Diploma Project Documentation by Sara Anand

Tilt Turn Lift Unfurl Diploma Project Documentation

Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works. - Steve Jobs (2003)

Contents

Preface

102

Prototyping

Project Proposal

120

Final Products

Research & Analysis

20 24 28 30 48

Trend Analysis Competitive Landscape Landscape Matrix Understanding Materials Consolidating Research

Ideation

52 56 64 66 68 70 72

Play Moodboarding Constructive Play Deconstructing a Lamp Constructing Lampshade Constructing Circuits Exploring Switches

Critical Feedback

Explorations

80 90

Gesture in Form Tonality Board

Concept Development

94 96 98 100

XYZ Lamp o 180 Lamp Pregnant Desk Lamp Couple Lamp

Preface

In a brief encounter with clay at a pottery class, 6 years ago, I deliberated over the idea of exploring the medium further and gaining practical knowledge about such a exciting yet complex medium. During my 4 years at Srishti I was exposed to various mediums/materials but never got the opportunity to delve in a detailed study of ceramics. I wanted to engage with the material for a substantial amount of time to be able to gauge my true calling for it. However, at Srishti I was given the opportunity to try my hand at different forms of design: critical - applied - humorous - practical; and realised that, I enjoyed a form that allowed me to be practical yet humorous and brought originality to existing mundane products or services thereby switching my role from a designer to an artist to a critic, constantly. I was keen on doing a thesis project that would give me the opportunity to pursue my long standing interests and also define my role as a designer/artist /critic. The open ended lighting project given to me by Monkey Business was a blend of material exploration, humour and innovation. It gave me the platform to combine all the elements I wished to use by allowing me to indulge with ceramics (learn and explore it) and produce a range of products that would utilize a form of design I enjoy and am comfortable working with.

Project Proposal Interactive Light Design in Ceramics

Introduction

Design Brief

Lighting is integral to space. It is omnipresent, functional, atmospheric, and dynamic and is one of the major factors along with architecture and furniture that creates ambience. It allows one to highlight areas of activity within an environment. Lighting gives character to a space and generates interplay of shadows thus creating mood and energy.

I propose to develop a range of lighting that is practical yet humorous and brings originality to everyday mundane spaces. The range will attempt to engage the user beyond the monotonous interactions that surrounds it and utilise clay and glass as the primary materials. It could either be produced in an industrial space, be hand crafted or could even be a combination of the two.

Lighting design in India is very much in its incumbent stage and it remains a noninteractive accessory. Much of the exploration we see remains limited to: playing with shadows, textures, forms, materials etc. The pieces of lighting we see around us lack the ingenious factors that would prompt us to engage with them.

Project Description

Context

This project proposes to explore interactivity within lighting by adding elements that could inspire people, cheer them up, make them think or be subversive.

Monkey business is a recently established ceramic product design studio based out of a quaint cottage in the western suburbs of Mumbai formed by 3 NID alumni.

A major setback of this humorous/ironic design is that it could be a one hit wonder â&#x20AC;&#x201C; funny in the shop but wears off when you get it home. During the course of this project I will consciously attempt to avoid this style. The element of surprise, an added quirk or play will be based on cultural associations and significance, middle class humour that creates delight and keeps people interested in the product.

Monkey business does projects for restaurants (tableware), hotels and resorts, murals and certain kind of sculptural work, lifestyle products for homes, spas and gardens, lighting, signage systems and anything else in clay.

The interactions could be mechanical, electronic or visual.

The idea of monkey business is primarily to experiment with clay, ceramic, combining other materials and exploring new processes and techniques. The products designed are mostly handmade with a lot of attention to design and detail. Monkey Business has given me an open project brief based on their plans to launch a range of lighting in the market in a span of 4-5 months.

Research Questions - Apart from play with texture, pattern and basic form for décor what more can a piece of lighting provide to an environment? - What if the product could play more of a part in the user’s daily interaction with it and the objects around it?

- Duchamp’s readymades / decontextualised objects. - Installation art and art in product spaces. - Light Designers like Ingo Muarer, Paul Cocksedge

- What are the current trends in products related to light? - Highlight and focus the space of my interest. - Where do I want to position my product: Is it a personal or a public space? - Could I identify the spaces based on it’s functionality within them eg : Home > functional decorative / Office : functional / Leisure : Decorative. - Research products in the area of sculpture and statement.

