Versions of Vision by Eric Palmér

OVERALL COVER

HDK DM1 E XHIBITION COURSE

2011.10.31

2012.02.07

2012.02.10

2012.02.11

R E

STOCKHOLM FURNITURE AND LIGHT FAIR

N 4

O F V

I 6

INQUIRIES INTO THE ASPECTS OF COLLECTIVITY AND SHARING. JOIN THE CONVERSATION.

index

I N T RODU C T I ON 1

P I C T U R E PA S S AG E 31

Conversation 11 Communication Group 64

F OR E WOR D 3

S H OWCA S E CON V E R S AT I ON S 40

IN T E RV E I W S A RT I CL E S 5

Sharing is Caring Salla Johanna Kirjalainen

Glossary

CON TAC T

Conversation 2 BEYOND

Conversation 3 Psyke 48

COL L E C T I V E M E T H OD S

Conversation 4 BORROWED

Versions of Vision I 16

Demomixcratictape 18

The Pool Tool Poster 20

Pay it Forward 22

Collage of the Collective

Conversation 5 Inside Series 52

Conversation 6 In Order 54

Conversation 7 How can you make your voice heard ? 56

Conversation 8 Circulating M Seat 58

Versions of Vision II

Conversation 9 Take Root

Collected Typography 28

Pattern Pool

Conversation 1 Secret Meeting

Fredrik Hansson

Glossary

BL O G

Kitchen Table Tina Carlsson

Conversation 12 Space Group

Conversation 10 Placed

COL OP H ON 71

INSTRUCTIONS Instructions for the collaborative layout of the publication Rotating schedule where each person has one / two days to make changes to the document. First round December 20 - All participants start to work December 21 - All participants deliver to the Dropbox at midnight (24.00) Second round December 22 - All participants start the second round December 23 - All participants deliver to the Dropbox at midnight (24.00) Third round December 25 - Eric delivers to the Dropbox at midnight (24.00) December 26 - Eva-Lotta delivers to the Dropbox at midnight (24.00) December 27 - Eva delivers to the Dropbox at midnight (24.00) December 28 - Karolina delivers to the Dropbox at midnight (24.00) December 29 - Klara delivers to the Dropbox at midnight (24.00) December 30 - Michael delivers to the Dropbox at midnight (24.00) Fourth round January 3 - We discuss, evaluate and continue with the development of our ideas and form. Parts of the Publication to layout (Key word in brackets): - Foreword / text part - Conversation / showcase part (Conversation) - Method part (Instructions, inspiring, glossary) - Voice part, the class, historically... (Collectivity vs individuality, many voices) - Free spread Put fonts used in the Fonts folder and all images in the Images folder. All layout files goes in the Archive folder. Export your InDesign file to a .idml file and also to a .pdf. Name both of your exported files one number greater than the one you started working on. That is, if the file you started working on was named 12 you save yours as 13. Put the .idml file in the InDesign folder and your .pdf in the PDF folder. Nice and simple? Great.

I 01 versions of vision

V er s i o n s Of V i s i o n I 2011-11-17

first publication

V er s i o n s Of V i s i o n I I 2012-01-03

second publication

V er s i o n s Of V i s i o n I I I 2012-02-07

this publication

V 02 versions of vision

Foreword

fore word

E va Dahlin Pascal Prosek

INTRODUCTION (?) Thoughts of a past with smell and visual images. Not a strictly joined system.

In the course DIALOGUE master students of design at the School of Design and Crafts worked in relation to the exhibition at the Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair 2012. VERSION VISIONS OF VERSIONS (title?) Serve the collective - altruism - ideas versus the collective. To blend bodies together as material to fuel the operation and bury theories in the swamp intertwined in it’s precipice. The exhibition as knowledge production? How can we understand design today? What was it that made us interconnected, which theme decided the word and the room? Are there visions in our time? (Questions?) POINT OF DEPARTURE. (Capitals?) VERSION Someone said that all art is determined by social class. The theme’s carnal body does not change but the words’ and the rooms’ significance, another meaning creeps up and lay in your way. Surfaces at the right time, just like the people who become important for one’s fate. Versions of Vision is the title trying to encircle and describe the work and the events that have taken the form of inquiries, space, as dialogue, as a publication, as things. Make me available! I mean not so engaged with the former meaning of the collective so that the other “other” can’t find its way. Seeking words that can bear different meanings of a collective and a “you”. Room for ones with broken wings in solidarity. There it smells of birch and something runs to and becomes clarity: During the Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair 2012 these forms are gathered in the form of the exhibition. A form that has the ability to gather and through its’ idea and content expand understanding and produce knowledge. In the exhibition Versions of Vision a generation of designers show the will to understand prevailing perceptions and agreements, but also tackle possible alternatives. By trying out new approaches to methods, dialogues and processes ingrained ideas are thrown into new contexts and situations. Then: the individual was subordinate the idea.

Image. “The actors will show their knowledge through suggestion. They place themselves and the audience in trance. A possible realization of time (long sequence) transformed into a room (shorter sequence). They are to show resignation. How do they do this? They think themselves into an atmosphere of resignation. They want the audience to get in an atmosphere of resignation. If the seance succeeds, eventually no one sees anything, what more: no one gets to know anything, in best case each and all recall something, in short: each and all feel. The exhibition as image. - You are describing an almost erotic course of events. How could something like this be done? The exhibition as form. - Spiritually. Ceremonially. Ritually. Audience and actors are not to come near each other, they should rather distance themselves from each other. Each and all should distance themselves. Otherwise the astonishment disappears which is necessary for understanding. - Just before you used the expression “scientific”. You mean that the amoeba, when it becomes observed, does not persuade itself on a human. The human cannot identify with the life of the amoeba. But the scientific human tries to understand it. Does she realize this eventually? - I don’t know. She tries to see it in relation to other things she’s seen. Language. Form.

Now: the idea is subordinate the individual. There is a proposal (?) Some who then helped “the arts” with the understanding of the individual versus the collective was Bertolt Brecht and Walter Benjamin - Dialectical Images. Read the texts today and other images come through. VERSION (description?) Bertolt Brecht about theater. Conversation about the art of acting: 03

versions of vision

T 4

versions of vision

text

Sharing is caring

I have a fading image from my pre-school art lessons. We are all sitting in a neat row, equipped with a set of non-toxic primary color paints. We are children, filled with untamed imagination which even Picasso regretted to have lost. Now, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce some of my creative endeavors from that time, explaining their exceptional artistic qualities. Unfortunately, I don't think such things ever existed. What I remember, is us twenty-something ponytails holding on to paint brushes, with our hands carefully placed around the A4s to block the curious looks of others'. Not that it ever really mattered, all the paintings ended up having the same motives anyway, starting from the sun (possibly smiling) in the left corner of the paper. After surviving a few educational institutions with creative aspirations, that kind of defense routine still feels quite natural and even inevitable for me. Sure, there are copyrights and patent rules to make me feel all special about myself, but nothing really protects against the coldest crime that a designer can face – the idea thievery.

Salla Johanna Kirjalainen

What are the gentlemen's rules of the creative world ? How much can I as a designer afford to share my vision without being exposed to intentional or accidental copycatting ? That is not a completely strange act happening in the design fair scene, at least based on the rumors of company reps going around these fairs picking up fresh ideas to utilize. The paradox is that there is no demand for the perfect idea that never leaves the studio walls. To make most of my creative skills, I feel I have to come up with a new approach. A motto that came up in our discussions while building our exhibition for the Furniture Fair was "I decide to give away", meaning the complete openness within design work. Trusting on the evolutionary effect of testing your vision on others. So, let's talk about my next project – I thought of drawing horses again after 20 years of break. What do you think about that ? The writer is a design student, and also a creative person.

05 versions of vision

text

interview with

fredrik hansson

When did you decide to start Archileaks ? Was there a triggering factor ?

So it’s in their interest too, you mean ? Yes, absolutely, preferably you would want them to be there and answer. What is available now are some different building forums. If you search for bathrooms you end up on some hobby carpenter forum. There is a forum, byggahus.se, I think, with many millions of threads. If you can steer it to become a professional discussion of the questions for all users, both professionals and laymen, everyone benefits from that. It could be as a filter for Google searches you could say. It becomes a way of visualizing information simply put. And by steering of the information itself also change the system. This is how we have thought about it.

It started a couple of years ago. It was during some power or equality project we where involved in. It was supposed to draw attention to the fact that there are so few women who own companies and are the CEOs for companies. It becomes a big problem since owning becomes an important power position that is pretty special and hard to compete with. We thought that we should do something about it. Maybe create some sort of mentoring program, get workshops going or some platform. That was the start, then we thought that maybe you could target a particular group of people. Ethnicity or such, but somewhere we felt it became blunt. If you see it on a structural level you could take one of the groups and try to boost and highlight it. But we felt it became blunt somehow. We continued to think and landed in much of what Archileaks eventually became, that is, a sort of umbrella for these questions. And then we switched on all this about sharing things, then you lower the threshold for everyone. And you change the market from within in a different way than if you would do it from the outside by maybe quotation or the like. In that way you start competing about other things and then we had the question : If we can increase the cooperation, what happens then ? As an established company you have ISO systems, quality systems and different details that all companies develop separately. The things that those who are new to the business don’t have and which is hard to compete against. This doesn’t just affect women, it affects everyone really. The way things are in Sweden now is that there are many big architectural bureaus dominating. That results in some sort of conformity and the clients gladly buy from the large, secure bureaus instead of going to others that may have different ideas about what architecture can be. So if we can illuminate and put the finger on this you can spend your time doing what you should do, namely architecture instead of administrating and quality proofing processes. It should simply free time for the creative process.

You have some of this on the webpage already where you can post questions. That is only a small demonstration of how it will be. And the response on that part has shown that there is a great interest in this. You post a question and you get an answer. The thought is that everyone will use this. Like a start page for architects. If it works, that is. All the small companies think this is ace, because they have a more informal structure. The larger companies might not dare to jump aboard and consent to this kind of thing. They might already have a good process for taking care of these kinds of questions. But at the same time when we talk to them they realize that it costs a lot of money when everyone can’t work effectively. So the large companies that have worked out an internal solution for this type of questions are less active on the page ? No, if we look at the statistics they’re there often. And when we talk to trade associations everyone understands and also thinks this is great. But maybe they are more careful of giving consent to this particular type of thing. They might want to see that it works beforehand, but after of course they jump aboard. It doesn’t feel as if someone finds this to be bad, everyone thinks it’s good.

