BGB Engineering
Fiona Davidson and Chris Kabel developed a concept that tapped into a public sector growth market, and clearly linked their ideas to policy drivers including anti crime initiatives, and the development of the night time economy in cities across the UK.
They presented a lighting product (above left) designed to be produced for waterscapes such as rivers, canals and marinas that illuminates the built environment such as bridges, historic buildings, social spaces and waterside walks. Taking into account cost implications, they decided on a modular approach that could be reproduced in batches, whilst also creating a product that could be tailored to specific locations.
BGB reacted extremely positively to the concept and the dialogue included a range of personnel and departments, with the marketing potential giving the most impetus for further.
Ursula Lavrencic and Sebastiaan Straatsma concentrated on BGB’s interest in being able to consistently predict what the next ‘big thing’ could be, as well as ensuring that products appeal to new and expanding markets.
They presented a simple but beautiful concept for decorative underwater lighting that consisted of transparent buoyant beads illuminated by fibre optics. One source of inspiration was the movement of jellyfish in the ebb and flow of water. As with other design teams, the ability of the design to be applied in a modular fashion was key to this approach. The system could be used to connect yachts and in urban water environments. The overall effect is a soft subtle glow.
Looking at examples such as Smeg and Apple, Andrew Tanner & Marjet Wessels Boer proposed that BGB develop a more aesthetic approach to a range of new products that would be beautifully visible, rather than hidden. The materials would be high quality. The market they explored was the bathroom and spa environment: a light as a bath plug, baths with illuminated bases which would change the hue of the water and lights that could be fixed to sides of baths and pools.
The team also looked at quay and yacht lighting solutions, exploring flexible floating lights that could be connected, large or small in scale, and controlled by computer technology and, as with the previous concept, able to enhance the environment through shifting colours.
Smiths of Derby
Michael Marriott and Carl Silvestor took its inspiration from two familiar icons of the public realm – the red telephone box and the traditional post box. They were inspired by the simplicity, solidity, integrity and instant familiarity of these objects and their ability to age beautifully with a minimum of maintenance. Their concept was to create a clock that could become as much a part of our streets and lives as these objects, whose functionality was secondary to the status of the object as a place maker and definer.
They explored designs that have the potential to be placed across the UK and internationally. To this end it was vital that design was robust, low maintenance, vandal proof and cost efficient to produce. The team settled on a cylindrical steel body that would incorporate three clock faces. The body could, for example, be coated in the seven colours of the rainbow, to link individual beacons in different cities in a time trail. It could also be made in other finishes or from Corten steel. It would be approximately six metres in height with a diameter of two metres. All information relating to design and construction of the beacon would be laser cut into the body of the clock tower including information regarding distances to other cities, both national and international.
Smith of Derby were impressed by the result, ‘It has the potential to become a product we could see marketed to cities. It would be very much a love it or hate it item, but one whose simplicity of design and industrial essence really reflects our times'.
Designers thrive on challenges. So do most businesses. There's often an ill connection between them. Designers are seen as independant and free thinking. Manufacturers are seen as motivated by process and profit. It's stereotypical view that many would recognise.
QUEST, a project set up by Arts Council England and other agencies to bridge that cultural gap, sets designer makers from the East Midlands and their European colleagues in a structured dialogue from which potentially radical and unusual ideas flow.Kees Dorst, Professor of Design, University of Technology, Sydney, sets the context below:
The 2007/8 Quest partnered English and Netherland's designers with two thriving companies in the region. The 2008 project takes up the same theme but alongside colleagues from Poland.
In times of great change, a company has to recognise that gradual innovation is not good enough anymore. Contexts can change so much, that the old ways of working lose their meaning. Many companies and institutions find that the challenges they face today go much deeper, and uncomfortably question not just how they operate, but also what they stand for – all the way to their own inner assumptions and even their own identity.
But how can one learn about the new contexts and the new rules of the game? And how can you question the core of what you stand for without losing your identity? How can one then effect change on these deeper levels?
This requires a very thorough process of questioning the unquestionable, and experimenting with possible scenarios for moving forward. The quest that the designers and companies took on was just such a process. A quest does not have a set outcome: it is all about designing and asking questions, rather than trying to come up with a solution. The professional designer can bring fresh viewpoints and ideas that open up all set ways of thinking within a company, and help us shape new futures.
This is true learning. In times of change, the future belongs not to the person who knows the most, but to the quickest learner.
More about Kees Dorst at www.keesdorst.nl
The full report of the Quest 2007/8 project can be downloaded:
Ursula Lavrencic & Sebastiaan Straatsma presented two concepts: Object of Time and the Relative Time Bracelet, ‘Time is what we make of it ourselves. It’s relative. It is a personal moment between a starting point and an end. It deals with movement and experience. It’s a fragment of time that sticks out and is made valuable by taking the time for it and pointing it out. It is about giving back the fascination and magic that time has within itself.’
The team were enthusiastic about the quality of Smith that concentrated on the accuracy of the mechanisms itself, the inside and not the outside. The designers wanted to give back to the user the experience of time by creating ‘objects of time’. These would give direction on how time can be used in different ways and become company icons.
- On screen: Time bar
- Time bar starts
- There is little wooden-box on the table.
- Inside: a white ball and a silver key
- The ball is winded; movement and clicking sound
- The ball starts ticking
- The ball is passed out through the crowd
- Taking the time... taking a moment
Relative Time Bracelet is a simple object that represents time in a human, not physical, way. Relative time is about time fragments. About periods of personal time. About the ever changing relationship of three moments; one in the past, one in the future and the present moment. The meaning of the Relative Time Bracelet is hidden and only understandable to the owner. It is intimate jewellery that visualises a private timeline. With a mobile phone via bluetooth the owner chooses his own fragment. It could be the period from his birthday to his next birthday – his own personal year. It could be time from sunrise to sunset. It could be a time fragment he takes to give a speech, have lunch or make love to his girlfriend.
Jason Taylor explored the variety of timepieces, from wristwatches to manual kitchen timers, showing a plethora of different time pieces. He focused on re-use rather than recycling – which is a key tenet of his practice – and the process of powder coating that can transform an object. The result was a series of reused tins, with different wrappers and a tilt switch mechanism – a really affordable offshoot that takes Smith beyond the one-off and opens up a mass market.
Andrew Tanner & Marjet Wessels Boer didn't propose a physical product but looked anew at Smith of Derby's future, one that would create a dual purpose: a design led agency role coupled with an excellent fabrication facility. Architects, designers and architects would be the target markets for this approach, with Smith of Derby presenting the dual service at events such as 100% Design.
Knowledge Quest