Approach/ Process Phase 1 (Research & Material Exploration): The initial phase of my project would involve researching/ reading/ speculating on various subjects while exploring the following categories: 1. Context/Environment 2. People/Culture 3. Materials 4. Case Studies - looking at installation art , study products that bridge the gap between art and design. Phase 2 (Concept Development): This phase of the project will involve ideating, sketching and conceptualising based on the data and expertise gathered from the research and exploration stage. This will be the one of the most important stages in the project. Phase 3 (Prototyping): This phase of the project will require atleast 3-4 weeks, for complete and detailed execution 14

of the products and might require some expert help in the building process.

Materials/Resources - The workshop at monkey business - Materials such as glass, ceramic, metal and wood - Basic electricals - Basic sensors, switches (electronics)? - Arduino & Processing forums? - Internet - British Council Library for books.

People - Victor Vina, Interaction designer - Aziz Kachwalla, Product Designer - Thomas Loius, Mentor & Ceramic Artist - Rekha Goyal, Ceramic Artist

Learning Outcomes Apart from enabling me to manage a vast project like this within a given time frame without compromising on the quality and intrinsic worth of what I have set out to do, the other possible learning outcomes I foresee are:

professional insight that I, as a student, lack. - Working with electronics again will help me deepen my knowledge further.

- As a product designer this project will help me evolve by allowing me to explore with different materials/form/space essentially the key elements that products are built upon. - As a person, I am curious about people â&#x20AC;&#x201C; their perceptions, eccentricities and idiosyncrasies, the cultures they build, the societies they live in and the customs they follow. This project will boost and encourage this curiosity. - It will allow me to be a part of a pioneering exploration of lighting in India. - Working with people from the industry will give me a 15

Research & Analysis

A meeting with the three partners of Monkey Business commenced the project. They unanimously voiced a clear idea that they were open to any sort of novelty, that would help them in developing a product range as the company and the project were only a startup. Doing a thorough and extensive research was the key element that would help in achieving the novelty Monkey Business was proposing to. The Research was carried out to touch upon different aspects that constitute the development of a product range. The main subjects that I broadly studied are: Markets Material & Production Facilities

reviewed and assessed it, to understand patterns, current trends and the product range possibilities. Modes of Enquiry adopted for the Research were: Visiting home furnishing/ accessory stores in Mumbai to look at lighting types. Basic Research via internet, books and talking to people. Mapping the existing trends and competitive landscape. Tactile material research: clay exploration & understanding light sources. Visiting a factory setup to understand other processes of production in ceramics. Analysing research and deducing a feasible product range.

I adopted various modes of enquiry to gain insights on the three subjects. After the data was procured, I systematically 19

Trend Analysis Market Research The analysis was based on the research done via visits to home furnishing/accessory stores in Mumbai to look at available light types, talk to shop owners, salesmen and clients understanding preferences and choices. The data collected on these trips helped in mapping the current trends.

RUSTIC | LESS IS BORE

Good Earth, Lower Parel

Rustic as a style is most common to the stores that cater to a high profile clientele. These stores claim to offer products and services that display opluent luxury, comfort and elegance. Most of these products have a maximalist, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;less is boreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; style.

Muslin, Lower Parel

The stores I visited that stock such lights are:

Abaca, Lower Parel International Furniture Brands, Worli Le Mill, Wadi Bunder Bungalow 8, Colaba Apartment 9, Colaba Casa Decor, Colaba

OMA decor, Raghuvanshi Mills, Lower Parel

Mosaic, Turner Road, Bandra West

Shimera Project Light, Raghuvanshi Mills

Kapoor Light. Life. Style, Bandra West 21

CONTEMPORARY | LESS IS MORE Contemporary as a style is minimailistic (clean, simple, pure forms and structures). This style is rare in terms of the shops that display such products. These are always tucked away in some corner of the store or found in some other backend floor of the building that a salesman guides you to. Most of them are imported or belong to international brands (Artemide being the most prominent) and are mainly used by advertising agencies or in bollywood sets.

The main stores visted that stocked such lights are: Shimera Project Light, Raghuvanshi Mills, Lower Parel BoConcept, Palladium Light Options, Lower Parel Poltrona Frau Group, Kala Ghoda Kapoor Light. Life. Style, Bandra West

AVANT GARDE Avant Garde as a style is a fusion of bold graphics, jugaad, recycled material and kitschy art (graphical elements having a blend of the 1950-60â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pop art and indian culture). These are found in shops that claim themselves as quirky or out of the box.

The stores that specialize in this category of products are: Loose Ends, Bandra West Play Clan, Bandra West Bliss Store, (Happily Unmarried) Versova Tappu Ki Dukan, Fort Attic (Quirkbox), Colaba

Competitive Landscape Desk Research Basic Research via internet and books to understand what exists on a global scale in terms of Interactive Lighting and helps in marking the existing Competitive landscape.