Which parts are Archileaks built from ? We have launched a first part now which is the database itself, that we now are reworking, and an editorial part for creating discussions. Then we have two other parts due in two months. It is a wiki-part that is going to be some sort of collective handbook where you can search everything from joist sizes to different measurement rules. The other is a forum part where you can just throw out a question, for example about CAD, how to draw something or how to interpret a legislation. The architect business is of course extremely influenced by laws and regulations and standards. Because of this we spend a lot of time with questions of interpretations. This results in a pressure upon, for example, Boverket (Authority for Planning, Building and Housing) where one person answers the same question a thousand times. If the authorities later see on the forum that a lot of people have trouble with an interpretation of a rule they might understand that they need to rephrase this.

No one thinks it counteracts with their own interests ? No, even the large companies know that even if you have competent people who has been working for forty years the information must spread internally somehow. And the information must be updated with the latest regulations etcetera. The discussion is absent in a closed system. One that has also cost money. So everyone thinks it’s good. The fun thing is also that a lot of older people who feel that they’ve had an answer to a question realize after forty years that they could have done this or that better. And then they want to come out and tell about it. But there aren’t any good forums to come out and tell about this kind of thing.

06 versions of vision

interview

Why do you think that it was now that this was started ?

These really don’t have to be in opposition of each other, it can of course be both idealistic and pragmatic.

I think it’s about how we see the architect’s role now and what we should know. A problematization of the culture of the genius and the discussion around what knowledge is etcetera. Nowadays it’s more common with collaborations, I think, even in other fields. You’re put together in groups who collaborate. Then it’s also the aspect of the technology making this work now. It’s probably the reason that is most distinct. And a new generation that doesn’t have a problem with how to interact in social medias. You share naturally, you download things. It’s simply the way you work. It’s the way you live, so why not in your working life as well ?

Yes, exactly, and this is how we have talked about it. I guess it is a new way of formulating yourself, a new way of thinking. Now it’s the companies running the idealistic projects and then it also becomes more pragmatic. It has to work in practice. This says something about our time, I think. This then feels like a parallel to Brikolör. If you go to their website it says that Brikolör will save the world. It feels like that also becomes both idealistic and pragmatic.

Could this work the other way around also ? That in there being this kind of site it also affects how you see yourself as an architect ?

Mm… Though this comes from the other direction, I think. There it’s more like this we like to make furniture. Then I think it becomes a bit problematic, this with there already being enough products and that we buy so much crap that we then throw away. We felt we had to discuss this. Thinking about this we have arrived at the idea about the warranty and sustainability. We have to relate to that in some way. So it’s also a pragmatic approach.

Yes, of course it affects. Here I think everything hangs on how you choose to formulate your role. You have a free choice. You can choose to draw by hand, for example, but many have understood that it is more efficient to draw in the computer. I think it’s the same way here. Archileaks won’t work if it’s not useful. If it’s not then it’s useless. Then you might as well flip through a book. Usability is everything.

How does this warranty work ? It doesn’t work at all right now, you might say. We have looked at it from a legal point of view and of course you can tie everything to a contract but we feel we haven’t reached a solution that feels totally natural and comfortable and that we feel would work completely.

When reading on the homepage we get the feeling that there is an idealistic background, but when you talk about it now it feels more pragmatic. In what way ?

But it’s about the furniture lasting for 300 years then ?

That it’s about spreading information so that architecture can be better for everyone, that you can proceed faster in the development.

Yes, that’s the goal. But the side effect is that we with this put our finger on something we’re striving for. It raises the discussion.

I would say that it is a pragmatic approach to it. That you can change the system a little bit and if this pays off, if people share you can show that it works. Then you can change everyone’s approach, both the architect bureaus and the construction companies. You streamline in many ways. It creates better conditions for the projects. That is of course very pragmatic, but it is connected to a greater idea. We feel for this. This is why we do it.

Yes, exactly. If you connect it to a fair for example where you produce new things every year to be shown. And you make furniture that should last 300 years… Yeah, you feel this when you walk around a fair, that it’s totally perverse. Even if everyone now more or less relate to sustainability in some way it can feel kind of cosmetic. I think it does a huge difference that all the big companies are now thinking about this. It’s really good. But that you as a point of departure sell things by creating needs becomes… well, you understand what I mean.

07 versions of vision

text

Do you think fairs will change direction in the future ? Is there an incentive for the fair and the producers to change ?

Do you run this as an nonprofit operation ? We own everything now. But our ambition is that someone else will take over. So that we can see where it lands, but it is a private initiative.

I don’t think so actually. They way it looks now with the discussion about sustainability, sadly it has died a bit. At the same time there are many who are working with it. But I don’t know, it has taken on other expressions. 2009 when we exhibited for the first time it was incipient and you felt it was a big question. But then nothing happened in 2010, the economic crisis came, but it doesn’t feel that there is anyone acting upon it and questions the system itself. It was this that we were after, to discuss the level of the system.

Does it feel like Archleaks is influencing Okidoki in itself ? It costs both time and money, but do you also get something back ? We think it is very fun to do this. Then in the end we gain from it too, just like everybody else. We become better and more efficient and so on. We put something out there and we get something back. It’s as simple as that. Plus that it’s fun which is also important. Of course this also generates good will towards our brand.

But it does feel that when someone reacts against the system people tend to get very interested. You often experience that it gets a positive response. Even then so few dare to make those kinds of statements… It feels like a contradiction.

Yes, it also becomes a way of marketing yourselves.

Yeah, I don’t know why this is actually.

Yes, exactly. That is something that is happening more and more nowadays. That you do these types of projects instead of burning money on useless advertising stuff.

But you don’t put any values into what goes on Archileaks, that it should be ecological and so on.

We’ve had collaboration and collectivity as a theme when we have worked with this publication and the exhibition. We have tried to come up with different methods of sharing our material. We have for example tried passing our material between us and also put in material in a sort of material pool that everyone then have taken from. It feels that there is some sort of connection there to Archileaks. Do you use the collective or methods of collaboration in a way that others might not ? In how you work at the office or in collaboration with other offices. Are there more ways in which you think about collaboration ?

No, and I think that for it to work, you have to set a good example. Where people understand that they can also make money from it. If that works you copy that idea. If we were to solve this with the warrant on our Brikolör furniture, so that you also open up for making money off of it, then it could happen that the whole market changes. But I think there will be some time before there is a new paradigm or a new culture to enter. Us in Brikolör are quite small. Even if we would devote time to solving this thing it would take a really long time. But you never know, we might plant a seed. This is also how we think. That we won’t solve anything completely, but that we rather raise a question for others to keep working on. It is an approach towards collaborations, though indirect. You think more openly and show which questions you think about.

It is sort of included in our line of business, we always work in different project groups. It is probably not that we experiment with it that much really. As architects we work with six to seven other consultants, construction companies, their project managers and everything that needs coordinating. To handle processes is included in our work. It is also what we should know and why you hire us.

Has it become an important part of your professional role, this with creating discussions and raising questions ? Yes, I think so. Because it’s very fun. Just after you’ve raised a question you also see that it has effect. It’s very cool. You tend to think that it doesn’t matter what I do, I carry on with my own over here. But like with Archileaks where we have spent huge amounts of time and money on this internally to develop it, at the same time we can see the great effect it has had. And then you wonder, why don’t people do this more often ? Because obviously things happen. It creates ripples on the water. It’s a cool feeling. There are also discussions now about however you should be political or not. Not so many are members of political parties nowadays, but you can be political in other ways. It says quite a lot about how we today see what it means to be political. It feels typical that a company is driving this. Nothing governmental or something like that.

If you think inside the work groups, if you go back and think around what you said about the culture of the genius, is there a strive in you to work more equally in these groups ? You have different areas of responsibility. But we try to think that a good idea is a good idea regardless of who’s is is. The most important thing is that the project turns out good. But you often have to think a step ahead because it’s easy to find yourself within a hierarchy. But we try as far as we can to work on the same level.

08 versions of vision

interview

Yes, on your website it says for example that you don’t have any offices for managers and that you all sit around the same table and so on.

So the verbal discussion is also a big part ? Yes, absolutely. I mean, if you can’t convince the people you work with, then it becomes very hard to convince a client or a builder or so. That doesn’t work.

Yes, that is a huge point that we make. That you try and create a culture where you can for example just throw out a question and have someone answer. It could be anyone. Everything is open and pretty borderless. It’s an idea we believe in. And even if you’re sitting with a rather boring task you can take part in an intellectually interesting discussion at the same time. And that is something that affects you.

Is it also important that it shows that you have contributed in some way ? I don’t think so personally. It’s that project that’s important. It’s a question of self-confidence I suppose. Some might think it’s very important to be seen. But I can think that you’re never alone in something, there’s always people doing it together.

But is it common in the architect business ? I think it is pretty common to sit in open office landscapes. But that you might sit in different zones. You sit in project groups and so on. I can say that it’s not common for everyone to sit at the same table as we do. We also try to think about our culture, what is good about it and which parts that are good to keep alive.

I wonder if there is a difference there in the role of the designer and the role of an architect. A designer might more often stand alone behind his or her work. Yes, it probably is like that. That you more often buy mannerisms or a person’s style.

How you sit reflects your approach to your profession ? I absolutely think so. It is for instance why we don’t have a “name office”. Or why we don’t have last names. For us it is important that you feel that you mutually build something together, whatever that is. It is connected to that.

What is it that distinguishes high quality in architecture or design for you ? Oh, god. I don’t know. That it’s unique somehow. That it’s specific solution for a specific problem. And that it most often is better if its worked through, but then I don’t know. It’s hard to say.

In our project we have talked about how to make your voice heard in what could be described as a collective choir. Do you have any thoughts on this and is it necessary. Do you need to make your voice heard ?

It feels as if there are many different levels and approaches. That’s what I mean, sometimes you have worked on a development plan process for twenty years and it turns out great because it’s so worked through. Or you throw something together really fast and that also turns out great. It feels as though it’s very hard to draw any general conclusions around it. Some have it and some don’t. Often things fall apart because people don’t have the energy. If you have the energy to keep going through a whole process it often turns out very good.

I think it is very important. The language is very important, to be able to formulate yourself. That what you think comes through. If you are to work together in a non hierarchical way you can’t think that it will happen intuitively or something. I have noticed that Sweden has a different culture then say Denmark. There you get pissed off if you’re not met with opposition when you say something. That is their process, that’s what it looks like. It’s culturally conditioned. Sweden might work differently but it’s important that it doesn’t become some sort of silent consensus. Everything has to be brought out in the open. I think that is very important. That you dare, have the energy and all the time raise questions and milk them.

