Fiction Mirror!?!?!

Designed by Jean-Marie Massaud, these are images of "fiction mirrors" that are made in extralight glass with degraded silver shading. Just ran across them today while looking up stuff to use in my last studio project and I think they are really fascinating! Kind of mysterious what with the reflective qualities of the silvered portion while the transparent glass sections reveal what is underneath.

Sacred Path Project

Too tired to write anything of any merit today so instead I'm just posting images of the project that was due last Friday. My design was for a "Sacred Path" for the meadow at Luther Burbank Park. It was inspired by local Native American legends surrounding supernatural beings associated with geological events (like earthquakes), and also the idea of the labyrinth.

Design for the other 90 percent.

“The majority of the world’s designers focus all their efforts on developing products and services exclusively for the richest 10% of the world’s customers. Nothing less than a revolution in design is needed to reach the other 90%.” —Dr. Paul Polak, International Development Enterprises

It is difficult to keep things like this in mind when we are surrounded by so many trivial things competing for our attention. I feel like I'm constantly trying to avoid advertisements from people who want nothing more from me than my money. This extends from the glossy catalogs I get in the mail, to the emails from my favorite stores informing me about sales events, to the phone calls from nonprofits, to people begging for change on the street. They all are selling me something, whether it is a product or an emotional, self-congratulatory moment of charity. I frequently have to remind myself that the troubles that plague me are rarely--if ever--life-threatening. It is difficult to escape the distracting, movie-like dramas that unfold in my daily life, but also an important thing to struggle towards.

How real is all of the fluff that I see? I just watched Moulin Rouge again tonight on DVD and while it is a great movie that I love, do I need to feel guilty for being able to escape and enjoy the sensory experience of being transported to a fantasy world for a couple of hours? I believe the answer is no. But only if I am able to separate the fantasy worlds of advertising and the entertainment industry from reality, which is becoming increasingly difficult. I struggle to maintain awareness of what I consider to be important issues in the face of sensationalistic news stories and celebrity-driven media. Doesn't it appear that we have created a pantheon of figures who are larger-than-life and who we hold to different values because of their fame and fortune?

As a future design professional, I have to keep reminding myself where my moral priorities are. If I specifically chose not to pursue graphic design in an attempt to avoid ending up churning out marketing and advertising materials, then I need to know where I want to concentrate my energy. I can do more with an interior design degree than just create aesthetically pleasing or highly functional environments. Everyone has to do work that will pay the bills, but I hope to be able to do so much more than just that. I recalled the Design For The Other 90 Percent exhibition that was up while I was interning at the Cooper-Hewitt last summer. If I combine this with the statistics I've learned about indigenous populations regarding health and well-being, I believe that I see an opportunity. If charity begins at home, then how can I work to improve living conditions for indigenous populations here in North America?

busy like a bee

No, I haven't formed my own company (yet). Came up with a quick logo for my final Studio project that I'm putting together today. Also, above that is a version of one of the final concept floor plans. Nose to the grindstone today. I need to draw an interior perspective, but I'm probably going to put that off until tomorrow. Why? Because I can!

Roaming the City

Our Interior Studio class today involved of a field trip where we roamed downtown for several hours. One of the buildings we looked at was the 5th & Madison condo tower (shown above) which is next to the Central Library. It was... interesting. Not quite as luxe as I was expecting based on the location, marketing materials, price, and such.

Later I roamed with Mia (classmate) to the South Lake Union Discovery Center (aka Vulcan's real estate sales office) which was much more impressive and we also stopped at the Seva furniture showroom and tried out at least 80% of the chairs there. It was fun.

Then I ended up hanging with Snotty for a few hours and we split a bottle of wine and had a nice chat.

Did I get homework done today? Not yet. But was it a good day? YES!

Buried under piles of tracing paper.

Shockingly enough, I actually drew the picture above instead of swiping it from Google Images. I've spent the evening in Photoshop cleaning up a pile of scanned drawings from my Studio to put in the archive of my final project. I think I had to scan at least thirty separate pieces of tracing paper this afternoon. Ugh. (The one above is a sample elevation I was seeing how different colors showed up on.) Luckily, I snagged some time off from work on Saturday so I can devote extra time to my various finals that will all be due starting on Monday.

