhibition” part.

Mr Kaufmann -  a fantastic vase. 

Kazuyo Sejima’s Hanahana!

6. Homework

This is Holdmykey. An object to protect furniture made of wood from scratch! I will put it near my street door so I can leave my key there everytime I get in the house. I had a few problems doing it. I was out of corrugated cardboard halfway so I went to my neighbour's house and he gave me a box. The cardboard was different and thinner! Next time I want to use just one kind of cardboard. I aslo did not plan it fully and I had to adapt along the way. Next time I'll know better. I wanted it to look kind of organic, like a sea shell or a shell of an animal.

7. Extras

Cardboard for the homeless - Cardborigami ( Suggestion from Priscila Cortez)

This was my second piece made of corrugated cardboard. My first one was a hammer. Not thor's hammer. This hammer.

For those who aren't Portuguese, we have a huge street festival in Portugal, it's called S.João, it's in June. We eat roasted sardines and drink, we dance, we watch fireworks. One thing we also do on the crowded streets is hammering eachothers heads with colorful plastic hammers. They make a squeak sound! Oh, yes, it's weird and lots of fun. (Yeah, you don't believe me!!) So this cardboard hammer was a participation in a creative contest of S. João's hammers. By that time I was living in the city of Oporto and I found homeless persons sleeping on the streets on cardboard every night. Winter nights are cold in the second biggest Portuguese city. That affected me deeply. I called this hammer The homeless to honor those people. S. João is a night where homeless people are not alone in the streets because everybody is on the streets! I hope you don't mind me sharing this story but I really liked doing this hammer even if I knew he would not stand a chance at that competition.

A vase out of paper

WEEK10-DAY 4

1.Soundtrack of the day:

I picked Nino Rotta 15 minutes of music

2.Places to go:

Carrara

A marble world

The transportation of marble

3. People to discover:

Paolo Ulian  site

A  link  about Paolo's work

4. Question of the day:

5. Inspiration

David Hockney - “you can’t teach the poetry, but you can teach the craft”

Vase and flowers - D. Hockney

“Craft” is an activity that involves making something in a skillful way. By using our hands!

“Life Support” by Oscar Medley-Whitfield: “The stem vase life support machine was created in a sporadic 24 hour challenge. It is designed to provide the best possible conditions for keeping a cut flower alive longer.”

Vases and earthquakes - a video

Properties of paper

6. Homework - Today, you will have create one vase with card (thin cardboard) or paper. Cut, paste, staple, glue, do whatever you need to render your paper material concave! You will turn a flat two-dimensional material into something concave. Something that can “hold” three-dimensional things. Not easy.

I learned to do this when I was a child. I use this whenever I need a glass to drink and I don't have one. All we need is a square of paper. If the sheet of paper is too thin I use two sheets. To make a glass you don't need to fold the bottom. The water inside will unfold it. As an evolution of the cup I decided to make it a bit bigger than I usually do. I used thin cardboard. And invented a bottom for it so it can stand on a surface. This was the result. It gets more stable once filled with stuff! I had big ideas of trying stuff for this homework as I love paper... but no free time at all and terrible weather to glue paper together, so...

Measuring attitude

WEEK10-DAY2

1. SOUNDTRACK OF THE DAY

Happy New Year!- Abba

2. PLACES TO KNOW

Milan

3. PEOPLE TO DISCOVER

Ettore Sottsass and his ceramics

4. QUESTION OF THE DAY

5. INSPIRATION

Design always starts from observation. When we look at the world, we are already designing. Our mind has to select where to focus, what to cut out and so on. We observe, we focus...The next step is to compare. We understand things because of differences. In order to go through this process, this is now
the moment to take measures. I measure, hence I am. As Leonardo da Vinci famously drew... (From the Letter Course)

Thomas Alva Edison - “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration”. 

“Come, gentlemen, I hope we shall drink down all unkindness.” Shakespeare

Sottsass said: “When I was young, all we ever heard about was functionalism,
functionalism, functionalism. It’s not enough. Design should also be sensual and exciting.”

Carlton bookcase... Kitsch, appealing to the masses and fun, it embodies colour and energy, revolting against conventional good taste!

The Great Ecstasy of the Woodcarver Steiner, an amazing movie by Werner Herzog. 

6.Homework

Choose a vase that you like, and start looking at it with a “measuring” attitude. Remember: the first step to understanding something is to observe and then to measure it. Take out your ruler, measuring tape, or any other measuring tool, and creatively write down or illustrate the dimensions of your vase. Then, share a picture of your measurement system (not the vase) with us! You have to measure quick things around you, you have to figure out possible proportion: height, width, depth. Relations between them, relation between them and our body (if we are talking about a vase, to relate the vase itself and our hand is generally a good thing).

In the Zone

WEEK1-DAY 1 - Making things

1. SOUNDTRACK OF THE DAY

Stalker soundtrack

2. PLACES TO KNOW

The Zone

3. PEOPLE TO DISCOVER

Russian moviemaker Andrei Tarkovsky.

A poet in the cinema - video

Eduard Artemyev - the composer

The good news about Tarkovsky's movies ost  here

4. QUESTION OF THE DAY

5. INSPIRATION

How to deal with our desires? How to deal with other people desires?

Movie Stalker - Solaris - Nostalghia

A link to watch him talking about arts, solitude and life.

Franco Albini and Franca Helg silver Pannocchia. 

A link to Franco Albini’s (Mr. Pannocchia) website.

A bowl is something we need. But a bowl can be something we desire. Probably, it is both. Desire and need. It has to function (the organic ribs, guarantee its resistance and allow to have a very thin section). But then, its functional element, can become a very precious decoration. A magical world where craftsmanship, function, decoration, need, desire... they all overlap in one simple thing. (From the Course Letter)

John Cage: “If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all.”

To design, does it deal with satisfying needs, or does it deal with satisfying desires? Excellent design deals with the invention of new desires. The politically correct answer would say that design is there to fix problems and satisfy needs.

To think about design through some conceptual glasses. This week we will have to make a vase. A vase can be intended as something we need (I need a vase to
hold apples). But, at the same time, a vase can be intended as something we want, without a specific need. I would like to have a vase to hold some beautiful flowers. Is it need or is it desire? Is it decoration or is it function? Where is our vase? Where are we? Why do we do this? Design is to make things with a clear idea that those things we make always carry some meaning. We have to make a vase. If we do it in paper it means something. If we do it in steel, it means something else. Materials do carry a meaning. The same goes for form, dimensions, formal qualities. (From the Course Letter)


“Let everything that’s been planned come true. Let them believe. And let them have a laugh at their passions. Because what they call passion actually is not some emotional energy, but just the friction between their souls and the outside
world. And most important, let them believe in themselves. Let them be helpless like children, because weakness is a great thing, and strength is nothing. When a man is just born, he is weak and flexible. When he dies, he is hard and insensitive. When a tree is growing, it’s tender and pliant. But when it’s dry and hard, it dies. Hardness and strength are death’s companions. Pliancy and weakness are expressions of the freshness of being. Because what has hardened will never win.” Tarkovsky

“For me the most interesting characters are outwardly static, but inwardly charged by an overriding passion”.Tarkovsky