Is there something you want to add ? Something we forgot ? It feels hard to draw any general conclusions I think. Often you just get an idea and run with that. If it’s a good idea, it’s a good idea. Often it’s not harder than that. You put in time and people get what you do. But if it’s a bad idea, it kind of dies. The one who knows which are the good ideas is lucky.

09 versions of vision

text

the kitchen table

Tina carlsson

For one thing, that which is thinking inside the human is by no means herself, but the social community. The source of her thinking in not in her but in the social surroundings where she lives, in the societal atmosphere she breaths. She cannot think differently than what is determined by the influence on her understanding that social surroundings exercise with necessity.1 1962-1968 in the high-rise on Sjöbo in Borås The kitchen is small, and the kitchen table is square, with a “perstorpplatta”. Between the dining part and the cooking part there are cupboards. Top cabinets and base cabinets. From the dining area, you can see into the living-room through window panes. We always used to eat in the kitchen. We ate gravy and potatoes with lingonberries on the side. This is how I understand the word kitchen table. It can never only represent the denoted. With the word, there is always a long, unfathomable chain of association. Potatoes, gravy and lingonberries. Rice and lentils. One time I was sent from the table. I refused to eat cabbage pudding without lingonberries. I remember the shame and anger of no longer being a part, if only for a short while. Outcast. You can be sent from the table. You don’t want to, but sometimes you want to think wider. Refuse to eat. One more step. It’s always a fine line. How far to the side can I step without becoming incomprehensible ? The epistemologist Ludwig Fleck say that thinking is first and foremost a social activity.2 Not even the most genius thought or ideas can take hold unless the rest of us agree to let it take hold. Accept it as genius. It is hard to appoint oneself a genius. If you’ve never eaten meatballs with gravy and potatoes with lingonberries, it might not seem to be the most natural meal to eat at the kitchen table. The difficulty is that when the thoughts have taken hold they willingly become comfortable. You feel so at home. 1967-1982 in the villa on Sörmarken in Borås Come in and eat! Come take a seat! Dinner’s ready! The chairs scrape with familiarity against the floor when they are drawn from the table. Everyone takes a seat and the chairs are pushed 10 versions of vision

back to the table again. We are gathered around the table. The table is round and painted in a bluegreen glaze. We are five people around the table. Mom, dad and three children. The table is placed in the middle of the dining part of the kitchen. We eat in the kitchen. Gravy and potatoes. Preferably with lingonberries. According to Fleck, there are two types of community work. It can be simply additive or collective.3 We put all the kitchen tables we can find next to each other. Then the idea of what a kitchen table can be is expanded. We sit down at a table. I tell about the perstorpplatta on the small square table in the kitchen in the high-rise on Sjöbo in Borås. You say : “My grandfather and grandmother had that exact table. But the table top was most often concealed underneath an oilcloth. My grandmother was very careful about cleanliness. By the kitchen table along the wall was a kitchen sofa where my grandfather used to take a nap after dinner. My grandmother cooked a very good meatloaf with cream sauce, potatoes and lingonberries.” Thoughts meet and some of the things spoken feel familiar. Others are foreign to me. But in the intersections between the foreign and the familiar, a new understanding of a table with “perstorpplatta” arises. It is these intersections that are interesting, and it is because of them that I can’t help thinking of kitchen tables. It is as if the “kitchen table” is the bearer of these intersections. It is both the place where the safe and habitual is established and maintained, and the place in which conversations exist where the dialogical becomes a possibility for new thoughts and styles. The kitchen table is both familiar and challenging at the same time. It is frightening to be sent from the table. There are collectives where the rules are set. We live together and we share a kitchen table, but we have decided that we will have different shelves in the refrigerator. You could liken this kind of collective to an additive work community. We simply help each other by sharing some chores and economic expenses. I think about the ongoing collectivity, which you might, if you use Fleck, call style of

the kitchen table

thought or a thought collective, where the collective is the participant, and the style is the common thoughts and values. A collective where you feel at home and safe and where the logic makes sense. Where I can’t tell mine from yours and vice versa. Where yours unintentionally becomes mine. Which is then immediately ours. We eat potatoes, gravy and lingonberries. I think this kind of context is absolutely necessary. We need to feel safe and at home. But the problem is that the “homeyness” sometimes makes us home-blind. Around our kitchen table in Sörmarken in Borås, the encounter with a thought about homosexual love would be waved away with the argument : “It’s not ‘natural’.” An argument that for long felt obvious, and the thought of homosexual love and sex would arise a feeling of aversion within me. I can still remember the feeling. But somewhere, through my life, the feeling of aversion disappeared and now the argument about homosexuality as something “non-natural” seems both irrational and unpleasant. Nowadays, I find most arguments referring to something as natural or unnatural to be unpleasant, like I tend to bristle when someone appeals to my reason. For what is a sensible argument ? If not just a referral to the rehearsed and comfortable. Fleck writes : The notion about thinking totally free from feelings lacks meaning. There is neither a state of no feelings, or any pure rationality. How could something like that be established ? There is only emotional coherence and emotional distinction. The emotional coherence in a community is there perceived as freedom from feelings.4

The question is how you can think yourself out of the comfortable ? The kitchen table has no significance if I didn’t think about all the rest. As a child, I tried to empty a word of its contents. I repeated it quietly to myself so many times that it somehow suspended itself. The sounding of the letters overtook the contents and it lost contact with all other connections besides the sound. K-i-t-c-h-e-n t-ab-l-e. Then, I immediately left the word. It was no longer meaningful. In the same way it is also meaningless to think around the kitchen table if the experienced are not there. 1988-2006 in the apartment in Bagaregården in Gothenburg The table was white. A large rectangular table purchased at a flee market. It was meant to be a temporary table. A temporary solution. It stood with the short side against the wall, and on the seats closest to the wall sat our two children. When we later had a third child, she was placed on the unoccupied short side facing the room. We are five around the table. We eat in the kitchen. Rice and lentils. Preferably bio-dynamically grown. When we moved, I sanded down all the white. Underneath the white, was a beautiful wooden board. I oiled the board which gave it a beautiful luster. The legs and the edge of the table top were painted with two coats of egg tempera paint. The first coat in a brilliant yellow colour. On top of this a duller ochre colour. The idea was that the surface would become alive, the bright yellow would shine through the dim colour of ochre. The first coat went fine. The yellow became hard and shining. The ochre colour on the other hand, became as a thin layer of clay that never dried properly. The surface remained slightly soft and did not at all have the underlying yellow show through as I had thought. You could carve and scrape in the ochre colour, and in the traces, the yellow colour shone through. It was of course impossible to let that somewhat sticky surface be. The fingers where constantly pulled there and fingernails drew traces in the ochre. 11 versions of vision

translated from swedish by the editors 1. fleck, ludwig, uppkomsten och utvecklingen av ett vetenskapligt faktum, brutus östlings bokförlag symposion, 1997, pp. 54–55 2. ibid, see chapter 4. inledande anmärkningar om tankekollekiv 3. a community work can take place in two different forms. it can simply be additive like a common work effort to lift an object, or it can be collective and is then not only the sum of the individual but a certain formation, that can be compared to a football match, a conversation or a concert. both forms can be found in the thinking and in particularly in the search for knowledge. ibid, pp. 99–100 4. ibid, p. 57

Glossary

C o llective M eth o d s Versions of Vision I demomixcratictape The Pool Tool

Versions of Vision I

Pay it Forward Collage of the Collective Versions of Vision II

p. 14-15

A method designed to create a publication without a designer or author. A small team chosen from all the participants decides on a series of questions related to the form of the publication. The ideal scenario is that all parts of the publication have a specific question. The questions should then be assigned a number (1-5) and divided between all of the participants, both outside and inside the team. The numbers should be chosen by the participants without the knowledge of how they correspond to the parameters. Parameters could be: typeface, size, alignment, placement, margins, grid, etc.

demomixcratictape

p. 16-17

The Pool Tool Poster

p. 18-19

A method for creating a collective song. The participants all chose two songs, one uplifting and one calming. The participants select one color for each song that represents the song’s mood. The collected material is then used to create a collective remix or mashup of all the songs. Parameters for mixing can be the order the songs where sent in, or the brightness gradient of the assigned color.

A method designed to create multiple new works of art based on a common source or inspiration. The participants create a common pool of objects that is relevant to the set theme. These objects can be anything from photos, drawings to grids, typefaces and colors. With nothing new added from outside the pool, these objects are then combined by the participants into new works of art. The filling of the pool can be either analogue or digital, and should have a set time limit.

Collected Typography Pattern Pool

p. 20-21

Pay it Forward

A method designed to invite others into your own creative process. The workshop explores the idea of the collective and the effects of sharing. The participants use any available material to create an interpretation of the word sharing. When finished they hand over the piece to someone else who continues the work.

Collage of the Collective

p. 22-23

A method for creating collages with multiple participants. The exercise is designed to raise questions about collectivity and leadership, as well as questions of ownership of the works created. The participants are placed in the same room and the leader asks them to describe places, colors, friends and feelings. The described parameters are written down on a piece of paper with varying time to do so. The participants should not have prior knowledge of the time allowed on each parameter. After writing each parameter the participant is told by the leader to continue on another participants paper. The process continues until six parameters are written down. All the participants decide on three keywords each from the paper they last worked on. The leader then decides on one of these keywords and gives the participants 45 minutes to create a collage of scrap magazines. With 15 minutes remaining, the leader halts all work and asks the participants to move one step to the left.

Versions of Vision II

p. 24-25

A method designed to create a layout with the involvement of a larger group than normal. The group decides on what kind and how many pages should be used in the method as well as a format for the layout. The work continues for four rounds. At the end of each the participants hand in sketches for the layout. In the first round, all participants start working on a specific 12 versions of vision

date and hand in the work two days later. Everyone should have access to all these sketches before starting the second round. The next round is then a continuation of the previous round. The participants start working the next day and hand it in two days later. The third round starts with one participant working on the layout. They hand in the work one day later, and the next participant takes over. This continues until all participants have redesigned the layout once. After the forth round all participants discuss the result and decide upon a final layout, and add all images and typefaces used in a common folder.

Collected Typography

p. 26-27

A method for creating a typeface with multiple participants. This system is in many ways related to The Pool Tool. The participants add at least six black blocks in a pool. The blocks should be related to a theme previously decided upon and the pool should close at a specific time. The participants should then use the blocks to design the letters assigned to them. There are two options for this, either the blocks are used as inspiration or the participants are forced to use only forms found in the blocks themselves. The typeface is then jointly combined into a single file.

