mikomi webcam- sketch of the day...

To try to keep up with my sketching aims today I have sketched an old mikomi webcam, to finish off the sketch I used normal coluring pencils to render the light effect on the plastic form.

calvin klein euphoria- sketch of the day...

To practice my sketching skills today I decided to sketch a new perfume of mine, Calvin Klein Euphoria. I love the shape of the bottle and the materials used, reflective curved metal that reflects the light and the shaping of the form. After sketching with some light shading I then went on to practice using marker pens to create the metallic look.

my time project...

For this project we had to create a form that would indicate time, without actually showing a clockface. I decided to turn my form into a scultural seat, ofcourse featuring my favourite curved elements. For the time element I decided to use light as my indicator of time for the user, around the curved seat there are tweve poles that represent each hour of the day. As each hour passes the correct number of poles light up, as time reaches closer to the next hour, the next relevant pole slowly starts to light up, reaching its maximum glow when it dawns exactly on that hour. It has two running cycles, during the daylight hours the poles light up in a bright colour to be noticed and during the night hours it has a cimplistic white glow.

my sheet material seating...

This was my first uni project, the aim was to produce a sculptural piece of furniture that was made purely from manipulating sheet material into a form that was aesthetically pleasing, while at the same time have the structural properties to hold an average persons weight.

To develop my understanding of the concept of using sheet materials and to determine the correct shapes and structures that would hold the structural properties, I decided to experiment with manipulating sheets of a4 paper and drawing the shapes that were created.

After noticing the shapes and structures made, I then went on the make sketch models, altering the structure and aesthetics of each one everytime, making new models, until I found one that I liked and one that also fitted the objective of the project.

This shows the development to my final design, it holds an organically formed shape, consisting of a number of specially placed curves, that create an inner seating area and a support for underneath the chair. Due to the nature of the chair being made soley of curves, I decided on the name of Curvature, I see this product to be used in high end offices, waiting rooms or places such as first class travel e.g airports.

understanding the placement of the curves for the folding

noticing and removing waste material

my final sketch model

my final sketch model, showing the underneath support and how the two sides of the sheet of material meet to be fixed together via fitments

my general assembly drawing for the final design of Curvature, my product

some further improvements, adding and subtracting of waste material

my final presentation of Curvature, board one

my final presentation of Curvature, board two

my sustainable furniture design..

The aim of this project was simply to design a piece of furniture that is in some way sustainable, it didnt necessarily needed to be the materials that made the piece sustainable, but it could be the sourcing of the materials locally to save on fuel emmissions or create jobs for the local economy etc.

I decided to focus on using waste materials an after looking at nature again for inspiration i found driftwood. Also from looking at sustainable wood forests and recycleable materials such as aluminium, i came up with my materials to focus on.

initial sketches with the planks of wood as an idea

deciding on a backrest design

editing the seat shape

deciding on the structure, legs

final sketch design

Verve is a piece of garden furniture, it has curved features and is generously sized, allowing the user to sit in comfort by theirself or in company. It has flat side surfaces either side of the ends of the seating panels, these can be used as armrests or as convinient table surfaces. It is made fully out of sustainable materials, the panels are made out of driftwood when available and combined or fully made out of sustainable wood when driftwood is not available.


My inspiration for this project came from looking at existing garden furniture products on the current market, all consisting of flat panelled surfaces, by having a curved seat and backrest that fit the users body shapes, this allows the user to experience a longer period of comfort while using the seat. With this in mind i decided to carry on the curved theme within my design to create a contemporary form for my young target market, this curved look also being reflected through the edgy connection of the tubular aluminium frame between the varying width of the wooden beams.

my first presentation board

my second presentation board

my Olympics art piece...

The brief for this project was to create a piece that would be situated somewhere within the Olympic Village, made out of two geometric forms.

