Erin Parker
Design Portfolio 2021
Contents
About me
Pint Place
The Evolution Chair
Pearson Lloyd Project
Date Night Donkey
Hibiscus stool
About Me
I am a second year design student currently studying BA (Hons) Furniture and Product Design at Nottingham Trent University. Every project begins with my analytical and diagnostic thinking. I am a problem solver that thrives on a challenge and love finding solutions. As a visionary and imaginative designer, my favourite element of the design process is ideation. I love having visions and starting to bring them to life through sketches, models and CAD. When I am working on a project, I lay everything out around the space. It makes for an immersive experience and I feel involved and intertwined within my project.
Key Skills Creative -Sketching and presenting -Card modelling -Researching -Problem Solving -Project management -Time management -Communication Skills -Visual communication -Self driven CAD and software -Solidworks -Keyshot -Adobe Photoshop -Adobe Illustrator -Adobe InDesign -Marvelous Designer
Pint Place Hallway storage for commonly forgotten items Low 1st
Project Brief Design and build a structural frame to hold standard-sized ready-made containers from the given timber sections; function to be decided by you.
Inspiration Pint Place utilised the iconic shape of the nonic pint glass. The bump shape had the potential to create a ridge and prevent the glass from falling off. The main source of inspiration behind Pint Place was primarily the Covid-19 pandemic. With the need to carry items like facemasks and hand sanitiser, people are often misplacing them as their is no designated place to store them.
Wine Rack qokda.com
Hands Sanitiser Pexels.com
Pint Glass Pexels.com
I took the structural inspiration from 80’s wine racks and pigeon hole storage to produce a hallway storage system incorporating nonic pint glasses.
Cutting out dowels on the band-saw
Cutting out panels on the band-saw
Process and development
Drilling holes in the panels for the dowels to slot in
Sanding the cut outs on the oscillating bobbin sander
I began by sketching and producing sketch models , experimenting with different shapes and formations with the timber provided in the brief. After producing a final 1:1 scale card model, I made a prototype in the workshop, using my technical drawings to make sure everything was to scale.
In context
Attached by elastic bands and string
Pint Place is an open source design, encouraging people to get involved and provides a family activity for further lockdowns in the Covid-19 pandemic. The rack like structure holds 5 nonic pint glasses secured onto to the dowel below by an elastic band and a piece of string. The pint glasses work as pigeon holes and can store items like glasses, keys, hand sanitiser face masks and lip balm. The rack can be carried by using the top two dowels as handles and the top v shape is designed to be a rack for books and mail.
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The Evolution Chair Height accommodating Children’s chair for John Lewis Low 1st
Project Brief Design a piece of furniture or product for John Lewis driven by your research into sustainable and circular design values.
Inspiration John Lewis are passionate about sustainability and they put their customers at the heart of everything they do. A lot of their values lie with wanting to prevent wastage , which can be seen in their sofa buy back scheme and their rentable furniture partnership with Fat Llama. I felt it was important to continue these values but within children’s furniture as children produce a lot of waste through growth. The inspiration behind The Evolution Chair was existing stackable designs like the The collection Kebab lamp, the Brio stacking clown and Mia Hamborg’s Shuffle MH1 table.
Multileg bukowskis.com
MH1 Table andtradition.com
Brio Clown Youtube.com
Kebab Lamp Deezeen.com
I was influenced by Mia Hamborg’s height adjustable design of adding and removing beads. I incorporated this value to make the chair height adjustable. I designed the beads to make it appear that they were traditional turned legs like Jamie Hayon’s multileg collection when they are stacked together.
Adjustable leg model
Wooden beads on a threaded bar strength test
I began by producing sketches and models of the concept. Inspired by the playfulness of children’s toys and the Memphis movement, I began experimenting with different colours and shaped beads. Through sketch models and sketches, I developed a mechanism to make the legs height adjustable. To gain a sense of scale, material and colour, I produced some CAD renders along the way making adjustments to produce my final design.
Largest size card model, suitable for a 10 year old
Smallest size card model chair , suitable for a three year old, with spare parts being stored as a toy
Process and development
In context Accommodating for the height of children, with a sustainable approach, The Evolution Chair for John Lewis grows 7+ years with the child. A clever storage system for spare parts doubles as a stackable bead toy. The main frame is red oak for durability and it is more sustainable than white oak. The beads are maple as it is a good wood to paint. The chair is assembled through long dowels in the seat to make it easily adjustable. The legs and back are connected through threaded bars for strength and security. The chair is also available in an all black option to fit more interiors.
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Future Proofing Classrooms Live Consultancy Group Project with Pearson Lloyd Low 2:1
Project Brief Conduct focused research exploring the future of teaching and learning. Undertake rapid design exercises to improve an identified space.
Inspiration Designing to create flexible working environments that suit different work groups: With the move to a more flipped learning approach encouraging students to complete work outside of their scheduled lessons, in this group project we produced a range of ideas to accommodate this. This approach involved the use of flexible screening , changing the room layout, the lighting and colour.