Cau Lamp An element, with the shape of a lamp acting as the avatar in order to re-contextualize the world famous ‘worker’s lamp’. Cau Sospensione Cau, orignally as a table lamp now Cau Sospensione and Sospensione Tied. Unfold Lamp The pendant lamp offers a new take on an industrial design classic. Crafted from soft but strong silicone rubber, Unfold projects a modern and warm personality. The soft material also allows the lamp to be folded into a neat package. Sticky Lamp This design brings a new function to packaging. The plastic which would normally be discarded has become the casing. The selfadhesive fixing offers endless possibilities. You can stick it wherever you want, on the ceiling, the door, wall or floor. 25

Do Reincarnate Intends to breath new life into objects of which one is tired. The almost invisible nylon lamp is draped over the chosen lamp, connected to the ceiling plug provided and hung up in the ceiling. So then an old table lamp, apparently floating freely, suddenly seems mysteriously new. Do Scratch Let the light escape where you choose to scratch the surface. You make it as creative as you want it to be through your personal graffiti. Do Link Attach anything in between the base and shade of this lamp yet to be formed.

Slow Glow Lamp

Clothes Hanger Lamp

Ogle Pendant Lamp

Ceiling & Floor Lamp

My Favourite Things Lamp

Landscape Matrix Research Analysis 1. CONTEXT & CONVENIENCE

PORTABLE

Area of Interest

FUNCTIONAL STATEMENT (ART)

FIXED

2. VISUAL LANGUAGE & AFFORDABILITY

CHEAP

Area of Interest ORNATE UNADORNED

EXPENSIVE

Understanding Materials Tactile & Field Research Familiarising the material through practical explorations, books, understanding processes and conducting field study.

My Experiments with Clay Before starting working with the material, Thomas, told me about a few characteristics that are intrinsic to the material clay and also things I should consider while working with it: 1. Stoneware (claybody fired to 1200 degrees celsius) is opaque. (This would be a major challenge for building lights.) 2. It is brittle and has high possibilities of breaking or chipping. 3. The body is such that it doesn’t allow for extremely thin cross sections (cracks during firing) which means that most products are heavy and very large forms shouldn’t be handled too much (handling too much increases the risk of breaking or chipping). 4. Yet, the material allows easy malleability into any type of form or surface texture.

I decided to work on different techniques of form building to reduce the weight of the clay body and also allow light to pass through. I wanted to utilize the technique of coil building to create some forms which would have hollow spaces in the body for light to pass through. Coil & Pinching I tried making a spiral shaped bowl using a combination of Coils and slabs and pinching them together. While doing so I realized that: a. The clay body wasn’t plastic enough and this was because the raw material used in the clay body wasn’t ground/seived very well. b. Very fine (2-3 mm cross section) coils couldn’t be rolled out due to the large particles in the clay causing it to dry out and start cracking. c. The form was too delicate to hold together and needed 31

support (a bowl I made it in). d. post drying the form was so delicate that on removing from the bowl, it just crumbled down. this meant that the coils needed some reinforcement. e. the crumbling could have been prevented by keeping the constructed piece in the bowl itself and brisque firing it, but if glaze had to be applied and fired in the bowl again (same one used as support before) the two would just stick together, besides the spiral shaped bowl would still be too weak to handle, even post brisk firing and extremely unsuitable for a piece that needs 32

to be handled a lot (if that be the interaction). While looking at some porcelain forms I wanted to recreate the delicateness in the stoneware clay body. I decided to look at making fine coils (after my attempt at rolling them out failed) by using a piping bag (like the ones used to decorate cakes) to get uniform sized cross sections of the coils so that they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t crack unlike rolling them out. Piping Clay I took a plastic bag and mixed some kneaded clay with water in different percentages to get

different consistencies. While filling the bag I made sure to pack the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;thick slipâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; into the bag so as to avoid any air bubbles forming in the clay body. This was to allow the clay to flow out of the bag effortlessly and continuously. I took a plastic bag and wrapped it around a cylinder, this formed the base on which the coil patterns were squeezed out. The base had to be such that it was adaptable enough to allow for shrinkage of the clay body and facilitated removal of the dry piece. I also made a clay consistency that would pour out of a lens solution bottle easily,

while constructing a form. Even after taking all the precautions possible not to allow any air bubbles into the piping bags, the coils did spurt out a bit or depending on the way the bag was held made coils of different cross sections. I then let everything rest for 2 days to dry (due to bombay rains) so as to conclude if the experiment was successful enough or not. Post drying, most of the coil work came off the plastic sheet easily. Some lasted the process while some broke immediately.