Pattern Pool

p. 28-29

A method for creating a collective pattern. It is related to the Collected Typography method and uses the same shapes that were constructed during that workshop. The participants create a 160x160 mm document in illustrator, only using the black blocks from Collected Typography to design a pattern. The document is switched each day between the participants, who then continue to work on the pattern given to them. The pattern is finished when it has passed all the participants and it ends up at its original designer.

Collective Methods

Collec tive Me thods

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Collective methods

Versions

2011.11.17

vision I

2011.11.22

INSTRUCTIONS

Share Functionalism This can work as a try-out for a collective method where all of the class can contribute to the layout. That is why you also need to answer a personal cryptic question in the attached pdf. Part 1 - Please write down your personal thoughts that came up during the second mapping. Both regarding thought about the course as a whole and also how you look upon your personal role. We also would like you to attach an image that connects in some way to your text. Use jpeg-format. Part 2 - This is your contribution to one or more pages in the publication where you add information that you feel is relevant for sharing (regarding Swedish modernism or the collective/sharing). Write or find text, preferably with your personal reflections. You can also add images. Mail txt-file and jpg-images. The deadline is Tuesday 22â&#x20AC;&#x2030;nd at midnight. Best regards /Eva, Eva-Lotta, Karolina, Eric

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versions of vision I

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Collective methods

Demomixcratictape

2011.11.22 2011.11.27

INSTRUCTIONS Von: Betreff: Datum:

Michael Schenkyr demomixcratictape 24. November 2011 17:00:29 MEZ

An:

epostlista-demis1

Hallå Kids! Came up with an idea that’s related to the following things we talked about: our voices, our voice, the choir, group dynamics, getting to know each other (better), having a couple of beers, and so on. I would like to invite you to send me two of your favourite songs and two referring colours. (More about that in the attachment and on the blog.) I’m not totally clear about what we could take from this, but I have some ideas about transforming this collective audio/colour into an installation (maybe quoting the choir) or – very down-to-earth – having a compilation that we can play on our suggested weekly breakfast/ dinner/pepparkaka-meetings. Personally, I feel, that our musical leanings could tell a lot about ourselves and I’m damn curious about your CD shelf. To me, music is a way to express your feelings and make yourself heard without (a lot of) talking. Hope you get what “I mean” … I’m totally open to collaborations and happy if anybody wants to comment, help or join me. Åh ja, I probably should set a deadline for this: This Sunday, 27.11. at Midnight. But don’t hesitate to send me something before that. Cheerio Michl

Betreff: Re: demomixcratictape Datum: 24. November 2011 19:55:23 MEZ […] I´ve got an idea with your music collection project. I have done some remixing of other artists and mixing together songs. I don´t know what planes you have with the songs but if you want to I could try to make a mix, remix, mixup (or whatever you would call it) with elements, samples from all of the songs. […] Betreff: Re: demomixcratictape Datum: 24. November 2011 22:55:02 MEZ Oh, fun! But so hard... All of a sudden I feel like I’ve been taken hostage by the taste of my early twenties. Or maybe I’ve just been stubborn over the years. […]

Betreff: Re: demomixcratictape Datum: 25. November 2011 17:35:42 MEZ […] Did you mean that the colors connected to the songs or separate colors that represent you? […] Betreff: Re: demomixcratictape Datum: 28. November 2011 00:21:31 MEZ […] I have too many favorite songs, but these are two of them: […] Betreff: Re: demomixcratictape Datum: 28. November 2011 08:52:27 MEZ Late colors. […] Betreff: for demotape Datum: 28. November 2011 23:07:17 MEZ […] probably I don’t have the favorite song, but this is something I came up with today: […]

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Betreff: Fil att ladda ner: demomix_cratictape.zip Datum: 14. Dezember 2011 07:42:59 MEZ Meddelande från avsändaren: Fil att ladda ner: demomix_cratictape.zip För att ladda ner filen, klicka på följande länk: http://sprend.com/download. htm?FileId=3XnAP2Sj2z8fahPPzjsP Filnamn: demomix_cratictape.zip Storlek: 1 267,6 MB Lagras t.o.m: 2011-12-21 06:42:59 UTC […]

Demomixcr atictape

collectivesongsinsideai.tiff Excerpts of the songs are put in order according the brightness of the assigned colours.

collectivesongsincompside.mp3 A pure sinus tone is manipulated足by the output of the different 足excerpts, creating a minimalistic piece of collaborative sound.

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Collective methods

the

2011.11.24

pool tool

poster

2011.11.30

INSTRUCTIONS

Goal Trying out a collective method. How Everyone adds 3 items (drawings/texts/photos/whatever) to a digital pool. Rules for adding images - The parts should be connected to your thoughts on collective in some way. - Use grayscale Result From the material in this pool you make a A1 poster or use it as a frame. Rules for image use - You can change size - You canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t add anything else to the object except the parts in the pool. - You can keep the images in grayscale or change them to the randomly chosen colour selected by the group. Time Filling the pool 24 November Thursday 12.00 Posting the poster 30 November Tuesday 23.59.

http://www.dafont.com/linux-libertine.font

http://www.dafont.com/alte-haas-grotesk.font

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the pool tool poster

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Collective methods

PAY

12.00

FORWARD

18.00

INSTRUCTIONS

We are exploring the idea of the collective and the effects of sharing in the design process. What happens when someone else continues working on your idea? Create your interpretation of the word sharing. Use whatever material you see on the desk. You chose when to give your creation away for someone else to continue by placing it openly on the table.

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2011.12.02

PAY IT FORWARD

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Collective methods

COLLAGE

10.00

THE COLLECTIVE

12.00

INSTRUCTIONS

How can you make your voice heard in a collective? I will try to use one method to work in a collective and try to share with you. The inspiration for this workshop comes from our discussions and from a Henrik Vibskov (www.henrikvibskov.com) workshop that I participated in, a few weeks ago. Come and join the 2D workshop on Monday 12th Dec 10-12 pm. Just bring a big smile and one newspaper/ magazine per person that we can cut out. Hope to see you there!

Ja! Yes! I want to join. I’ll be there! I will check my bucket of smiles and see if I have any left. Yes, I’m coming. Sounds fun! I will be there! I saw this program on TV last week and I think Henrik Vibskovs work is interesting and inspiring. Here is a link to a part of the program on svt play: http://82.99.28.59/v/2580712/ fashion/skandinavien_-_ vibskov_2

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2011.12.12

Collage of the collective

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Collective methods

Versions

2011.12.21

vision II

2012.01.03

INSTRUCTIONS

Instructions for the collaborative layout of the publication First round December 20 - All participants start to work December 21 - All participants deliver to the Dropbox Second round December 22 - All participants start the second round December 23 - All participants deliver to the Dropbox Third round Deliver to the Dropbox at midnight Fourth round January 3 - We discuss, evaluate and continue with the development of our ideas and form. Parts of the Publication to layout - Foreword / text part - Conversation / showcase part (Conversation) - Method part (Instructions, inspiring, glossary) - Voice part, the class, historically... (Collectivity vs individuality, many voices) Put fonts used in the Fonts folder and all images in the Images folder. Nice and simple? Great.

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versions of vision II

25 versions of vision

Collective methods

COLLECTED

2011.12.28 2012.01.07

TYPOGRAPHY

INSTRUCTIONS

Inspiration: Choir 1) December 28: Put, at least six, black shapes (.ai) in the Typeface_Pool_Tool. The shapes should somehow relate to the inspiration. 2) Use the shapes from the Pool to make your letters. Karolina Klara Eva-Lotta Eva Michl Eric Astrid

AHOV BIRW CJQX DKPY ELSZ FMT GNU

3) January 6 at HDK. We put all the letters in FontLab.

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Collected Typogr aphy

THE Q UICK BROWN FOX J UM PS O VER THE LAZY DOG 27 versions of vision

Collective methods

PATTERN

20 MINUTES

7 DAYS

2012.01.12 2012.01.17

POOL

INSTRUCTIONS

Work with the shapes in the typeface pool. The inquiry will be performed during 6 days. Approximately 20 minutes each day. We work with Illustrator. Document size is 16x16 cm. You each create a document and then the document switches user throughout the following days. Your document has your initials. It has to be there before 7 in the morning the following day. The last day you come back to the pattern you started with. Use the scheme below: ELM_KE_AA_EE_SK_EM KE_AA_EE_SK_ELM_KE AA_EE_SK_ELM_KE_AA EE_SK_ELM_KE_AA_EE SK_ELM_KE_AA_EE_SK

28 versions of vision

pattern Pool

29 versions of vision

BLOG

HTTP://EXHIBITINGTHECOLLECTIVE.TUMBLR.COM/

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Glossary

Sh o w C a s e c o nver s ati o n s Conversation Individual Collective Project Conversation Conversation is a form of interactive, spontaneous communication between two or more people who are following rules of etiquette. Conversations are interactive because contributions to a conversation are response reactions to what has previously been said. Conversations are spontaneous because a conversation proceeds, to some extent, and in some way, unpredictably. However, the scope of that spontaneity may legitimately be somewhat pre-limited for the purpose of expediency, e.g. a talk show or a debate. Conversations follow rules of etiquette because conversations are social interactions, and therefore depend on social convention. Failure to adhere to these rules devolves, and eventually dissolves the conversation.

Individual An individual is a person or any specific object or thing in a collection.

Collective A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together on a specific project(s) to achieve a common objective. Collectives differ from cooperatives in that they are not necessarily focused upon an economic benefit or saving (but can be that as well). There may be some issues with meaningfully describing the qualities of a collective.

Trade fair Critique Showcase

Exhibition Exhibition

Trade fair A trade fair (trade show, trade exhibition or expo) is an exhibition organised so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products, service, study activities of rivals and examine recent market trends and opportunities

Critique Critique is a method of disciplined, systematic analysis of a written or oral discourse. Critique is commonly understood as fault finding and negative judgement, but it can also involve merit recognition, and in the philosophical tradition it also means a methodical practise of doubt. The contemporary sense of critique has been largely influenced by the Enlightenment critique of prejudice and authority, which championed the emancipation and autonomy from religious and political authorities. Critique is an accepted format of written and oral debate.

Showcase A showcase, or vitrine, is a glassed-in cabinet or display case for displaying delicate or valuable articles such as objets d’art or merchandise in a shop, museum, or house. Metaphorically, a showcase is a way of displaying something.

