Mitchell hunter task 3

DROOG DESIGN

RAG CHAIR 1991

DESIGN & SOCIETY TASK

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Mitchell Hunter_ 3489930_June 2015

Contents

Contents

Introduction

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Other Works

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The Rag Chair

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Documentation

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Ideation 1 - Tea pot

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Ideation 2 - Coat rack

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Ideation 3 - Desk lamp

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Reflection

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References

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“Less is more, but only if it adds something of

meaning, if it makes space for something else.�

(Renny Ramakers, 2002)

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Introduction In 1992 the editor in chief of design magazine “Industrieel Ontworp”, Renny Ramakers, set out to create a show to exhibit a new breed of Dutch designers. Designers that she believed would be a breathe of fresh air to the current design climate (Ramakers & Bakker 1998). The show contained pieces such as Tejo Remys “Chest of Drawers” and a drift wood cupboard designed by Piet Hein Eek. Although the show was unsuccessful, Renny believed she had discovered “a genuinely new approach to design, a break from the past”. In 1993 Gijs Bakker, an industrial designer and professor at the Design Academy in Eindhoven, began planning to exhibit some of his current and past students at the 1993 Milan Furniture fair.

When Renny caught wind of this she contacted Gijs and made the suggestion that they should collaborate with each other on the exhibition.

The exhibition was to contain some designs from Renny’s previous exhibition as well as some new addition such as Rody Grauman’s “85 lamps”. The exhibition was entitled “Droog Design”, the word Droog was taken from the Dutch word “dry” because of the subtle sense of humour characterised in their designs. The show was a resounding success with many of the pieces exhibited going on to be referred to as icons of the early 90’s. This success convinced Renny and Gils to create Droog studio, a collective to showcase up and coming designers work with one clear idea in mind, that the design should have a clear concept with clean lines and with product usability at the centre of design, other than that, anything goes (Ramakers 2008)

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Other works

Chest of Drawers Tejo Remy - 1991

Tejo Remy collected found drawers, gave them new enclosures and loosely bundled them into a chest. His pioneering vision was to make one’s own paradise with what one encounters, as Robinson CrusoÍ did on his island.

85 Lamps

Rody Graumans - 1993 This lamp uses only what is necessary to create light: bulbs, wires, connectors. By multiplying these essential elements an opulent chandelier is created. Less and more are united in a single product.

Tree Trunk Bench Jurgen Bey- 1999

A fallen tree can serve as a seat. The addition of bronze classical chair backs makes it a proper piece of furniture, a crossing between nature and culture.

Descriptions from Droog studio

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Rag chair (1991)

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“The rag chair is constructed from second-hand clothing bound onto a backing board

with steel straps. It makes obvious reference to the concerns of consumerism and recycling whilst highlighting the concept of reuse in a contemporary design context. Often works made from recycled materials attempt to conceal their origins; Rag chair, however, celebrates the use of second-hand materials, its aesthetic contrasting strongly with the highly finished slickness of much contemporary design.�

Description from the National Gallery of Victoria

Materials - rags, metal strips Product height - 93 cm Package Weight - 56.00kg

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Documendation 50

93

60

60

7

20

7

27

째

5 .6

째

0 .5

98

65

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Ideation 1 - Teapot I incorporated the jute rope from the Chest of Drawers as the handle

For this design I played with the idea of negative space such as found in the Chest of drawers, these would be painted.

For this design I chose to incorporate the shapes of the drawers as holes through the teapot.

For this concept I chose to design a teapot using Remy Tejo’s Chest of Drawers as my influence. I took inspiration from the use of negative space in creating these teapots, as well as the using the jute strap as inspiration for a rope handle for the lid

I tried using a circular center hole this time, seeing what it would look like with a less angular hole

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I tried using a smaller stout for this design making it a little more compact

Materials

Tea pot and lid - porcelain Handle - jute rope

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Ideation 2 - Coat rack This one I used the same silver birch to create a tipi shape This was the most stripped back form i was able come up with, a branch of silver birch which would be leaned into the corner of a room

Holes are drilled through the branch to allow for the use of hangers

Brass band used to fasten branches together

The hooks are made in brass to mimic the back rest of the Trunk bench

More refined concept, pine poles that are stained and painted for a cleaner look

For this concept I channeled

the Tree Trunk Bench which uses possibly the most stripped back form possible to make a bench; a fallen tree and seat backs. The seat back were made from brass.

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Smaller brass strap

Ideation 3 - Desk lamp Another simple desk lamp with hanging globes, would be made from PP and textile chord

A clasic desk lamp with the inclusion of 4 globes

For this concept I took some classic

desk lamps and gave them a little more “Less + More� by using the approached used for the design of the 85 Lamps

This lamp mimic the bunching up of the 85 lamp, on a smaller desk friendlier way.

Lamp would be made from PP and textile chord.

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Reflection At the beginning of this task, when first examining the back catalogue of Droog design, I first felt that their pieces where impractical and pretentious. I still found many of there pieces to be beautifully made and featuring very striking designs, but I was not sold on their concept of less + more. Through the research assignment I was immersed in there concepts, beliefs and the context of their pieces and I grew understand what, as a collective, they were aiming to achieve and I began to love their work. In a time were design was becoming stagnant, with the same repetitive motifs, Renny Remakers and Gijs Bakker were able to find a new direction in design. A breath of fresh air.

When asked to create new pieces based on the designs of Droog studio, I initially thought it would be an easy task to complete, however, each piece is so unique that it was hard to stay in line with the Droog concept. Also because they are a collective rather than an individual each piece has an entirely different feel and style adding to the difficulty of this task. In the end though, I felt that I came up with some interesting takes on the Droog concept as well as more importantly learning how to channel influences into creating new designs.

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References Design Indaba, (2015). Renny Ramakers on Droog's different perspective on design | Design Indaba. [online] Available at: http://www.designindaba.com/videos/conferencetalks/renny-ramakers-droogs-different-perspective-design [Accessed 9 May 2015].

Design.designmuseum.org, (2015). Droog / - Design/Designer Information. [online] Available at: http://design.designmuseum.org/design/droog [Accessed 9 May 2015].

Design.designmuseum.org, (2015). Memphis / Design Museum Collection : Design/Designer Information. [online] Available at: http://design.designmuseum.org/design/memphis [Accessed 9 May 2015].

Postell, J. (2007). Furniture design. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.

Ramakers, R. (2002). Less + more. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers.

Ramakers, R. and Bakker, G. (1998). Droog Design. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers.

YouTube, (2015). Interview with Renny Ramakers, Droog Design, Amsterdam. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT4VRqbz_R0 [Accessed 9 May 2015].

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