The ones that survived were extremely brittle and had to be handled carefully and delicately. The coils made out of the thick consistency had taken the shape of the container I had squeezed them out on, but on close inspection I observed that some coils had cracked and the piece wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t strong enough to be utilized in any manner. The coils made out of the pastelike consistency came off easily but on touching again it just cracked. This was because the coils were way to delicate and lacked consistency in thickness in some parts. I also assume there were still some air bubbles created in the clay body while packing the piping bag. The coils made out of the watery consistency were extremely brittle and cracked while peeling, besides the amount of water in the clay was too much for the forms to hold and most of the pattern got discombobulated. 34

I discussed all of this with my mentor and he told me that maybe an extruder would be the best device for such coils, but he also added that it would still be difficult (almost impossible) to get the sort of delicateness I was aiming for because of the kind of clay (stoneware) being used. He said that such strength wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t an intrinsic quality of the clay body.

What is Paper Clay?

in the hand.

Paper Clay is a mixture of ordinary clay with ordinary paper fibre, giving the resulting material surprising and helpful properties like increase in plasticity, dramatic reduction in shrinkage and magical improvement in adhesion (wet on dry and vice versa).

The cellulose fibers in paper pulp are like hollow drinking straws, hygroscopic, taking water out of the clay but remaining flexible. The fibers when mixed in clay are almost invisible to the naked eye, and the holes they leave when the pot is fired are equally tiny, so the surface is unblemished and as ready to take glaze as any other biscuit ware.

Paper clay is mixed roughly in the proportions of one quarter wet paper fibre (shredded paper, egg cartons, newspaper - uncoated) to three quarters of wedgeable plastic clay. It can not only be sculpted into intricate forms, not crack as it dries, but also into the kind of form that needs a metal armature, and would therefore normally be moulded and cast, will hold itself together unaided to be fired.

A bone - china paper clay brisque fired bowl made at Oasis Ceramics in Ankleshwar, Gujarat.

Paper clay appears to be slightly more brittle than pure clay when biscuited, and it can be aesthetically more unpleasing when a pot is unexpectedly light 35

Making Paper Clay

grind the pulp further.

Paper Pulp: Shred papers into small pieces and soak in water for about an hour. Once soaked shred the paper pieces further. Use a drill or grinder to mash up the soaked pieces to make a very fine pulp.

Do not use shiny coated art paper/newspaper. Although this already has china clay in it, which one might think would be helpful, it has been glued in with waterproof latex resin, and does not break down in water.

*Tips (for making Good Pulp) Take a handful of the pulp and add it to a glass of water, if the mix looks homogenous the pulp is ready to use but if u still see pieces of paper floating around,

Slip: Make a good amount of slip (triple the amount of the pulp) by soaking dried or unfired pieces of clay in water for a day or two, to get the right consistency.

A few pointers on paper clay from the book ‘A Complete Potter’s Companion’ by Tony Birks: Have one bucket for wet paper pulp, another for thick clay slip. Mix them in a third bucket with your hands, or if you wish, a powerful food mixer. Pour out the porridge-like mixture on to an absorbent surface, such as a plaster bat, and spread it out to an even thickness using a straight edge. When the paper clay has dried

out to the consistency of plastic clay, roll it up and wedge it. It is now ready to be used or it can be stored. Scrim or Bandage soaked in paper clay slip can be used on an armature to build up a sculptural form. More layers can be applied with a paintbrush. Bone dry slabs of textured paper clay can be joined using wet paper clay slip, without the usual danger of the finished pieces falling apart. 37

The Bone China Chapter I visited a Bone China factory in Ankleshwar, Gujarat to understand the processes and gauge the possibilities of working with the material. Factory In Operation: The bone is milled along with feldspar+scrap in a ball mill to make a fine powder. The powder is then mixed with water in large tubs. There are four such large tubs operating at the same time. Clay is then passed through a machine bearing magnets that removes any iron content in the mix (iron reduces the whiteness of the clay body). After the cleansing process, the clay is sent through a compressor that removes all the water out and makes large ceramic plates. The Ceramic plates are sent into a large tub again via a conveyor to make slip with the right clay to water proportion. 38

A machine pumps water and checks for pressure in the tubs. The ready slip is then sent to the upper floors for slip casting through pipes. The slip casting process involves, slip being poured in a mold, left to set for 5 mins, the remaining slip being poured out, all the excess slip scrapped out and the mold being shut for further drying. The slip caster does all of this simultaneously by working on three molds at one time. After the slip has completely dried and the pieces are ready for further processing, the cast pieces are removed from the moulds. These molds are then left for drying and assembled back together for the slip caster to use. The handles are cast and demolded in a separate area and stacked together to be sent to the next department that joins the cups and handles together.