Project A temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product or service

An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organised presentation and display of a selection of items. In practise, exhibitions usually occur within museums, galleries and exhibition halls, and World’s Fairs. Exhibitions include [whatever as in major art museums and small art galleries; interpretive exhibitions, as at natural history museums and history museums], for example; and commercial exhibitions, or trade fairs. The word “exhibition” is usually, but not always, the word used for a collection of items. Sometimes “exhibit” is synonymous with “exhibition”, but “exhibit” generally refers to a single item being exhibited within an exhibition. Exhibitions may be permanent displays or temporary, but in common usage, “exhibitions” are considered temporary and usually scheduled to open and close on specific dates. While many exhibitions are shown in just one venue, some exhibitions are shown in multiple locations and are called travelling exhibitions, and some are online exhibitions. Though exhibitions are common events, the concept of an exhibition is quite wide and encompasses many variables. Exhibitions range from an extraordinarily large event such as a World’s Fair exposition to small one-artist solo shows or a display of just one item. Curators are sometimes involved as the people who select the items in an exhibition. Writers and editors are sometimes needed to write text, labels and accompanying printed material such as catalogues and books. Architects, exhibition designers, graphic designers and other designers may be needed to shape the exhibition space and give form to the editorial content. Exhibition also means a scholarship.

(Open)Source Wikipedia

44 versions of vision

Showcase

showcase

Conversations

In Order is the combination of a floor lamp and a side table. When A mirror is like a time tunnel, a place that encourages Psyche is a pattern for textiles where ambiguous images the lamp is turned on, a pattern of shadows appear on the surface of It is a visualization of the monstrous collective-brainstorm you to fantasize about past times, places and people that - andwent on mixed with illustrated open door, a the table.are The projection of shadowsobjects. is a lit An three-circle pattern that Secret Meeting Can a chair -booth beclass. provides aamemoir aclay of private a sculpture timesanctuary that should forremain one an isolated in from for weeks within our It’s a containing interactive also place to envision the future. A series of photographs that playonwith scale, reality and from fiction. 2d and mirror, a keyyou - consciously chosen images invite the a type highlights the objects place there. The idea came of public surroundings. Ithopefully is a safe zone the past? forperception recharging and light installation, andis it raises more questions on how you can ‘BEYOND’ challenging the ofmind reality bysharpening 3d, opposites and contrasts. viewer intoI -Han a landscape dreams. ThePeople patternwith wasthis kind personality, which call theof“neat freak”. Can focus a chair – taking raise break emotion fromand urban make cacophony. us think? make youruncovering own voice heard in athe collective the discussion traces in depth ofsoglass. Traces thatcan is continue inspiredalways by thewant idea of subconscious, andin their of personality to the put collective things in order; everything on. shaping our human lives illustrating the relationships theand symbols we have in common within. life has to be tidy properly arranged. You could call it a pattern of and that gives a glimpse of a story from beyond. behavior. Additionally, this furniture is made of birch, which is a local

45 versions of vision

SHOWCASE CONVERSATIONS

CONVERSATION 1

SECRE T MEE TING

SALL A JOHANNA KIR JAL AINEN

Secret Meeting - booth provides a private sanctuary for one, isolated from public surroundings. It is a safe zone for recharging the mind and sharpening focus – taking a break from the urban cacophony.

CONTACT

Salla Johanna Kirjalainen mail @ sallajohanna.com www.sallajohanna.com +46( 0 )762 05 35 88 46 versions of vision

SALLA JOHANNA KIRJALAINEN

How has your work been affected by the fact that it will be presented at the Furniture Fair? As a graphic designer, I feel that it is not really my stage. To gain credibility and not to feel totally out of place, I somehow had to connect my expertise to the field. As my interest lay more on conceptual thinking, it was not totally distant for me to do so. But working with new materials like metal and wood has been a scary step for a graphic designer. Even if painful, it is still encouraged to How do you see the fair phenomenon step out of the comfort zone. evolving in the future? For me the fair is a lot about volume, quantity over quality, and you easily get the impression that everybody wants to sell you something. Do you see our course and I wish the future fairs to have a critical exhibition as a result of that outlook on design and a more conversational critique? atmosphere. I think we are showing a good example here. As Master-level design students we are very much interested in the future role of designer and open for discussion. That is maybe why the theme How has the experience to work with a theme of collectivity and of collectivity came up sharing been for you? quite naturally for us. For me the fact that sharing also means that you have to give your ideas We felt the need to share away always comes as a bit of a surprise. It feels like abandoning your our views. Eventually, beloved children, It’s not too easy to do that. Our program title in HDK we could see that is Individual Specialization, which sort of underlines the personal goals. everyone in the class I guess that’s how designers usually work, you focus a bit on the ego. had their individual When you try to step back and let go of your desire of being in the idea about sharing, but spotlight, I have to admit that I still now we have our own Do you think your piece in have a personal conflict with that. I versions interpreted in the exhibition is a result of think one needs to find the balance the different pieces of these thoughts? between openness and holding on to work. Yes, I think it reflects my your own views. experience of working collectively. I had to think about myself and what my role in a group should be. Self-reflection generated a lot of Is that also something you will take with you in future work? thoughts about what is Yeah. I need to take the breaks to reflect on how I should use energy and truly important for me how I’m making the most of my skills. One of the reasons why I decided as a designer. Th rough Now that we are to study Master degree is to have the time to really think about my part out the whole course talking about the in the design world, and now I really got to do that. and collaborative future, how do you see When it comes to working collectively, I see it as something I want projects I noticed time the general designer carry on trying out. In order it to work, you need to know everyones after time telling myself role evolving? abilities and share trust and understanding among each other. Feeling to stay focused. This is No matter what your comfortable within the group will bring out the best of people. something that I want title is, I think you need to give time and space to work on getting a through my piece exhibited – wider understanding of within the conversation the silent everything. You must breaks become important. You be an expert in every need them to stay focused. field, so to say. You need to be aware of things happening in the world, and also react to that. To only live inside the design So where do you get your inspiration from? bubble is In my current projects I’ve gained a lot of inspiration from something contemporary art. Compared to designers, artists tend to I don’t see a have a sharper outlook on things surrounding us. As a future for. designer, I would like to learn how to proceed in similar way. There lies an interesting middle-ground between function and art.

47 versions of vision

SHOWCASE CONVERSATIONS

CONVERSATION 2

BE YOND

LOUISA SZÜCS JOHANSSON

A mirror is like a time tunnel, a place that encourages you to fantasize about past times, places and people – and also a place to envision the future. BEYOND is challenging the perception of reality by uncovering traces in the depth of the glass. Traces that illustrate the relationships shaping our human lives and that gives a glimpse of a story from beyond.

CONTACT

Louisa Szücs Johansson info @ louisajohansson.se www.louisajohansson.se +46 ( 0 ) 733 82 97 86 48 versions of vision

LOUISA SZÜCS JOHANSSON

Why did you choose to work with mirrors? I am very passionate about the relationship between people and everyday objects and I believe that we should be able to coexist with our belongings over time. I therefor wanted to create a product which should be shared throughout generations and act as a place where you get a sense of connection and a feeling of belonging to something greater. With BEYOND I have also been exploring the How is your project connected to the boundaries between the decorative theme of collectivity and sharing? and functional aspects of a mirror. We are all sharing the planet’s resources. By passing on products to people living after us, we would not only How has the theme effected your process? save resources but also I have tried to keep my own focus but also to share stories, memories involve people both from within the school and meaning. For me, and outside more than usual. Thanks to the sharing is therefor a theme, I have challenged my own way of way of both saving and thinking and working, which has made me gaining. more comfortable in having an open and transparent process – constantly taking in How has your work been effected by the fact that it will be feedback and critique. presented at the Furniture Fair? At fi rst I put my goals very high, but after a while I had to put that to the side. When the outcomes is your driving force, you will never How do you see the fair phenomenon evolving in the get deeper in your own development. But of course I want to show the essence of me on the fair, and therefor I have chosen next ten years? a topic which is true to me as a designer. Today, I feel that it is a quite close environment. It does not open to collaborations between different fields and it is very designer orientated. In the future I see it as more inviting and open to the public. What would you like the role of the designer to be? Well, I can only relate to myself and for me the theme was about more than creating a coherent exhibition. It was about learning new ways of working and seeing new possibilities with design. But I believe that we all have to take our responsibility, by How do you see collectivity doing what we are best at and where and sharing connected to the we feel that we can make a change. designer’s role of today? By working totally on your own, you would never develop as much as you do in a team or in an environment where you discuss, have arguments and gain feedback and critic. I need people disagreeing with me to get further Can you mention one designer that you think works in my own in an inspiring way? knowledge. I often find my inspiration in other fields than my own, nature, architecture, art and craftsmanship is a few of them. But, what inspires me the most is the great work of people surrounding me, they always make me push myself a bit harder.

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SHOWCASE CONVERSATIONS

CONVERSATION 3

PSYKE

AS TRID LINNÉ A ANDERSSON

Psyke is a pattern for textiles where ambiguous images are mixed with illustrated objects. An open door, a mirror, a key – consciously chosen images invite the viewer into a landscape of dreams. The pattern was inspired by the idea of the collective subconscious and symbols we have in common within.

CONTACT

Astrid Linnéa Andersson astrid.andersson @ l ive.com www.astridandersson.com 50 versions of vision

ASTRID ANDERSSON

How has your work been affected by the fact that it is to be shown at the Furniture Fair? I don’t usually work with a product as a goal, which I have done here, but I have chosen to keep my Has that awoken an unexpected creativity illustrational aspects present. during your working process? Not more than the usual motivation when having a clear goal. But How do you see the fair phenomenon the goal has not been the evolving over the next ten years? Furniture Fair per se. I’m thinking a bit about the importance the fair has as a meeting place. It is good, and interesting, that it can gather a lot of people from the industry. At the same time, I can see that the exhibition format isn’t always that good at making use of this, or taking advantage of the opportunity for further discussions. Today, the focus is still on just displaying/showing things, sometimes in a more shallow way than our industry deserves. I feel that we are doing ourselves a disservice when we don’t take our own field more seriously. I hope it will What do you want the designer’s role to entail? change and become less I want it to entail a lot. It’s great that it’s a broad profession, but I think static. the designer’s role should be more self aware. It should be better at communicating how competent we are to others outside of our field. I think there are many areas in society where a designer’s Do you see our themes about collectivity thoughts and ways of working could be utilized. and sharing as a critique of the current role of the designer? To some extent, but maybe not so much a critique as a wish or a hope, a hope for something good. Even though I haven’t used any collective methods in practice in my project, the theme’s focus on openness and making use of each other, has felt very inspiring. Do you have any role model whose way of working inspires you? I’m inspired by parts of other peoples’ work, like when a graphic designer goes into a spatial context and the result becomes How does your project relate to something three dimensional… when the theme of collectivity and we allow ourselves to think more widely sharing? around concepts. Overall, designers who The pattern project took its start work in collectives or loose networks in the theme, not the methods. inspire me. Also, in a purely formal The theme has worked as an sense, I think the open, style-mixing of inspiration, with thoughts around techniques is inspiring. the collective subconscious and shared imagery. The pattern is What can you take with you from this involved with how you can see theme to future projects? figurative images from something I will probably take with me the thoughts which is ambiguous from the around openness and transparency. The idea of start, like random images such all of the good that can come through working as the Rorschach Test. I am together with others. During this exchange, interested in images as symbols. something new emerges.