Don't think I'm not keeping tabs on what else is going on in the world though! I hear Hillary won Pennsylvania. I have mixed feelings about that. I'm not really for or against her (or Obama). Neither is perfect, both have good and bad qualities.

Also, I hear that Mariah Carey's album did well. Too bad. She doesn't strike me as much of an artist. More like an "enterfection!" (That would be an entertainment confection.) She seemed like she had some actual talent at one point, although now I look at her and wish she would just grow up already. Quit trying to be twenty-one again girl! You aren't fooling anybody! Her ho-wear and strange shenanigans are not to be trusted.

Back to Photoshop for me.

Drafting my cares away...

Well. Long day today, but productive. Had class all morning where we worked on hand-drafting out our floorplans with a mini side-lesson on elevations. Spent the rest of the afternoon at school finishing up my plans since I have two floors to worry about and I really needed to have all my dimensions finalized. I did take a break to go to my doctor appointment with my psychologist which was also VERY productive. Not the easiest day overall, but feeling good about having gotten so much done that I needed to work on. There is the possibility of a bbq tonight which sounds great, and even if it doesn't happen I actually feel more upbeat today than I have in a few days. Got some really good feedback on my cover letter for a museum internship I'm applying for from my professor, I never know what to say in cover letters or how long they should be. Luckily, she's got a PhD in art history and is not only writing me a reference letter, but had input about my cover letter too. No amazing snacks yet today, unless I count the Dagoba "latte" chocolate bar that Mia bought and split with me and Jasmine in class. Actually, it was pretty amazing and may have changed my life. But only temporarily.

Now I'm home, hungry, and gonna find something to eat!

Product Runway

What's not to like about an event featuring fashions made out of building materials? (Mostly interior design materials is my understanding of it.) Plus, it is hosted by a really tall drag queen, and the ticket price includes snacks and three drinks. They had me at snacks. And no, I am not affiliated with the event in any way, it just sounds like fun and happens to be on the evening of the last day of classes. So I'm going. www.productrunway.com

I heart swag

Went on a field trip to the Knoll showroom today to learn from one of the textile reps. It was a really great experience. I mean, it doesn't get much better for me than sitting in a Barcelona Chair eating a ginormous chocolate chip cookie from Specialty's Bakery while holding the most luscious sample of $240/square yard mohair fabric. It had everything I needed: luxe design (visual), tasty snacks (yum), and fuzzy textured fabrics (tactile). But what was even better was that they sent us home with a goody bag with samples, notepads, businesscard-holder, poster, canvas tote bag, mousepad, pencil pouch, and catalog of classic furniture. Why can't every class be that great?

VJAA; K; YAY!

Went to a Space.City architectural lecture tonight at the Seattle Central Library. The speaker was Vincent James, Minneapolis-based architect and partner of VJAA. (Image above is from a recent book published by Princeton Press.) It was a pretty informative lecture, and reinforced that a lot of what I'm learning in school right now is very conceptually architecturally relevant. *Phew!* His design process looked pretty familiar, so I think I'm getting my money's worth from my tuition. Also, it was nice to see his work since a lot of the examples he showed were very grid-like, but he definitely takes an environmental approach in his work. I completely agreed with his assessment that in many cases, form and style are the driving forces behind a building's design without enough emphasis on the function of spaces or the environmental surroundings.
In addition to the talk, the whole experience was sort of interesting since I left one of my classes early after giving a brief, informal presentation and then drove to the library (lazy) to make sure I wasn't late. I was a little sweaty and nervous still since I really don't like presenting in front of a group, and I also hadn't ever been in the parking garage under the library before. Nothing special, although the elevator is that same bright, neon green that shows up in the rest of the building. At least it was easy to tell where the elevator was, right?
Being trapped in a room full of, I assume, architects wasn't so bad as being trapped in there with all of their glasses. Good thing I didn't wear my black plastic Prada frames today, because I might not have been able to tell myself apart from anyone else! Well, except that I was probably the only person there in a hooded, zip-up sweatshirt. Whatever. I'm a student. I paid the same ten bucks for a ticket as everyone else! It was just strange to be at a lecture that also felt rather like a cocktail party. Not like everyone was dressy, but most everyone was DESIGNY.
Also, I found out yesterday that I did get a departmental scholarship, and that I was also one of the eight people (out of forty-three awards) who was named a Kreielsheimer Scholar. This is significant for two reasons: 1) It means I get a bigger award; and 2) It embodied the closest I can get at this point to my high-school dream of winning the Kreielsheimer Scholarship. The "K" Foundation used to offer one full-ride scholarship to Cornish annually back when I was in high school, but I was chicken and never even applied for that, let alone to Cornish. So, now that the "K" Foundation is mostly defunct (it is now something like the Kreielsheimer Residual Fund Foundation since they met their goal already of giving away a bunch of money within a certain timeline) this is the best I can do on that front. And I did it. Word up.