Milling, Mixing, Filtering, Compressing, Pumping, Preparing the various stages of preparing clay for Slip Casting.

Casting, Demolding, joining, Sponging, Drying, Casing, Firing, Checking, Glazing 40

After the attachment process, the cups are sponged to finish them and then sent for drying. In the meanwhile, in another department, saucers and plates are being made using a jig. The same process of cleansing and compression (mentioned initially) is carried out to make a clay body that can be used on the jigger-jolly. After compression, the large ceramic plates are carried manually to a pugmill for kneading. The kneaded clay is stored in plastic bags for later use in quantities of 10 kg each. The hollow ware and flatware are finished in separate departments - remove excess clay, discard pieces with cracks etc.

The dried hollow ware and flatware are stacked separately in carts and sent into the kiln for a bisque firing. After the first firing the bone china pieces are checked for any undulations/dicrepancies. If any such issues are found the chinaware is sent through a pebble mill to fix the problems (to the maximum possible). The bisque fired ware is then glazed in two ways, one for general chinaware and the other to apply ceramic transfers on. The quality and amount of glazing differs for the two. The glazed ware is then sponged at the rim to remove any excess glaze. This is to not allow the glazed piece to fuse with the bottom surface when fired.

All the completed pieces are then passed through a dryer before they can be fired. 41

Molds are made in a separate department. Highly skilled artisans make the Master Mold, the master mould is used to make Casings.The master mold is then kept safely and a casing is used to make a Working Mold. Each working mold is used to make Production Molds. These production molds are then used to cast the slip.

Visiting the Factory space was certainly insightful as I had never seen ceramics being used outside a studio space. It made me understand the intricate details that are considered while making the simplest of the pieces. 43

Opacities & a Bad Slump Experiment To get a slight idea of the kind of light quality visible through stoneware and bone china I took a sugar bowl and saucer made in bone china, and a t-light lamp made in stoneware and held them against a bulb to see the sort of transparency each material possessed. 44

Bone china is quite translucent and one can see the quality of light changing where the thickness varies whereas stoneware being opaque, allows light to pass only from holes in the form. It seems that a combination of the two materials could make a light piece dynamic and even add to the interaction.

At the studio, we tried slumping glass. For this, a sheet of textured glass that fit the size of the bowl was placed on it and two smaller pieces were placed inside another bowl and fired to 1200o C.

The results were too diverse: in places the glass had over fired or bubbled or cracked or even flowed out. This unpredictable nature of the slump marked it off the list of materials being considered for the products. 45

Inspirational Videos on Lighting and New Light related Technologies. 46

Light & Sources After reading up a bit on lighting types and light sources I decided to do a small test to check the difference in light quality of each source by placing a paper cylinder on them. The differences were very obvious and the test also gave an insight on the amount of heat emitted by each source. The latter being a major consideration as the lighting had to be interactive.

The light sources tested were: 1. CFL Tube 2. Tungsten Filament Tube 3. LED Lamp 4. T-light 5. LED Strip Light

Consolidating Research Based on all the research done following was selected as premise for the product range to be developed: Lighting Type: Lamps - Table, Floor, Candle Budget: Rs. 10,000/- to Rs. 30,000/- (selling price) Context: Functional yet Artistic Style: Contemporary Material: Stoneware (mainly) & Bone China (if need be)

Ideation

After the Research phase I was constantly looking for a theme or a context that would fit the product range. The study gave rise to the following questions: - Interaction needs to get away from bold and colourful eccentric visuals. - Bold not necessarily be beautiful. - How could my products be quirky while looking at the Indian culture and yet not be kitschy? - Is there a need to get inspired only from the Indian culture, we

see so much of it anyway, would one want it to be interpreted in products as well? - Isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t there a high risk of them becoming kitschy? and thereby the products becoming a one stop wonder? - The interaction needs to be in relation with the functioning of the light: the way the switch functions or the control of the brightness or darkness or an add on feature in relation to light. - But what would the theme/ context of all of this be?

