Our task today was to deconstruct a shoe to the smallest parts possible then use all the parts recreate something that is not soo shoey looking.

First, we did an exercise to draw what we feel in our hand(we put the shoe in a bag so we can draw what we see).

Then we took it out of the bag and draw what we see.

I think the exercise will be more interesting if we are noting drawing our own shoe. Because even though I could not see my shoe at the moment, I still know what it looks like since it was mine. So I had a hard time to unsee that when I was doing the first exercise.

The I used a scalpel and took it apart. It was fun to find out what is in your shoe.

My was a leather sleeper. So it did not really take that long to take it apart. It is surprising what was inside the shoe. The heel has always made my feet hurt, now I see it was just a piece of wood wedge, it made total sense now.

The next task is the more challenging one. Reengineering the shoe into something that is not a shoe.

After the shoe is completely dismantled, it is no longe a shoe, it is just a pile of raw materials for you to use. I loved the hollow pattern from my shoe, so I was trying my best to preserve that. I put the wood wedge inside to support the structure and made this purse, but everyone think it is underwear. So I had to try something new.

I cut off some “ugly” bits and thread them together on a piece of wire, when I squished all of them together, then they started to form a flower like structure so I just tie it the other piece of leather. Eventually, I created a necklace and a hair piece from all the scraps of my old sleeper.

It was a really rewarding experience actually, not only did I learned about how shoes were made but also pleased with how my creativity transformed a pile of trash into something beautiful and functional.

Today’s activity was about Museums. What constitute as a museum?

We each chose 5 objects/images from the base rooms and use all of the curated items to create a museum to display them. Through this activity, we learnt how to come up with a concept to connect all the items together and what kind of experience you want to provide for your museum visitors.

We started playing with our objects and images but grouping them together based on certain criteria, such as color, size, material etc.

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But once we started to use them as props for our improvised storytelling, that was when things became interesting. Someone start the story by placing an object on the table, then we each continue the story with the object we choose until we ran out of the objects. We also pick a theme at the beginning, such as comedy, drama, fiction etc.

We did couple rounds and really enjoyed the storytelling form, so we decided to make that the experience that we want to give to our visitors. Just like that, theirhistory was born…

We invite each visitor to join us for a improv storytelling experience with the artefacts in museum. We also got to visit other people’s museums. It was a lot of fun. My favorite is the fake museum. The way they cataloged every artefacts and the annotation next to them are so interesting, humorous and even sarcastic. It really challenged our common perception of what a museum is and how it functions. We you actually experienced how a museum is created, the definition of a museum definitely changed…

Today, I came back to revisit the pieces that I liked while I was here yesterday. And spent sometime to write down my thoughts on it and sketch some ideas. Also I spent some time at the Food exhibition which is so interesting and enlightening.

This Japanese Lacquer Picnic Set from the Edo period stuck in my mind. I recalled my initial reaction to it when I saw it yesterday. I was struck by the elegance of the form and surface of the box and the design of the different compartments of the set.

Japanese way of ritualizing everyday activities through interactions stimulated by objects are profoundly impressive. Using objects as a tool to develop or enhance rituals, then objects become part of the identity of the activity. The interactions with the objects turned a simple social activity into some sort of performance. The user of that Picnic Set went through the process of unpacking, setting up, and packing, each act stimulated by the object signified the beginning and finishing of that ritual. The object functioned as an agent that orchestrated a performance of picnic. The object is not just a functional utensil any more. It has given the ability to conduct certain social activity. The social, cultural and political values of the ritual also get injected into the object, therefore reenforces the material value of the object itself. What is a tea ceremony without a well crafted Chawan (Japanese Tea Bowl)? I also just like the fact that artistic design extended to every sphere of life in Japanese culture. Next two the Picnic Set, I also found few other interesting items.

The Food Exhibition at the V&A is really eye opening. It shifted the way I view food and how we consume food in the modern industrial society. I did not know there are so many designer and scientists are working on creating new materials from food waste or byproduct from the production of food.

I love Kosuke Araki’s work Anima. It is table wares created from Food Waste. He mixed charcoal of vegetable waste and Japanese lacquer as adhesive to create functional tableware. This is the full article about his work on V&A’s website. Apparently, he is a RCA alumni.

https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/anima-food-waste-tableware-by-kosuke-araki

It seems like there is a clear interest in new biodegradable materials as the alternative to plastic such as bioplastic and materials has similar quality but made from waste material. I hope all those new ideas can encourage consumers to shift their focus to more sustainable options.

After exposing to so many alternative materials than the ones that I know, I am very excited to see what’s next? How many other new materials we can make from food?

I felt like I have never really thought about our relationships with food, and rarely paid any attention to how much food we waste on a daily basis. These mushroom are grown from coffee ground that normally got thrown away from the Cafe, but they collected all the coffee waste and grow mushrooms then the mushroom feed back to the customers in the cafe.

