This blog provides a forum for students, instructors and others to share information and ideas about the Spring Thesis Program at Parsons the New School for Design in New York City.
Hi Violaine, I share your interest in making furntiture that converts to make it more adaptable for multiple uses. If your goal is to create furniture that people want to keep for a long time, then it makes sense to design it so that it can be used for many different functions or configurations. When we think about heirlooms, we usually are talking about old fashioned pieces that are heavy, ornate, made out of hardwood or other expensive, massive materials. Maybe the reason that modern furntiture does not work well as heirloom pieces is that it does not adapt to new functions very easily, and it is hard to move because it tends to be big and heavy. If you want to make something today that people will want to keep with them for several generations, you have to think about how people will be living in the future, and then try to design for that case (which seems impossible to do), or you have to design it so that it can easily change, fold up, turn into a storage container for shipping, be useful whether people live by themselves or in groups. Maybe you even have to anticiptate a time when people are replaced by robots!
Anyway, it can be a really fun thesis project for you, and I am excited to help. But now you have to put together a board that states your arguments, and discuss the possible products in very general terms. So, I would include some sketches to show what you have in mind, but try not to be too specific. then, you have to find images and do some writing that explains your hypothis. It will not be hard to do, but you have to go very fast. Let me know how I can help.
1 comment:
Hi Violaine,
I share your interest in making furntiture that converts to make it more adaptable for multiple uses. If your goal is to create furniture that people want to keep for a long time, then it makes sense to design it so that it can be used for many different functions or configurations. When we think about heirlooms, we usually are talking about old fashioned pieces that are heavy, ornate, made out of hardwood or other expensive, massive materials. Maybe the reason that modern furntiture does not work well as heirloom pieces is that it does not adapt to new functions very easily, and it is hard to move because it tends to be big and heavy. If you want to make something today that people will want to keep with them for several generations, you have to think about how people will be living in the future, and then try to design for that case (which seems impossible to do), or you have to design it so that it can easily change, fold up, turn into a storage container for shipping, be useful whether people live by themselves or in groups. Maybe you even have to anticiptate a time when people are replaced by robots!
Anyway, it can be a really fun thesis project for you, and I am excited to help. But now you have to put together a board that states your arguments, and discuss the possible products in very general terms. So, I would include some sketches to show what you have in mind, but try not to be too specific. then, you have to find images and do some writing that explains your hypothis. It will not be hard to do, but you have to go very fast. Let me know how I can help.
by the way, if you think that we move a lot now, check out article about
moving day in new york city
steven
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