Play Theme play (verb) - To occupy oneself in amusement, sport, or other recreation - Engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose

After hitting my head against the wall trying to find a suitable theme for the interactions and asking my myself a hundred times ‘What exactly is the play I propose to achieve?’, I began looking up the word ‘play’ itself. I was still unsure of what I wanted to do then. While looking up images for ‘play’, somehow the picture alongside really hit me.

Somewhere I began to realize, that using ‘Play’ as a theme actually made the most sense as it was broad with many meanings and connotations (giving me enough to find something suitable in context with the project). Its an antonym (not literally but in some sense) of the word mundane, which my project talks about i.e. doing away with the mundane interaction of a piece of light. And in the course of my project I would be ‘Playing with Light’. A piece of Light has two sides to it: functional (providing light) & playful (creating an ambience/ effect of shadows). The theme ‘Play’ would give me the ability to explore the latter with materials like clay which provides for exactly this sort of interaction.

I did a small Mindmap trying to figure the various possibilities in which a piece of light would be playful and hoping to find the the basic theme on which the product range would be based.

I started to sort and filter emerging themes according to what was suitable for a product range but there was no core idea I could really fixate on. 55

Moodboarding Turning â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Playâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Inside Out Collecting pictures, reading books, watching videos basically gathering data that would inspire the Ideation process.

into the world as serious beings, because they effortlessly and earnestly play. They are genuinely immersed and committed to the act. Seriousness does not necessitate relinquishing joy in fact, serious pursuit can be immensely joyful. She utilizes this premise in her talk and sites examples of her work when she was being serious or solemn.

While scavanging through the internet trying to find something that would stimulate me, I came across this Video. Its an inspiring Ted Talk given by Paula Scher at a the Serious Play Conference held at Art Center, 2008 where she talks about her own design practice in terms of solemn and serious play in design.

After watching this Video I started looking up photographs of children playing, with the seriousness that they do. I collected an assortment of pictures and started making moodbooards and word associations. During this activity an ‘aha’ moment happened.

She quotes an Rusell Baker’s essay ‘Why being serious is hard’ where he introduces the essay with the idea that children come 57

Rhythm

Music Instruments

Elctronic/Analog

Synchronisation

PLAY

Sound

Audio Visual

Video SENSORY

Interference

Brightness Patterns

Contrast

PLAY

Darkness

Shadow Light

VISUAL

Appear Disappear

Imaginative

Vibrant

Magical

Splash

Wonderland Dreamy Childlike

PLAY

vibgyor

Colourful IMPRESSIONS

GAMES Activity Exercise

Physical Co-ordination

Group

Bat/Ball

PLAY Fun

Outdoor

Adventurous

Sport

GAMES Activity Exercise

Personal

PLAY

Rules/Restrictions Turn/Chance

Time Discipline

Indoor

Boardgame

Counters/Dice

Inguenity

Construction

Game Hand Eye Co-ordination

Personal

PLAY

Indoor

Stimulating Boardgame

ACTIVITY 63

Constructive Play Theme Development

This is exactly where the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;ahaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; moment struck. While making this moodboard it dawned on

me that the broader theme of interaction I had been racking my brain over, was a playful construction. Now what the output of this could be, depended on looking at a lamp closely.

Deconstructing a Lamp Areas of Intervention

SHADE

BASE (stability)

LIGHT SOURCE

While deconstructing a lamp in terms of constructive play, the following three themes

emerged. These were chosen as the interactions that a lamp would/could possess. I explored different ideas based on these.

1. Form

SHADE CONSTRUCTION

Texture

ALTER BRIGHTNESS & CONTRAST

Dual Nature

3. Switch

MAKING OR BREAKING THE CIRCUIT

Constructing Lampshade Initial Idea Generation Initial ideas that involve the user building the lampshade to create a change in textures, brightness and darkness.

Magnet embedded Clay Blocks

The lamp ideas were emerging through elements that are integral to constructive play,

such as building blocks, puzzles, etc. that involve stacking, fixing, locking.

Stoneware

Stoneware Blocks

Bone China blocks

Stoneware rings

Bone China

Constructing Circuits Initial Idea Generation Initial ideas inspired by handheld games and puzzles these involve the user initiating an action that creates a circuit to switch on the light.

Metal Ball (circuit connector)

Led Strip

Plastic Cover

Clay

Bone China

Glass Tube

Bone China Stoneware

Stoneware

Bone China

Stoneware

Exploring Switches Theme Development Building from the ideas/ sketches generated, this phase involved an exploration of usable switches.