51 versions of vision

SHOWCASE CONVERSATIONS

CONVERSATION 4

BORROWED

THERESA HARMANEN

Can a chair be a memoir of a time that should remain in the past? Can a chair raise emotion and make us think?

CONTACT

Theresa Harmanen hello @ theresaharmanen.com www.theresaharmanen.com +46 ( 0 ) 702 39 53 67 52 versions of vision

THERESA HARMANEN

How would you briefly describe your work? It’s a statement piece and a sculptural piece, rather than a functional one. The concept is based on a quote from a book called Plan B 4.0 -Mobilizing to Save Civilization: “Humanity’s collective demands fi rst surpassed the earth’s regenerative capacity around year 1980.” I’m also very inspired by the famous designer Victor Papanek who once stated: “There are professions more harmful than industrial design, but very few of them.” We’re living on borrowed time and resources, and designers are contributing a lot to this. I am interested in raising questions about our collective demands, our egos and our idea of what is important, so I formed my concept around these thoughts and looked at famous designer chairs from 1980 How has your work been effected by the fact that it until today. The profi les of these chairs can be will be presented at the Furniture Fair? seen as symbols of these times and our profession. When making a statement, I believe in choosing a language In my concept, I am combining these chairs into that speaks to the audience. At the fair, furniture and one chair; the average chair of our borrowed time. chairs are the language. I strive to make people think differently, and the fair is a perfect Do you feel that it has made you more creative? opportunity for that. Every process has new challenges requiring new ways of How do you see the thinking. It has been interesting to create this statement fair phenomenon and consider the arena it will be shown in simultaneously. evolving in the next ten years? I hope that it will be more open and accessible for everyone to take part in. It would be nice to see more innovative spaces too, and less of the conventional and traditional booths and so forth. Less predictability. The focus should shift more to the concepts. What would you like the role of the designer to be? Do you see our theme of collectivity and sharing as a way of I hope that we as critiquing the designer’s role today? designers understand Yes, in the sense of reflecting on the impact of our choices, and also and use the positive what happens when you break a pattern of working in a certain way. power of change that we In the process of creating my concept I have been reflecting a lot on have in our hands to a collectivity versus individualism. It is easy to jump to a conclusion that larger extent. collectivity is the answer to many problems. But collectivity doesn’t always have to be a good thing. How to find a Can you mention one designer that you think works balance is an interesting topic. in an inspiring way? Victor Papanek is of course an inspiration source. I’m also inspiried by the How is your project connected to the works of Christien theme of collectivity and sharing? Meindertsma as well I focused more on collectivity as a theme as the design duo rather than a method; exploring the collective Formafantasma. demands of society and how it affects us. Sharing comes into it more as a subtopic What can you take with you from this in my reflections on how to include the theme to future works and projects? background of the material, the people I would like to explore ways of making involved in the process, and the place where the process more transparent and open for it’s manufactured. discussion, and the people involved in it more visible. Also, collectivity versus individualism is something I want to What other themes are present in your project? continue investigating. Our impact and roles as designers. That is perhaps the biggest theme apart from the collectivity theme.

53 versions of vision

SHOWCASE CONVERSATIONS

CONVERSATION 5

INSIDE SERIES

MARIEL ROSENDAHL

A series of photographs that play with scale, reality and ﬁction. 2d and 3d, opposites and contrasts.

CONTACT

Mariel Rosendahl mariel @ marielrosendahl.se www.marielrosendahl.se +46 ( 0 ) 735 77 13 06 54 versions of vision

MARIEL ROSENDAHL

How has your work been effected by the fact that it will be presented at the Furniture Fair? I have worked with spaces and interiors a lot before, and the photographs also depict different elements of space. I have used my experience from Do you feel that it has made working as a product stylist to shape you more creative? the aesthetics and process. Having a set goal to work towards is very motivating. With my background in fine art, it is especially nice to exhibit in a context other than a gallery. Also, I haven’t worked with How do you see the fair phenomenon evolving in the photography as a fi nal next ten years? medium before. That’s a I think you can tell that it has already been evolving these big difference. past years. I think the trend with different fields meeting and merging will continue. I also don’t see how I could’ve exhibited as an artist before, just involving elements from architecture and other fields in my What would you like the role piece. Collaboration across borders, of the designer to be? or fields merging, happens much I don’t necessarily see myself as more naturally now. a designer. At the same time, I wouldn’t say I’m only an artist either…and there we have Is that something you would like to see even more in contemporary the subject of the crossing of design? The merging of fields and roles? boundaries again. People are so Yes, and also I think the field of design is still kind of secluded and different from each other, that is introverted compared to the art world. As a consumer, you still only tend what’s important. to see the end result. There is no insight or involvement in the process, or much debate. I would also like to see even more collaborations between Do you see our theme of fields, and I would personally like to work in a team more. I think it’s collectivity and sharing strange that different fields and areas aren’t meeting in an education level as a way of critiquing the more often. designer’s role today? No, more as picking up on an already existing insight. People are working more collectively than you’d Can you mention one designer that you think works might in an inspiring way? think, as a Fabio Novembre. I like things crazy and over the top. There student. is no real boundary between what is good-looking and what’s tacky. I think its amazing how I can fi nd one of his pieces of furniture really unappealing, but when How is your project connected it’s placed in a larger spatial vision of his to the theme of collectivity – I suddenly love it. There has to be a challenge and sharing? even when it comes to aesthetics. The public space is my biggest source of inspiration, So one could say you are connecting the and I also make pieces theme of collectivity to shared public spaces? meant to be experienced Yes. I have worked with installations in the public in a public surrounding. space before, and this is also a way What can you take with you from this theme to future to try new forms of expression. Still works and projects? photography is not something I have I will continue to work on this particular project, because previously worked with, but I do I see this as the start of a longer series of photographs. have some experience in animation But it may also inspire more installation work in public and video. Therefore, this felt like a surroundings. natural merging of different fields of interest for me. What other themes are present in your project? There is a narrative of sorts involved, although it’s rather abstract. It is not a linear story. I like contrasts very much. And here it is the contrast between the public and the private, light and dark, timeless and modern. The threatening and the peaceful. Friction. 55 versions of vision

SHOWCASE CONVERSATIONS

CONVERSATION 6

IN ORDER

I-HAN CHEN

In Order is the combination of a ﬂoor lamp and a side table. When the lamp is turned on, a pattern of shadows appear on the surface of the table. The projection of

shadows is a lit three-circle pattern that highlights the objects you place on there. The idea came from a type of personality, which I -Han calls the “neat freak”. People with this kind of personality always want to put things in order; everything in their life has to be tidy and properly arranged. You could call it a pattern of behavior. Additionally, this furniture is made of birch, which is a local type of wood.

CONTACT

I-Han Chen chenihan.info @ g mail.com www.chenihan.com +46 ( 0 ) 722 62 17 06 56 versions of vision

I-HAN CHEN

Why did you decide on using the combination of a side table and lamp? I started to work with “traces”. When you have a cup of tea and spill some of it on the table, there will be traces of the tea spill. These are the traces you leave behind, when you use an object. Afterwards, you’ll see these traces and remember your previous behavior. I had an idea of using shadows to create these traces. The source of light here is the floor lamp, which is often placed near a side table. So I thought, maybe these two pieces of furniture could be linked together. I also liked the highlighting effect that comes from the lamp on the table, it reminds users How is your project connected to the theme of collectivity and sharing? to pick up objects from surface. For example, you can place a I think each piece of furniture has its own personality. I tried to connect different book you want to read five pages a day from here. When you kinds of furniture in a practical manner so they could share the same space, structure turn on the light, it will remind you to read these pages. and personality. The furniture’s personality also connects to the user’s. I believe people buy furniture because they uncover some emotional link to it, which means the user recognizes and shares the designer’s ideas and values in the design project. How does your object show the connection between user and designer? The link lies in the concept of the “neat freak”. If the user has this sort of personality or pattern of behavior, they might see their own characteristics in the furniture. Can you mention one designer or group that you think works in an inspiring way? There are a lot. ( Laughs ) However, I guess I was influenced by several Japanese designers… Naoto Fukasawa and Shuwa Tei, for instance. Their works really focus on human How has your work been effected by patterns of behavior. the fact that it will be presented at the Furniture Fair? Where do you see differences between Asian and European design? I tried to put my personality into the object, This is the fi rst time I have participated in a fair somewhere outside Taiwan, my because I see the fair as a platform to show home country. In Taiwan, we have similar design fairs, but the circumstances yourself and make people know what kind are different. We produce a lot of things, because we have good knowledge about of designer you are. On the other hand, my manufacturing, and designers usually follow these best-known technologies to goal, in this project, was not only to make a make their designs. We are good producers, but the design usually comes from practical piece of furniture, but to also express abroad. Moreover, the dialogue between designer and manufacturer is missing in more personality within said furniture. some phases of the process. In Europe, designers are also makers and usually they As a student, I could do something more use their prototype to convince manufactures to produce their furniture their way. exaggerated than I could as a professional. I think the core value of Swedish Design is that designers here are more involved in In the fair, I have the possibilities and the development of new production technologies. In Asia, I would say, the designer opportunities to express both the practical “works for” the producer. Here, it is more about working “together.” and critical What would you like the role of the designer to be? concepts in Do you see our theme of collectivity and sharing as a way of I think it depends on the designer’s situation and the my piece. critiquing the designer’s role today? environment he or she is working in. Here in Europe, If I would In the present day, the internet is a way to get information. It is a source I was taught not to have borders when thinking about have my of inspiration. Actually, we do a lot of collective thought by sharing design. Additionally, the craftsmanship should be part of own design comments and perspectives during the design process. It is not about mainstream design, because people should know the value studio, I copying, but being inspired by processes and starting points. I think of craftsmanship. In Asia, mass-production is actually a guess the sharing is good. In the beginning of my process, I asked Anna about design concept. When I studied in Taiwan, I could only direction her method of developing an idea, and how to make an idea be more think about how a product could be produced with my own would concrete and closer to the final result. I asked Attila for his knowledge of design process from beginning to the end. When I started be more wood material, because he’s really into that. studying in Sweden, making this a reality was not an issue. close to For example, this semester, I built a piece of furniture and the clients’ made a wooden connection that I felt was not perfect. The demands technician told me “You are a designer, not a technician. for the You should put your focus on the concept development market. instead of those technical problems. What can you take with you from this theme to future On the contrary, if you were a works and projects? craftsman, I would have told you We have got a lot of graphic designers in this master to fi x it.” As a designer in Europe, I course. In developing this theme, I learned various new could focus on the idea and concept, methods and innovative ways of thinking. We shared and can always find a producer to processes and perspectives with each other, and the most work with. important thing is that those different design viewpoints broaden my horizons and make my design more diverse.