After experimenting with different geometric shapes through sketch work, pacing them together in different ways and at different angles, I found a design that I liked, it was made using a circle and a square based triangle. I picked these to represent different aspects of the Olympics, the circle being the most obvious of contestants from around the world globe and the triangle as an arrow. With this in mind i created working drawings with cross sections included.

This is my final design, I made the sphere out of two halves and the triangle separately that fits all the way through the sphere.

my try out with markers, curved radio...

Okay so after sketching a design for a curved radio, I decided to experiement on this with marker pens. Im not confident with using them, so before I go back to uni you will be seeing alot more blogs on this, to try to improve on my rendering.

my live project, Celebrity Furniture...

This project was one of my favourites, it was a live project so I had constant interaction with the owner of celebrity furniture and i think i enjoyed it so much because it was a totally different type of project for me. All of my previous projects had been designing products, where in this project the aim was to create the environment a product is sold in, to encourage users into the sales area hopefully encouraging the sales of their products.

Celebrity Furniture is a company that sell reclining chairs, they distribute their products to over 50 stores in the UK, one of them being Hopewells in Nottingham, below are pictures of my visit to the store and the celebrity furniture sales area, can you see it? No? Its where my friends are, not exactly eye-catching is it.

So this was the extent of Celebrity Furniture's advertising, some backrest sheets, a couple of tags and a book showing the fabric options. After looking around some other branded furniture pieces it was obvious that the companies who were receiving the better sales were the ones who had specialised advertising pieces that drawn the attention of the customers, for example this bed firm pictured below.

the full block of advertisement, from the ceiling to the floor, the lighting, the graphics, the LED screen, the leaflet holders, the definition between each of their products via advertising backing headboards....its more pleasing to the eye, its easier for the customer to understand and evaluate the products.

Another company even had a model showing what their product was made of inside, after interviewing a number of elderly people, the main thing they wanted to know was that the product was of a good quality and by seeing what each of the chairs are made of, this would cater for the customers needs.

over head advertising can draw the customer from one side of the store to the other, gaining more interest into the company's products

an advertising board showing high quality graphics and samples of the material options is an easier way to advertise, everything the customer needs is in one section, they don't need to ask for an extra samples book, that maybe being used by other customers.

After doing this research i decided to use the company's name, Celebrity, to be reflected into their advertising, making the company's name seem more relevant. With this in mind i thought of other words for celebrity, one being, star. I then started experimenting with a shooting start design and ended up making a birds eye view plan and of display stand for the chairs.

By using stands this will help to separate the colours of the chair fabrics from the floor, as in the Hopewells store i visited the chair colours and the carpet were exactly the same, making the products blend in, inside of standing out to the customer. I also experimented with adding promotional boards to the stands, deciding on mesh screens that have printed info about the products that are going to be placed on the stand that can be hidden away inside poles and rolled out and fixed by the sales assistants when needed. They can also be used to confine the user when trying out the chairs to help with privacy, confidence and stigma issues about owning a reclining a chair as they are seen for the elderly.

I also came up with the idea of having the shooting star part of the display stand in modular forms so they can be re-arranged by each store, depending on the size of display area ea ch store has.

I also made a column to advertise the products by holding a tv screen with a constantly rolling slieshow of information about the products on offer, so that when the sales assistant is busy with other customers, the information that other customers need can be gained from this, aswell as holding leaflet and brochure compartments. I also came up with the idea of customers being able to take fabric samples home so they can match them up with their current home aesthetics, via card pieces that allow fabric samples to be attached to them via velcro or another adhesive, the fabric samples and card strips will also be on the column stand.

my final presentation board for the owner of Celebrity Furniture, showing my shooting start ramped display stand design and my matching advertising block holding samples for the customer to take away with them and an LED screen showing constantly rolling information about the products and the company.

here is my second board explaining the advertising features, the ramped stands, the changeable display backdrops for the stands and the option to take away fabric samples so the customer can match them to the existing aesthetics of their home.