Just a month ago I went to a local bookstore...while I was just browsing the shelves my eye was attracted by this book. You may ask your selfs why? Well it was the title (concepts-materials-styles) that suggested this was not another of those taschen books that simply shows products...but it felt it was something more. In fact the authors picked the major and most important (to them I think) concepts, materials and styles in the history of design analyzing them one by one. In a few words is more like a design history book to learn something new and to refresh the things we already know (thing that I think it could be useful sometimes). The topics are arranged in alphabetical order, which I find amusing because you will not find a list of all concepts or materials or styles but, wile reading, from one day to another you will jump from one group to another without being bored. The price was nice too...just 7euro here in Greece. Thats all...I'll recommend it!!
Book Info: DESIGN HANDBOOK: Concepts,Materials,Styles (Icons) - Paperback,Illustrated by Charlotte & Peter Fiell ISBN 3-8228-4633-3
Because in metals "Manufacturing Methods" topics I refer a lot to ferrous and non ferrous metals I thought to be wise uploading those two charts that lists them all. Just click on every pic to enlarge it.
Wile reviewing my starred items in my google reader, I found out that some time ago I bookmarked this post from Yanko Design blog. Well, this is not a hole new product but I like to think it as a product improvement. I will not talk about aesthetics, because maybe to me it could seem as the most beautiful object in the world but not to you, and I will not talk about the engineering problems that must have been resolved to make this umbrella stand up (the umbrella has not its weight evenly distributed...in fact as you can see the tripod is not symmetrical) because with the required study those problems most of the times can be resolved. The thing that I would like to talk about is the product concept (from my point of view off course, because I've never had the chance to talk with Mr. Tsuboi). Ok here it is... How many times, in a rainy day off course, you entered in a room, cafeteria, public service building and just after the door you scanned all the area trying to find a place to leave your umbrella...without finding any? Well most of the times in those places there is not an umbrella holder (at least in Greece)...so the next thing is leaving the wet umbrella on the dirty floor (with the consequence of leaving the place with a dirty umbrella), trying to balance it between floor and wall (wetting the wall, leaving grey spots on it...why must I ruin something that is not mine?) or just kipping the umbrella in my hand (trying to forget the wet feeling and avoiding the dripping). So, I think the standalone is a very good idea....just leave the umbrella beside the enter door, ok maybe some wet floor over there but hey...floors are weeped out every day. The only thing is that, due to color availability (only black and white), if there is more than one umbrella you could mismatch yours with another, but Mr. Tsuboi thought about that too...as I can see in pic.3 there is a tab where you can put your name on (I think). To resume...very nice work and hope to see it in a shop near me!!!
Another method to cast a part is by using plaster molds. Plaster slurry is poured onto the cope and drag pattern halves and allowed to set. The mold is then removed from the patterns, baked to remove moisture, and assembled. The metal is poured into the resultant cavity. Finally, the mold is broken to remove the casting.
Procedure Properties: advantages:
short lead time, superior surface quality, thin wall or section.
Intricate parts, minimum or no draft angle (except for pattern removal).
disadvantages:
Plaster molds limited to nonferrous metals.
Limited in size, not good for heavy sections.
typical parts:
Precision parts, often used to prototype for die-casting.
Here is one for you... While I was checking some other blogs I run on to this post... It simply links you to an another web page with a sort of a flash "game" that tests your eyeballing skills on some basics tasks...like trying to make a perfect 90 degree angle between two lines or finding the conversion point between three. Well very funny...so all you people sketching out there just try it and check your score. It's not so easy as it sounds! But maybe not so hard....
Concerning how the things are here in Greece about retrieving knowledge that in later time could help you design a better product...I've decided to make a series of topics that will show how manufacture methods are done in practice. Thats because ,at least here Greece, most of us maybe never had the chance to see "how it's done"....few manufacturers = few chances.
Well, the first one is about "sand molding" (first video) and "sand casting" (second video).
Just yesterday, I had my first meeting with the guys of the "Greek Industrial Design Secretariat" (Elliniki Grammateia Biomixanikou Sxediasmou), oh YES finally there is one!!. First of all lets say that the existence of such an organization can give hope to all industrial designers here in Greece that, maybe, something could change in the mentality of the country that we are living in...and when I'm referring to mentality I mean that finally companies and clients must understand that YES design can make the difference when we are talking about competition and on how a product can be best selled.
But I will leave this topic for another post and I will bring to you the great news. Well great news because the initiatives for those things in Greece are very few.
In January 24 to 27 (year 2009) it will be helded at the Athens Olympic Fencing Center (former Elliniko Western Airport Terminal) the "Design Lab" exhibition, and as their site says, will present the most modern trends in space and object design as well as the cutting edge materials and product.
Taking advantage of the exhibition the Secretariat organized a competition for artist and designers. In a few words: The product or the piece of art must be designed to be product only in alluminum with no resriction of theme. Requested max. 2 A4 sheets of product description, drawing presentation max 2 A1 sheets and optional prototype must fit in a 35x35x50h cm cardboard case. Awards: Product Design 5000e Art 5000e
Thats all...we shall see what will happen...
Below I'm attaching first the link of the competition (that unfortunally it is only in greek...but from my point of view organization it's not our best thing...I'm willing to help any person outside Greece in the translation) and second the link of the exhibition.
While surfing over the internet, I found this post of Carl Alviani.
Well the nature of this article is not about design aesthetics but most of all about design management that, from my perspective, plays a big role when we talk about on how to be a competitive freelance professional and not. Ok, the author asks him self: "Do I need a contract?" (with my client).
Kim Katinis was born in Rome (Italy) from architects mother and father. After spending his first ten years of childhood there, he moved with his family to Athens (Greece).
There he finishes the Italian high school and in the year 2000 took the diploma in industrial design at the AKTO art and design school.
In the next nine years he worked as a junior designer for Drakoulakis s.a. and as a senior at Exhibit Smart Stands Constructions, Yalco and its subsidiaries companies Omnishop, Fest, Evans & Taylor.
In 2008 he attended with his work at the “Greek Designers Proposals” and in 2009 at the “Design 2009” team exhibitions held in Athens.
His work has been published on “MD” design magazine (Bulgaria), “Nisha” design magazine (Israel) and in various internet blogs (“Trends Updates”, “Yanko Design”, “Elite Choice” etc.).
Currently he works as a freelance product and interior designer.
Hi there... Yes, as the title says this is another design blog (the web is full of those in this days). With the exception that instead of just linking you on some cool products, I'll try to post topics that could help us (I hope) in some ways to be better designers, without spending hours and hours over the internet or just wait years to gain the proper experience in order to put our hands on some knowledge. Off course this will not exclude the fact that from times to times I'll show some products that I'll found interesting, news, competitions etc. You'll notice that I'll be referring a lot to Greece, that's because I'm living in Athens and design things are slow here, so I think that waters must be shaken. So, hope you'll like it...and enjoy!
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