57 versions of vision

SHOWCASE CONVERSATIONS

CONVERSATION 7

HOW CAN YOU MAKE YOUR VOICE HE ARD?

It is a visualization of the monstrous collective brainstorm that went on for weeks within our class. It is a clay sculpture containing an interactive light installation, and hopefully it raises more questions on how you can make your own voice heard in a collective so the discussion can continue.

58 versions of vision

HOW CAN YOU MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD?

How has your work been effected by the fact that it will be presented at the Furniture Fair? It always effects you to know that what you work on will be exhibited, but we have been guided by the fact that our exhibit area has a pillar in the entrance area, so it felt natural to use it to guide people in. It seems that you have been able to feel free in the sense that what you’re making isn’t a regular project. It felt interesting to do an installation. There are a lot of things that are more practical in the fair. This is not a commercial product; it is made only to experience and reflect upon. Hopefully it raises more questions. Has the fact that it will be shown at the Furniture Fair made you more creative? We are both usually doing graphic design. Now, we have been working with a three dimensional sculpture and electronics, but to us there is no big difference. It’s still visual communication, but just through another medium. The way we were working, however, was not effected by the fair, it could just as well be presented in a library or another exhibition space. Can you mention someone who you think works in an inspiring way? People in general are inspiring. People with their own stories, their own ways to live. Your names will not be next to the installation, why The relations between people and is that? between groups are interesting. It is not important. It would somehow disturb our message or the questions we raise. It would be like painting parts of the sculpture in a bright color and saying this is the two of us. The concept is How is your project connected to the about the crowd and the theme of collectivity and sharing? anonymous individual. Our starting point was all the discussion we had going on concerning this theme. We felt that we wanted to work in a collective way, but at the same time, all of us were shaped through a very individual-based society, so it became a conflict within ourselves. It was an interesting experience. So then, we asked ourselves which kind of ways are there to make your voice heard in our society? We wanted to share our feelings with the visitor, but decided not to push them to do something. Instead, the sculpture responds on the general sound level – the voices – in our stand. A microphone picks up the acoustic level and visualizes it through lights inside the sculpture. Your title How can you make your voice heard? can be seen as a comment or critique on the theme. What are your thoughts? It is more about discovering or exploring. This theme raises questions all the time. The installation is a comment on the entire course. We spent one month talking about what we should do, whether we should even do it at all, and if the outcome should be exhibited at the fair or elsewhere, so our work is a visualization of the whole process and relationship, or the conflict between the individual and the group.

59 versions of vision

SHOWCASE CONVERSATIONS

CONVERSATION 8

CIRCUL ATING M SE AT

AT TIL A TARI

The Circulating M Seat is a tool for meditation… a seat that takes care of spiritual stability that was carefully designed to bring the user one step closer to equilibrium. It honors the ancient ways of seeking deeper meaning in materials and shapes. The minimized form allows the positive energy-ﬂow to circulate, keeping the energy close during meditation. This seat challenges conventional thinking by exploring things beyond our perception.

CONTACT

Attila Tari hypota @ g mail.com www.hypo-design.com 60 versions of vision

ATTILA TARI

How has your work been effected by the fact that it will be presented in the Furniture Fair? I see it as a very good opportunity to get in touch with design companies and producers, but at the same time I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of creating just another styled piece of furniture. It has been a while since I’ve been involved in furniture design, so I wanted to approach it from a fresh Do you feel that it has made you more creative? angle. It was a challenge. I decided to dedicate the first year of my Master Studies to green thinking…to concentrate on natural instead of synthetic solutions. I didn’t have a clear vision in the beginning, but after all, I’m very pleased with the direction I’ve found. My goal was to put my way of thinking, the spiritual character of design, into a product and communicate it to the fair What would you like the role of the designer to be? visitors and hopefully open their I think we’re now in the beginning of the worst situation that minds for new thoughts. humanity has ever had. Being a designer, not to say it isn’t risky, we can manipulate the way people act. If we look at how, in different conditions, two different people can live in the opposite ends of the world… something is very wrong. I see that designers are the ones than can make the difference whether with happiness or sadness. It’s very hard to make the decision between survival and fashion, to build something to make a difference instead of something to increase comfort – because that’s what made the problem in first place. Designers have the solution in their hands. We can choose to create equilibrium… balance that mankind already had How do you see our theme of collectivity and sharing? thousands of years ago. It’s always good to learn from different people, and I see collecting various thoughts as a good way of starting a project. But it’s a time consuming method. You can get lost within it, and if you aren’t focused it can become a waste of time. During our course discussions, I heard interesting opinions that I used to build my own view, I Can you mention one designer that you think works learned many things. in an inspiring way? I think any small thing can inspire, but if we talk about furniture designers, I always look up to Alvar Aalto and Bruno Mattsson – the ones who really started the plywood technology in the field of furniture. What other themes are present in your project? They made it more common to work My current areas of interest connect strongly to my with wood material for more organic exhibited piece of furniture. I used to only think about forms. function in products, but now I understand that shapes can also create another deeper meaning. I’m talking about the spiritual aspect of forms. I’ve learned to control shapes not just for function, but also for their positive energy flow. Like using round, circular forms instead of 90 degree angles – why not challenge the engineer-minded thought process? For me, spiritualism means everything that people can’t see with their own eyes, and it’s a pretty short range what human vision can sense. This aspect is something that most people in the Western culture have forgotten, probably centuries ago, but I feel that in the future people are going to concentrate on it more. It will make life easier with less waste.

61 versions of vision

SHOWCASE CONVERSATIONS

CONVERSATION 9

TAKE ROOT

PAT TI CHEN

Take Root is a modular storage system for the modern wanderer with no steady residence. Made from natural, tactile materials, birch and wool felt , it creates a safe

place for preserving the most precious things. The soft material is used as a medium to tell the story of passing time, since the ﬁber of the felt can “grow” together at the connection section, when pressure and friction is applied. It is built to strengthen the emotional link between a person and a place by questioning the feeling of rootlessness and encouraging its owner to settle down and create more homelike circumstances.

CONTACT

Patti Chen info @ pattichen.com www.pattichen.com +46 ( 0 ) 760 68 49 46 62 versions of vision

PATTI CHEN

How has your work been effected by the fact that it will be presented in the Furniture Fair? I think visitors aren’t there just to look at perfect objects and design solutions. They expect something more. Th rough my project, I want to engage people, How do you see the fair phenomenon evolving in the not just with aesthetics next ten years? and functional qualities, I see that Furniture Fair has the potential to become a but more on an place for different designer generations to exchange their emotional level. visions. So it could learn from book fairs in the sense that it could offer platforms for designers to have talks and communicate with visitors. When it comes to exhibiting, there is a demand for more unconventional concepts. One solution is What would you like the role of the designer to be? to provide Since I have a background in industrial design, I am more educated to operate as a problem solver. However, I aim to space and focus more on communicating values that I fi nd essential, freedom rather than just providing solutions to given briefs. I see for young design as something that can change the way people live, designers. and find the antidote for the emptiness of existence. It can be “the cure.” To have money and a good job… that’s not an aim or destination, somehow it just shows the lack of beliefs. I think young designers should be clear about their morals, question their goals, and be prepared to defend why they design in the fi rst place How do you see our theme of collectivity and sharing reflects on the designer’s role today? The value of communicating with people from different fields, also with those outside of the design world, is becoming more and more crucial. Sharing can inspire and help How is your project connected to the theme? others gain understanding and new It was a method for me; a way of developing my idea by perspectives. sharing personal experiences and being more open about my thoughts. The feedback I got during discussions made me rethink the user-interaction and What can you take with you from this keywords in my design. theme to future works and projects? It was a positive experience and I see that I will be encouraged to use openness in my future projects. The challenge is, Can you mention one designer or a theme that inspired you the more you share with others, the during your project? harder it gets for you to decide what During this project, I looked into Swedish modernism, especially its the final outcome will be. At some relation to the concept of home. For example, I found the writings of point, you just need to narrow things Ellen Key very inspirational. She talks about beauty in every day life down. That is a decision you need during a time where the importance of aesthetics is valued. Coming to make by yourself. It’s all about from China, I noticed that Swedish people really pay attention to their making things balance here. home decoration. Every home seems to have some sort of style and taste, and people like to show it – at least if you walk around after dark and look inside the windows, nobody seems to bother to close their curtains.

63 versions of vision

SHOWCASE CONVERSATIONS

CONVERSATION 10

PL ACED

ANNA JAR ÄLV

Why do you feel an almost instinctive need to touch certain objects you see? Anna Jarälv’s modular furniture Placed lives in the area between decoration,

ornamentation, embellishment and function. She worked with the question: What happens to furniture in public environments when they are not in use? Her aim has been to understand how users integrate with products, and how the products integrate into their surroundings. Placed was created to give something extra when the furniture is not in use.