Saarinen Song

Just got home from a lecture at Kerry Hall given by Mark Coir, Director of Archives at Cranbrook Schools and Susan Saarinen, daughter of architect Eero Saarinen and his first-wife, Lily. Eero's father, Eliel, came to the U.S. from Finland after winning second-place in the competition to build the new Chicago Tribune building. His design was extremely influential on the development of American skycrapers, it was the first to have that cascading-type of effect according to Mark Coir. And this from a man who came from a land without skyscrapers... His design wasn't built, but he ended up working quite a bit in Michigan, especially designing many of the buildings at Cranbrook.

Eero became an architect like his father, and ended up doing such things as the St. Louis Arch, and the terminal at Dulles shown above in the teeny-tiny bottom left photograph. He also shaped the modern furniture movement with his "womb" and "tulip" chairs especially; he was quite a prolific designer.

Susan Saarinen told about how "Charlie" Eames was her godfather, and had many interesting insights into the family's internal dynamics. The women were also prolific designers, Eliel's wife Loja and daughter Pipsan worked on many of the interiors of their buildings. Interestingly, the generation gap shows there also because Loja generally created one-of-a-kind pieces while Pipsan was interested in the manufacturing process. (Conveniently, Florence Schultz Knoll was an intimate of the family also. And Harry Bertoia. Among others.)

How do I sign up to be a member of this family? Not only does it have the only father/son team to both receive AIA Gold awards, but Kyra Sedgewick is Susan's cousin, meaning that she knows Kevin Bacon. How awesome is that when playing Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? "Let's see, um, me. And then Kevin Bacon." Forget naming movies and actors, if you know Kevin Bacon you've already won.

Maybe for Christmas I will ask to be inducted into an international design family who has a background in the European intelligensia of the late 19th century. They can totally be Finnish, but I will accept other countries too. I don't want to seem too picky.

Design Rules Redux

When I was looking back on my Design? Design! blog, I ran across a post I'd written in December about some Design Rules to Live By written by NY designer Christopher Fahey on his blog, graphpaper.com.

Reading them again made me realize how a lot of what he suggests are simply good rules to live by in general.

I've definitely been thinking a lot lately about integrity in the workplace and where to set my boundaries about what I can and cannot live with personally. Once I get out of school, what kind of environment do I want to work in? How do I start moving towards that goal right now?


The rules that strike me most at this moment are:

• Do work you can be proud of.


• Work for clients and bosses you like and can be proud of. Show sleazebags the door.


• Don’t lie.


• Understand that your audience is not you (and learn who they are), but always treat your audience how you would want to be treated.


• Generate ideas constantly. Write down every idea.


• Design can happen first, even before a need or problem is identified.


• But design isn’t just “a good idea”. It’s a good follow through, too.


• Make ‘em think: Don’t be afraid to be a snob. Some people just won’t get your idea without thinking about it. Some people just don’t want to think. But those who do will appreciate being challenged.