The exploration involved building circuits that connected by an action performed, a movement or gesture, thereby switching the light on. I studied the basics of circuit building and applied them to get the desired output. 73

The exploration led to two switches: a tilt switch and a door switch. Tilt Switch: The switch is connected between the light source and the power supply. It connects/disconnects a circuit using the tilt action and accordingly the light switches on/off. I developed this switch further to switch two different light sources on/off when tilted on each side. Door Switch: The switch works in a reverse manner than the ordinary switch; when fixed in a circuit the light turns on if two parts are pulled apart rather than being put together.

Critical Feedback Excerpts from a Review Meeting.

The tipping/tilting idea is good but need to develop the concepts: In the tilting idea presented, why is the form the way it is? is there a need for a stand? These things need to be thought a lot more. Should develop a tonality board before getting into developing the concepts. The form can be something that plays with this tipping or tilting idea - balance/imbalance, symmetry/ asymmetry. Could even look at changing quality of light with the form and colour - use different/ substitutive materials instead of glaze, if firing takes too long (metal/acrylic paints, plastic sheets with a similar glaze finish). Draw LOTS! Just keep sketching your ideas. It doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t matter how bad u draw, the point is that u draw. Illustrator is a execution tool, not a drawing tool. The material exploration is insignificant.

Exploration canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be making tribal patterns onto a slab of clay. Start with primary shapes & deform them, like a cylinder. 30 such iterations can be made in a day and once in it, there might be a eureka moment. Look at catching/ preserving materials in their natural state. Look at qualities of thrown and casted forms. Use them. The form can explore two kinds of experiences in terms of structural material and weight. Think of yourself as a sculptor, think of grand gesture of form and make a big bang with your ideas. Look at Tom Dixon, Ingo Maurer, Brancusi, Frank Gehry, Henry Moore and the way they treat form. There were some good inspirations during the last meeting, what happened to those? MAKE quick iterations, literally PLAY with the material. The lamps should be eye catching and intriguing. Get sculpting - Keep it simple! 77

Explorations

The review meeting with Silas, Danika and Mr. Ravindra was 1 and a half month into the project. This feedback was the jolt I needed. It made me realise that I had somewhere down the line lost the essence of the project by delving too much into technicalities before even identifying what the lamps would be - their form and their function. Ceramic as a material is so plastic that it allows for variable forms and I had really not worked with the material enough to be able to gauge what was possible and what not. Listening to what Danika had to say, I decided to make about 20-30 quick form explorations a day for the next week and could then decide on what works or not, looking at them altogether.

Gesture in Form Form Development Looking at developing form by drawing, sketching, moulding sculpting, cutting, quilling, deforming - anything that helps in getting the idea across.

For the exploration, it was essential to have a certain idea in the form of a sketch or technique or mental note since there was a huge chance that one would be lost on what to do, while holding a ball of clay.

I decided to make a moodboard looking at playful gestures balance/imbalance, symmetry/ asymmetry and also made a few quick sketches that I could pin up on the wall while working with the medium in a hope to get inspired.

During this exploration I was mainly drawn to abstraction of animated forms - forms that suggested something tipping or tilting, geometric forms balanced on various positions, puzzles, mazes.

While exploring form through the medium of clay, I realised that some ideas involved a lengthy process of building but could be faster if made in another material, besides my expertise in clay was too little to experiment with large forms. For this reason I started utilising other materials like paper, dough, play doh, m-seal depending on the form that had to be built.

Tonality Board Final Deduction

CLEAN 90

BOLD

SCULPTURAL

The forms explored exhibited a sense of harmony that was deduced into a tonality board.

GEOMETRIC

FACETED

This helped in simulating an idea of what the product range would look like.

MANAGEABLE

PLAYFUL 91

Concept Development

TILT TURN LIFT UNFURL The idea was to develop a range of lamps that utilized an element of Human Gesture to initiate the ON or OFF function. The aim was to make use of a playful form which would gravitate that level of Constructive Interaction.

XYZ Lamp Tilt

The facted sides in the form allows the user to rest the lamp in three (X, Y, Z) orientations. As soon as the lamp starts tilting, the quality of light (light source) changes which brings about a dramatic difference in the ambience.

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(Y)

(Z) 95

180o Lamp Turn

A lamp that allows the user to change the light quality suiting the need: ambient or functional; by a 180째 turn. The use of two different materials stoneware and bone china, each that react to light in a different manner allow for this change. The form is that of a tall flattened cylinder, for the ease of turning around (vertically) when in use and laying flat (horizontally) on a surface when not.

