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A general explanation:
My friends and family occasionally ask me, “What exactly are you doing there?” And ther just is
no simple answer. Research in the sciences seems to make sense to people as an academic
process. But research in the arts is a bit fuzzy. I am told that "designers don’t read.” And, for the
most part, I think it's true. But while they may not be reading Cultural Theory, they are continually
reading the signs of culture in all they encounter, and repackaging that language into the things
we live with.
I am doing a bit of both – the familiar kind of academic book-worm research, and the osmotic
designer absorbing culture research. The bookworm part has focused on the history of
technology and ornament in the decorative arts, looking at how changes in production
technology created new ways of making products and environments, and spurred anti-
technology reactionary ways of making things by hand. I have looked back to the industrial
revolution to understand how industrial designers emerged from the old craft traditions, and
how the worlds of industry and craft were intertwined.
All of this is to better understand our current technical-industrial revolution, and how the
arguments of past and present are cyclical. In the end, I hope to better understand how hybrid
artisans that live through the cusp of such cultural transformations, are important translators
between the known and the new. And that it is only by blending existing expertise with new
potential that we move forward.
That’s the first part.
The second part is studying contemporary Dutch design and designers. For that, I go to the
magazine shops rather than libraries and read design and fashion mags. Also, I attend gallery
openings, visit design and furniture shops, go to trade shows, and interview important
contemporary designers.
The third part is actual design work, my work, and the work I am doing with/for others.
In order to really learn by doing, I started an internship with Droog Design in Amsterdam. There
I am working as a designer and project assistant. This means I am helping to design and
construct exhibitions of Droog products – one just left for a two-year tour starting in Shang-hai
and ending in New Zealand. And the one I am currently working on will be in Milan at a furniture
show in April. Also, I am assisting product design efforts, doing materials research.
In my own design work, I am continuing the path I was on from my Master’s Thesis last year –
organic programming for product generation. This work involves creating computer programs
that generate products, using ideas from nature to grow functional objects. As an example, my
professor gave us a bunch of Japanese lanterns, and I have studied the structure as the basis
of a group of jewelry designs I am working on. Also, I spend a fair amount of time studying and
photographing architectural ornamentation based on nature (leaves, scrolls, etc.), and use that
as an inspiration for other projects. Over the last 6 months I have amassed several programs
that generated different types of forms. Many of them are in early development and I hope to
take them home with me to be refined next year while I am teaching. I have been working on
designs for furniture, jewelry, eyeglasses, and dishware. And this will be the basis of a body of
work that I hope to be able to show next year.
My friends and family occasionally ask me, “What exactly are you doing there?” And ther just is
no simple answer. Research in the sciences seems to make sense to people as an academic
process. But research in the arts is a bit fuzzy. I am told that "designers don’t read.” And, for the
most part, I think it's true. But while they may not be reading Cultural Theory, they are continually
reading the signs of culture in all they encounter, and repackaging that language into the things
we live with.
I am doing a bit of both – the familiar kind of academic book-worm research, and the osmotic
designer absorbing culture research. The bookworm part has focused on the history of
technology and ornament in the decorative arts, looking at how changes in production
technology created new ways of making products and environments, and spurred anti-
technology reactionary ways of making things by hand. I have looked back to the industrial
revolution to understand how industrial designers emerged from the old craft traditions, and
how the worlds of industry and craft were intertwined.
All of this is to better understand our current technical-industrial revolution, and how the
arguments of past and present are cyclical. In the end, I hope to better understand how hybrid
artisans that live through the cusp of such cultural transformations, are important translators
between the known and the new. And that it is only by blending existing expertise with new
potential that we move forward.
That’s the first part.
The second part is studying contemporary Dutch design and designers. For that, I go to the
magazine shops rather than libraries and read design and fashion mags. Also, I attend gallery
openings, visit design and furniture shops, go to trade shows, and interview important
contemporary designers.
The third part is actual design work, my work, and the work I am doing with/for others.
In order to really learn by doing, I started an internship with Droog Design in Amsterdam. There
I am working as a designer and project assistant. This means I am helping to design and
construct exhibitions of Droog products – one just left for a two-year tour starting in Shang-hai
and ending in New Zealand. And the one I am currently working on will be in Milan at a furniture
show in April. Also, I am assisting product design efforts, doing materials research.
In my own design work, I am continuing the path I was on from my Master’s Thesis last year –
organic programming for product generation. This work involves creating computer programs
that generate products, using ideas from nature to grow functional objects. As an example, my
professor gave us a bunch of Japanese lanterns, and I have studied the structure as the basis
of a group of jewelry designs I am working on. Also, I spend a fair amount of time studying and
photographing architectural ornamentation based on nature (leaves, scrolls, etc.), and use that
as an inspiration for other projects. Over the last 6 months I have amassed several programs
that generated different types of forms. Many of them are in early development and I hope to
take them home with me to be refined next year while I am teaching. I have been working on
designs for furniture, jewelry, eyeglasses, and dishware. And this will be the basis of a body of
work that I hope to be able to show next year.