I kept thinking about what other things we might be able to produce from “trash”. If that become such a viable choice, do we even need to farm anymore? If we can collect food waste effectively, maybe someday we will be able to completely free our land from producing food.

This is the first thing that captured my attention after we met up in our group. It is an old staircase. The metal structure used to reconstruct the staircase created a completely new sculpture in my eyes. An interesting blend of ancient architecture ruins and contemporary conservation effort.

Then when I got to the architecture wing of the V&A, I saw the staircase in its original state with the rest of the structure in this architecture model.

This glass sculpture by Stanislas Libensky and Jaroslava Brychtova took my breath away. It is luminous. The hole is the focal point of the light which invites you to peek through to see the space on the other side.

The simple and effective pattern of these window grilles is a very different from its elaborate neighbors in the gallery. I was immediately drawn to them and according to the wall text, window grilles like these can still be seen in places in Italy. Simple overlapping lines created the shape and volume of shape at the same time. Very clever design!

When I got to the Japan section, I saw this contemporary piece used same idea to create new pattern with overlapping lines. An interesting connection formed across time and culture.

All the objects in this display case are so perfectly place in their spots. The frame those openings created complement the shape of the object so well. I was trying to mentally swap the places of some of the objects, composition wise, it just does not work as well as this configuration on display. It feels like every objects are customized for their particular position within the case. Obviously, I was responding to the whole display as one object instead of responding to a particular one within the whole composition.

Drifting in the museum, I was not thinking about any particular connections between all of the objects that I picked. But looking back, they are all connected somehow. The common theme seems to be that I am interested in objects that either interact with space, interact with people or interact with each other. I am very interested in investigating how to stimulate interesting interactions between human and space, human and human through objects.

I think using stop frame animation is a good idea to help me illustrate how the puzzle pieces can be used to create different structures. So I spent entire afternoon in the animation suite to experiment with stop frame animation using Dragonframe. It requires great deal of patience which is not necessarily my strongest suit. One second of video needs 25 frames. It took me almost an hour to set up everything, by the end of the day I managed to get a 3 seconds animation. It was really fun and frustrating trying to figure out how much I should move the pieces. Too little, not as noticeable; too much, the the transitions are not as smooth, it can look kind jumpy. This took the longest time to test and find a good balance.

I will definitely do it again sometime!

–High Density EVA Foam

Yoga blocks are made from this material.

Assemble Studio’s Brutalist Playground used the same material. It is recycled EVA foam.

-Cork

Cork is another light weight material that I was considering.

Jasper Morrison has used for his furniture collection

If I have the time and money. I would love to make the puzzle blocks with these materials. Since I am pretty much done with the design of the mechanism. I need to experiment with the material to figure out the scale. Because I need to balance weight and size in order to make it easy for the user to play with.

Today, I used Ai to experiment with graphic design on the surface of the structure. Since I already have the files for laser cutting the shapes, all I needed to do is to color them. I referenced colors from Memphis Design and created some patterns in Ai, then used the Vinyl printer from the print lab to make the stickers so I can stick them on my models.

Today, I tried to make a scaled up model for my project. Anna taught me how to use jigsaw to cut ply wood. It was really fun. Because I used ply wood that I found in the recycle bin, I did not have a big enough sheet to make bigger model. But at least I got to test if my idea actually works once it is scaled up. I want to make it with sturdy, scratch-resistant foam that are lightweight and easy to use. High density EVA foam could be ideal(yoga blocks). Anyway, here are the finished testing piece and my buddy Caio doing the weight testing.

Today I spent entire day at V&A and South Bank to observe how people interact with public sculptures.

As the hub for London Design Festival, V&A has couple of public installations/Sculptures this weekend.

The Non-Pavilion is an interactive installation.

There are bystanders who are just watching how other people interact with the installation. There are participants who actually interact with the installation. Then there are photo takers who only take photos of the installation then walk away.

For this installation, the audience are mostly adult because the concept behind it is hard for children to comprehend. It is a combination of 3D animation with a physical structure to create an immersive experience in order to convey their idea. The physical structure is the frame work for the 3D renders in the public space. I did not know what it was and thought the sculpture is lame. But once I held up the ipad and the 3D renders helped me to understand what they want you to see which is pretty cool.

The Bamboo sculpture is located in the middle of the courtyard. Normally, the pond would be fill with water and children love to play in it. Now this sculpture have taken over the space, they can not play there anymore, instead, they just play with water, not the structure. There are bystanders, photo takers and people rest on the stairs around the pond. Activities happening in the space is not activated by the structure, it is by the environment.

The modified social bench at Southbank provided a physical structure for children to play with and for adult to sit and rest their feet. However, the interaction was between the children and the structure. The structure did not activate any social interaction between the children or between the parents. I was there for almost an hour, most kids were just climbing up and sliding down and parents are there to protect and guide their kids.

The stone sculpture shapes like a circle wall and have became a space for cyclists to meet up which is quite interesting. I am not sure what was intended for, but its function has been modified and adapted by people that interact with it.