CONTACT

Anna Jarälv anna.jaralv @ g mail.com www.annajaralv.se +46 ( 0 ) 735 35 10 21 64 versions of vision

ANNA JARÄLV

How has your work been affected by the fact that it is to be shown at the Furniture Fair? My background is industrial design, but my focus is not usually furniture. Regardless of the context or field I fi nd myself in, I see my role as a designer as a problem solver. I see How did the theme of collectivity and sharing steer or guide you? this furniture fair as an opportunity to put my For me, it played its biggest part in the beginning of the process. I statements into a piece of furniture. collected small images with abstract shapes from everyone’s project in the class. I used the four semantic functions to decipher what the collected material expressed. This guided me in the area of composing patterns with functions. The traces might not be entirely visible in the end result, but it’s been important along the way. Using the different contributions from the individuals in my class, and seeing how they form something was a new and How has it been working with this theme? interesting method for me to start a Mostly positive. It has at times felt fuzzy and hard project. Designing for public spaces to handle. What I have felt is positive is seeing isn’t so different from this idea, if how much others want to share. It created an you think about it. open climate within the class. It took me some time but I can really see the benefits of working with this theme. It’s more significant at HDK where you study with different design fields in one class. Because of that I took advantage of the knowledge in my class to cross the border between Do you see the theme as design critique? different Design critique…or an inspiration for another way of design fields, working. I think it’s a good way of taking advantage of to reach a each other’s unique competencies. It feels like more and new level in more designers are starting to discover the advantages of my design sharing and generating ideas together. I think more of this process. way of thinking would benefit design schools all over the world, and I am surprised that it isn’t utilized more often. As a school, HDK is rather unique in Do you have any inspiration the fact that the classes are mixed in regarding collectivity and different design fields. sharing? I get inspired by new methods and different ways of working within the design area. An example of this is a How do you see the designer’s role Danish design studio called evolving in the future? Goodmorning Technology, Maybe we’ll have a broader field of they work with strategy and competence within design, engineering innovation consultancy with and business. Having an understanding of an international impact and a different fields also enables you to be involved focus on change. Another great earlier in the design process. In my field, inspiration for me is the Danish it is positive if you have a good knowledge architect Jan Gehl. He focuses on of engineering and utilize that kind of the relationship between the built thinking. It lessens the need for revision and environment and people’s quality communication problems along the way. of life, which for me is one of the most What will you take with you from this theme and course to your important future work? things To open up my own process and get involved with others earlier on. It within has shown to be a good way of getting started, it quickly generates ideas design. and steer the work onto different tracks. This way of working opened up my understanding for different design techniques and fields.

65 versions of vision

SHOWCASE CONVERSATIONS

CONVERSATION 11

COMMUNICATION GROUP

The communication group is the editorials behind this very publication. With inspiration derived from such versatile ﬁelds as the surrealists, football teams and choirs. They have worked out a publication that covers it all.

PA R T I C I PA N T S I N T H E I N T ER V I E W

Cassandra Adams, Karolina Eriksson, Eva Erwander, Eva-Lotta Mattsson, Eric Palmér, Klara Persson, Michael Schenkyr 66 versions of vision

COMMUNICATION GROUP

How have you worked in this course? – With this publication for instance, it is what binds it all together. During the course leading up to the furniture fair we have tried out different methods of working collectively and we have investigated the designers role. The publication is a result of this. – We have been experimenting with new ways to form things, not “this is the way I always do”. We have tried to work out a new way together. – We have taken a step back as individual designers. – The great difference in this kind of design is that you can´t see Is it easier to kill your darlings? yourself in it. – Yes, it is much easier because you don´t have the time to – You don´t get attached make your own darlings. to it. How does that effect your creativity? – It has helped me to keep an opened mind. Not to go into “what do I like”. In that way it has been liberating for me. It promotes creativity because you can stretch things a little bit. – I also think it is liberating being in a group. It releases creativity. – Working as a collective has been a good lesson in many ways. I think that the working environment outside of school is very different from ours, there you have to let go of yourself completely. – We have tried to create a publication that is inspiring for other designers. We describe our work and the methods we´ve tried out. Hopefully the reader can fi nd some methods they would like to try out on their own. Do you have a favorite method? – A ll according to the theme – sharing. – I liked “the pool tool” were we shared parts. That was a good way to start sketching. – Yeah, but you have to be very clear about the regulations, how to narrow it down. Internet is like the mega pool. You need to be clear about what the end result will be, otherwise you don´t have a starting point. – Many of the methods have proven to be a good startup, a quick way to start. – That has been an important function with the methods – to generate content in different ways. – In a way the situation with this particular exhibition, it´s a white space and we can fill it with whatever we want. So the methods have been a tool to create something you can touch and look at. How do you look upon the designer´s role today? – I think the designer is involved in the whole process in a different way than Why is that? before. – The clients see the benefit of having a – Yeah, the designer is designer early on in the process. As in this more prior today. case, the editorial aspects has shaped the form of the publication from the beginning. It is seamless. – The designer becomes a storyteller. Everything has to be loaded with something else. – As a designer, you have to add something to the design. And you have to take in to consideration the different parts and participants of the project and set yourself aside. Maybe that is what differs the professional from the amateur. The amateur is the truly individual.

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SHOWCASE CONVERSATIONS

CONVERSATION 12

SPACE GROUP

Countless hours have been invested in the making of the individual pieces for the Furniture Fair. Creating a common space for them to be displayed is no easy task. Space group is behind the concept and production of the actual stand were it all comes together.

PA R T I C I PA N T S I N T H E I N T ER V I E W

Emil Karlsson, Agniete Preidyte, Rebecka Sundberg 68 versions of vision

SPACE GROUP

What are your thoughts concerning the theme of collectivity and sharing? – Does it has to be one way or another? Can you be an individual within the collective? In the making of space we have had to consider this – how can we put everything together in to a whole without taking the individuality away? – A nother aspect of it is the blend of people working together. It is very interesting to se what happens when a graphic designer makes for example interior design. I see how other people with different views are approaching a project. – W hen you blur the lines between the fields they tend to feed from each other. You start to translate When you need a boost of one design language into a different language. inspiration, were do you fi nd it? Because within a group there can be so many – Internet! languages: construction language, graphic – Inspiration is everywere. language, 3D language, architectural language… – I can get inspiration from – 2D language, production language… anything that is far away from – Yeah. It is very interesting. what I am working on. If I am – You get a wider field of thinking. Before, you doing a shop, I don´t look at other would ask someone to help you if it wasn´t within shops. your field – now you do it yourself. Maybe not – For me it has been an interesting with the best result all the times, but it is a good experience finding out the normal experience. chair height. Now, everytime I see – You step out of your comfort zone. something in that height I see a possible chair. Speaking of chairs, can you tell us something about the stand for the furniture fair? – Our aim has been to create a space for conversation and interaction. The publication is a central piece. It was important to connect the other pieces to the publication were you can find more information about them. – For the overall feeling, we wanted to do a non-sterile space. From some angles you can see the construction. – That has been one way of expressing the different sides there is to it. There is not only the surface, it is connected to a purpose and reflects on the design process. The raw materials we used have the appearance of something ongoing, What do you want the visitor to remember about the stand? and talks about the – That it stands out a little bit. The fair is such a busy place, in our stand beginning. The white you can sit down and have a conversation. boards has a more – Yeah, that the visitors will feel that they can have a break here. When finished surface. You you have been some hours in a busy place, you start to search for places can see these choices as to sit down. In our stand, we have furniture that you are not allowed to small messages. sit on, and we want to provide lots of areas to sit on that is not furniture. – Hopefully, the visitors will feel that they have gained something interesting. That would mean that we have given them something, shared something with them. Then we have succeeded.

69 versions of vision

Contact

C CASSANDRA ADAMS

SALLA JOHANNA

cbadams1@gmail.com cbadamsdesign.webs.com

KIRJALAINEN

ASTRID LINNÉA

mail@sallajohanna.com www.sallajohanna.com +46 (0) 762 05 35 88

ANDERSSON

astrid.andersson@live.com www.astridandersson.com

russelviper @hotmail.com

CHARLOTTE ASKARI

E VA- L O T T A M AT T S S O N

gusaskach@student.gu.se

hello @evalottamattsson.com www.evalottamattsson.com

EMIL KARLSSON

PAT T I CH E N

info @ pattichen.com www.pattichen.com +46 (0) 760 68 49 46

E R IC PA L M É R

eric.v.palmer @gmail.com www.cargocollective.com/ ericpalmer

I-HAN CHEN

chenihan.info @gmail.com www.chenihan.com +46 (0) 722 62 17 06

KLARA PERSSON

hello @klarast.com www.klarast.com

KAROLINA ERIKSSON

AGNIETE PR EIDYTE

karolina.eriksson2 @ gmail.com www.karolinaeriksson.se

agniete.preidyte @gmail.com MARIEL ROSENDAHL

eva @kontorkontur.se www.kontorkontur.se

mariel@marielrosendahl.se www.marielrosendahl.se +46 (0) 735 77 13 06

E VA E RWA N D E R

THERESA HARMANEN

MICHAEL SCHENKYR

hello @ theresaharmanen.com www.theresaharmanen.com +46 (0) 702 39 53 67

www.schenkyr.com REBECKA SUNDBERG

A N NA JA R Ä LV

sundberg.rebecka @gmail.com +46 (0) 704 15 23 22

anna.jaralv@gmail.com www.annajaralv.se +46 (0) 735 35 10 21

ATTILA TARI

hypota @gmail.com www.hypo-design.com

LOUISA SZÜCS JOHANSSON

ELIN VENNERBRING

info @louisajohansson.se www.louisajohansson.se +46 (0) 733 82 97 86

info @elinvennerbring.com www.elinvennerbring.com

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colophon

GRAPHIC DESIGN & EDITORIAL

Cassandra Adams Charlotte Askari Astrid Linnéa Andersson Karolina Eriksson Eva Erwander Salla Johanna Kirjalainen Eva-Lotta Mattsson Eric Palmér Klara Persson Michael Schenkyr COLOUR

Tangerine Tango Pantone 17-1463 TCX Pantone Color of the Year 2012 “provide the energy boost we need to recharge and move forward” SET IN

OSP-DIN (Open Font Library) TR Courier New (Open Font Library) This font - Linux Libertine - used throughout the publication, belongs to the public domain. Developed and shared by the creative collective of the world. www.linuxlibertine.org PA P E R

Arctic Paper Munken Print White 90 g / 300 g Arctic Matt 90 g PRINTED BY

Billes Tryckeri AB HDK

School of Design and Crafts University of Gothenburg Box 131, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden Högskolan för Design och Konsthantverk Göteborgs universitet Box 131, 405 30 Göteborg info@hdk.gu.se www.hdk.gu.se

F E B RUA R I 2 012

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sponsors / Thanks

EXHIBITION

Fl체gger f채rg www.flugger.se Fredricsons Tr채 AB www.fredricsons.com Jelena Smura Light Consultation jelenasmura @hotmail.com

SECRET MEETING

Quiz Fabric ACQWOOL Development AB www.acqwool.se TAKE ROOT

Furniture Fabric ACQWOOL Development AB www.acqwool.se PLACED

Fredricsons Tr채 AB www.fredricsons.com

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OVERALL cover

HDK DM1 E XHIBITION COURSE

2011.10.31

2012.02.07

2012.02.10

2012.02.11

R E

STOCKHOLM FURNITURE AND LIGHT FAIR

N 4

O F V

I 6

INQUIRIES INTO THE ASPECTS OF COLLECTIVITY AND SHARING. JOIN THE CONVERSATION.