Pregnant Desk Lamp Lift

A desk lamp is generally used as an addition to existing lighting while immersed in constructive activity like reading, writing, stitching, painting, etc. This lamp uses the metaphor of procreation: the lid when lifted switches the light on and hopes to create a certain amount of joy like that of a birth of a child when pursuing in constructive activities. The lamp is shaped like the tummy of a pregnant woman, the flattened side can be placed against the wall, the lid is like a child bearing a umbilical cord. The lid can be placed on the table on its flat surface or hung from a nail to throw light on the work one is involved with (process of creation). The bottom portion acts as a container to keep objects associated with that activity, e.g. paints and brushes for painting.

Couple Lamp Unfurl

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A lamp that separates into two intriguing parts and lights up on each side. One part throws light on the floor while the oher on the ceiling. The lamps on separation can be placed side by side like speakers.

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Prototyping

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This phase of the project was extremely laborious and hands on and the wait to arrive to the final product was exceptionally long. The many stages of this process were: - Pottery & Sculpting - Mould Making - Slip Casting - Brisque Firing - Glazing - Mature Firing - Carpentary & Polishing (for light fittings) - Electricals

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Pottery & Sculpting Due to my lack of expertise in throwing, I had to get all the initial pottery work done by a expert kumbhar, who could throw tall, large pieces easily. These pieces were then cut, sliced, joined, beaten or modified to shape by me.

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Mould Making & Slip Casting o

One portion of the 180 Lamp had to be cast in porcelain to achieve the sort of translucency I was looking for. The mould was made by an expert in Kumbharwada, Dharavi and the slip casting was also done there.

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For any expertise or help on the wheel, Rekha Goyal ( a well known ceramic artist in Bombay) would help me out. She would check on my technique, guide me when a mishap occured, explain technicalities and reasons for certain ceramic behaviour.

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Firing, Glazing, Firing The raw pieces once dry go through a lengthy process of biscuit firing, glazing and finally a mature firing. This biscuit firing is essential as the pieces could crack when glaze is poured or sprayed over them. Any cracks or air bubbles in a piece become visible in the biscuit firing and the piece can then be regarded as usable or not. 112

An electronic biscuit firing takes about 5 and a half hours depending on the amperage available. Post firing the furnace takes about 24 hours to cool down before it can be opened and checked. The glazing process involves making a glaze by following a recipe-measuring sieving straining. This recipe should be tested to check for variations post

firing to know exactly what the end result will be and how much the colours or finish could vary. For the glazes I utilized Rekhaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tested glazes to achieve the finish I wanted. I used a simple transparent glaze with different oxides to achieve the colours. The test pieces here show the colour scheme I wanted to work with.

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Woodwork Rekhaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s good friend Shubhangi is a furniture designer and specializes in wood. She has a factory on the outskirts of Bombay where she was kind enough to allow me to get my wood fittings made. For the crafting the fittings, I took prints 1:1 scale drawings which were then cut and pasted on wood to get the precision required. In some cases the circuits were so complicated that I had to make dummies using paper, dough and GI wire to explain the intracacies easily.

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Electricals Drawing of circuits were given to the shopkeeper who helped in soldering and fixing all the LED circuits together.

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Final Products

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The final products displayed here are a glimpse of what the range looks like.

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Bibliography

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The Complete Potterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Companion The Mama Nouchies - A new Tribe of Light 1000 Lights - 1960 to present Sketching the User Experience Super Normal: Sensations of the Ordinary Why being Serious is Hard? by Russell Baker Wallpaper Magazine Form Magazine Marti GuixĂŠ From Us With Love Droog Website Pinterest Ted Talks

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Thank You

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Rekha Goyal without whom this project would not have seen the light of day. Shubhangi, Bholabhai, Goradia Sir, Abbas Gidwani, Hanif Gidwani, Rekha Bajpe Aggarwal, Re4clay! for all the help. Silas Grant, Danika Cooper, Mr. Ravindra Gutta for standing by me. Nandini for helping with administrative issues whenever need be. At home Shmita Anand, Sahil Anand and Sunil Anand for all the support. Especially Mom for driving me through the thick of Mumbai at odd hours and at ridiculously low speeds porting my pieces. Akshataa Vishwanath for all the train rides and constant motivation when I was at my witsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; end. Pradeep for the daily chats and feedback. Tisha, Disha, Upasana, Suja for the mutual consolations and feedback. 133

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Sara Anand Product & Interface Design Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology 2012 ÂŠ This book is a documentation of the thesis project Tilt, Turn, Lift, Unfurl undertaken at Srishti School of Art Design and Technology, Bangalore. No part of this book should be used, copied or distributed without the permission of the author.