Neutral colour legat.com
Light Dimmer Thisoldhouse.com
Flexible screen molodesign.com
In this group project, I took the lead to ensure we were all working well together and all the work was completed.
Smith-Lake (2021) Grey Room
Chen (2020) screen on a rail sketch model
Cassidy (2020) Lighting sketch
“If technology inhabits movement, it must be encouraged in other ways.” -Hard Facts about soft machines (page 416)
Cassidy & Parker (2020-2021) User Experience
Process and development
Flexible panelled screen for flipped learning
Concertina screen
After consulting with Pearson Lloyd, and conducting Ethnographic research, we chose to focus on Chaucer because the space was generic and easily adaptable. The space leant itself to being used as a retrofit for flipped learning. We produced a few different ideas of how to produce a more accommodating and user adaptable space through a series of sketch models, and sketches.
Chosen Space to Research: Chaucer The space lends itself to being used for flipped learning. It has potential to become a retrofit space due to the space being generic and non course specific. When making the room adaptable it was important to understand who will be adapting the room, whether it is the teacher, students or estates. For example, if a teacher is expected to do it on their own then the furniture would need to be light and easy to manoeuvre and maybe have wheels for ease of moving.
Is adaptable and multifunctional furniture appealing? The overall consensus is that 95% of students do believe that it is beneficial to have a flexible and adaptable work environment.
Opinions on adaptable and flexible furniture The overall consensus is that most people are already open to the idea of an adaptable work environment for reasons such as “saves space and multifunctional” and “can be adapted to suit peoples needs and preferences.”
Date Night Donkey Vinyl and Wine storage Donkey for IsokonPlus Low 1st
Project Brief A new Donkey fit for purpose in our current lifestyles.
Inspiration
Date Night Lifeasmama.com
Nostalgic music wallsheaven.com
Isokon Donkeys isokonplus.com
Inspired by the three original Isokon Penguin Donkeys, the Date Night Donkey plays on the nostalgia of old music . The storage system doubles as a display piece and creates an excuse to have a date night. The shapes and aesthetics also play on the theme of nostalgia as they have a very round and retro feel.
The Date Night Donkey
Card model from the front
Donkey Ideation Sketch
Process and development
Card model in context of its use+
Card model from the back
Through a series of sketching and models which I made gradual edits to, I produced a final design. I then made this final design in a 1:1 cardboard scale model and in CAD. This enabled me to test the structure and stability of the Donkey.
In context The Date Night Donkey is a storage unit that can house and display, vinyl records, wine bottles, wine glasses, headphones and a tabletop to display a record player. There is also a hidden shelf below the sliding table top which can be used to store valuables and snacks the user may want to include in their date night. The Donkey provokes an event, that is expected to create a sense of nostalgia by being able to display all of the users favourite music.
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Hibiscus Stool Coral Velvet Stool with a Danish oil finished Ash Frame Low 1st
Project Brief Design and make a stool with the given ash timber using a variety of wood joining techniques.
Inspiration
Hibiscus stamen Flickr.com
Hibiscus Flower Pexels.com
Colour trend Pantone.com
The main source of inspiration of the hibiscus stool was the form of a hibiscus flower, I wanted to make the cushion soft and velvety like the petals of the flower and the frame to be a harsh textural contrast like the stamen of the flower. I used Danish oil to replicate the yellow tones and shine of the stamen. For the upholstery I was inspired by the colour trends of 2020. The vibrancy of the trending coral colour grabbed my attention for its subtle vibrancy.
Sanding the round tops of the legs on the disk sander
Timber cut with mortice and tenon joints and planed curved edges
Process and development
Finished Upholstered stool finished with Danish oil
Sewing a cut out shape into the corners to wrap around the legs
This Project was very manufacturing heavy and a lot of the project I spent experimenting in the workshop. I first made a model and prototyped the joints of one leg, I was happy with the strength and my joinery after a bit of practice so I started to produce the stool. I started off by making patterns and marking out each piece of timber to make sure it was right. I then began to cut out the mortise and tenon joints on the band saw and mortise machine. I then made curved edges using a wood plane and sanding them down. To create a round top on the legs inspired by the hibiscus stamen, I used a disk sander. I then sanded the whole frame down, wiped down the dust and applied a few coats of Danish oil. This gave a lovely yellow colour and shine to the ash . Finally I added the upholstery with reconstituted foam with a softer 1” foam on top and a layer of Dacron, this made the seat comfortable but firm.
In context The Hibiscus stool is a statement piece. Made from a repurposed curtain purchased from the bargain corner of Ikea, the stool is designed to stand out for its vibrant colour and unusual shapes. The stool is multifunctional as it is the perfect height to be used as a seat and is also not too high that it can be used as a footstool.
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Links available here:
erinparkerdesigns.myportfolio.com @erinparkerdesign 07921 053931 erinparkerdesigns@outlook.com Issuu/erinparkerdesign linkedin.com/in/erinparkerdesign