Silverjet Advert

Brilliant!,

BA original


Silverjet -stripped down version, same director, same cameraman, same location, Two decades later. How Ironic the industry once considered a luxury of the few, has returned to these values in an attempt to distinguish themselves from the industry for the masses. Taking the values of the original campaign, and subverting them. BA's goal was to be the worlds most popular airline, Silverline's goal is to appeal their services back to being a luxury for the few.

Paintball Tank

What could be more fun (and dare I say it, interesting) than extreme paintball?

The one-manned machine runs on a Honda petrol engine and is armed with a 2ft gun that has the capability to pepper the opposition with 15 rounds of paint per second.

The 9,000 pounds tank, which is 3ft tall and 7ft long, has dual caterpillar tracks to manoeuvre through woodland, ditches and rough terrain.


I propose paintball battleships, take the traditional boating lake with steel grey pedallos, armed with paintball turrets!

Kith Kin at Designer's Block

Kith Kin, part of the designer's block crowd, presented a rather interesting showcase of work, They represent of a fellowship of creatives who exhibit together.


Vintage BMX Poster
Ed Gill
emox30@msn.com
0775 368 7537
Available throughout Designersblock and also through
kith-kin.co.uk and www.edgill.co.uk/shop





Newton's Breakfast
David Asher Wilson
davidasherwilson@googlemail.com
07845 612 920



The Italic Poster
Eivind S. Molvaer
eivind@molvaer.com
+44 (0)79108 26902

Where

I'm currently finding the process of situating my physical practice within my contextual arena trialing. There is an abhorrent lack of congeniality between where I have situated my project and where I am making most progress practically. I feel very much like I have indulged too much time in half baked ideas without sitting down and considering their implications. In a shorter project I would not have such a luxury of time, so therefore the physical spoils of my process would inherently bear direct ramifications to the project, however recently I find myself dedicating time to pursuits 'just because' which may all be fine for my process, but I am just worried now that I am finding it all too difficult to join the 'why' with the 'how'.

Its not that I'm finding it difficult to back up my contextual side, far from it, I have picked up several texts simply from curiosity, only to find in my horror / delight, that the topic of living within a nostalgic past has already been extensively discussed. It offers me plenty of sumptuous quotes to back up my thesis, but I am unsure of where it all leaves me. These quotes fire the engine of progress, but potentially this literary inertia will blind me from engaging with the quiet truths of my work. Each new philosopher enlisted to my already bolstered chorus adds yet another voice to the composition, which indeed results in a richer ensemble, but ultimately it becomes harder for the conductor; struggling to identify who is singing out of key.

And with such a confusion in one area, it becomes more tricky when trying to utilize this contextual background, in enabling my project to move forward. I went home for the weekend last week to collect resources and materials for inspiration, and this was indeed very rewarding, however now I am not entirely sure where to go. To persevere working with materials that I have collected, unsure as to whether they will be of use, or to nail down what exactly my project is about. But I think given the looming contextual report deadline, I don't think I'm in all too bad an area. I feel I need to clearly pinpoint all three aspects to my project. I think I'm just at the point now in the tunnel where it is too far to turn back, and no light can be seen at the other end. I'm just crossing my fingers that its a long tunnel rather than an invisible dead end.

Contextual Healing

Since the construction of my Ghost Chair, iv had chance to reflect somewhat on where my project lies. It is very difficult at present to rest my feelings in one conclusive aspect of my findings. I require a period of unrest to focus. Having spent a week in the workshop, I now find myself at a loss, for the materiality of my physical studies have found a life of their own, the impulsive natures of discovery revel in their ability to mislead me into areas which I admittedly had never considered before, but also areas which have no natural belonging within my process. Detours and ramblings which offer the comforting premise of safety, from actually having produced a physicality, there is a sense of travel; and of flow. The project appears to be in motion. However, after the sobering affect of a weekends contemplation, the previous weeks detail seem somewhat self absorbed and uninterested in revealing any of their original concept. This results in an immediate recoil from more making, the realization that maybe it wasn't so perfect a solution.

The Chair for example is an aesthetically amusing object, using a modern technique of etching with a laser, the image of a traditional style farmhouse chair is embedded into the fabric of modern. However, soon comes the question, why? Of course I can clearly state that it is a juxtaposition of old and new, but the caveat is much too convincing. The chair could be seen as simply another artifact of the modern trying to find a deeper meaning or rapport from the simulacrum of its ancestor.

The effect is not clear enough to accomplish its goal. Because unless the concept is directly revealed with the outcome, it simply becomes a pastiche rather than a comment or a critique.

So my next step was to go back to my theoretical foundation and shave off all the jagged confusing aspects, which would be easy if my theory was like a block of wood, however I am more accustomed to think of it like a bad game of Tetris with plenty of gaps and lots of redundant pieces to further exasperate my direction. Because on analysis my project evolving into very separate areas and much effort is needed to either have the intellectual strength to unify them, or the strategic tact to discard the least usable.

However the solution chosen was neither, I decided to dive back into my research and find an adhesive area of study that could essentially coerce several related strands of inquiry into an overall stronger tenet of discussion.

"They did not know about Architecture, how could they?...They thought of it (if at all) as the victorians did, as something applied to a building- ornament, decoration, gables. And so in the world of the airliner, vacuum cleaners and television they were given the pseudo-Tudor and the 'ye-olde', the gimcrack, the ramshackle, the fifth rate, it was the biggest confidence trick of the age"
Mc Allister, Gilbert and Elizabeth, Town and Country Planning, Faber, London, 1941

My real progression was made when I was informed of a documentary by Alain de Botton which accompanied his book "The Architecture of Happiness" in which he focussed his argument, in a similar way to mine upon the validation of the design in our everyday lives. Through his analysis of modern architecture several arguments are made as to why our surroundings should be honest to our lifestyle. That we live in a modern age, an age of technology and advanced progression in every aspect of our lives; transportation, computers and communications have all greatly affected our society, yet the design of our houses seems outwardly in denial of these changes. Seemingly all modern developments in housing seem to be consistently styled with a very retrospective theme "neo-Tudor" "neo-Edwardian" "neo-Victorian" all seem eager to outwardly deny the twentieth century ever existed. Almost questioning whether the everyday person can accept their "fluid identity" in the twentieth century.

"The general trends towards the rustic, the fake country living reflects the fact that we are in fact very far away from country ideals. Looking to rustic architecture because we are very un-rustic in our souls"

"So the rustic style, as confused as it is, with the qualities of quaintness and simplicity will appeal chiefly to societies where progress has been too fast, where there is an atmosphere of moral and spiritual confusion and so a hunger for old certainties"

De Botton unpicks the method behind this architectural madness of pastiche to the point where it is laid bare as a defence mechanism to such social turbulence, we seek comfort within stoic steadfast ideal of living simply on the land. A fantasy De Botton points out, that was shared by Marie Antoinette who, fatigued by the ornate decadence of the palacial life of Versailles, had constructed a pastiche rural village. A romanticised view of peasant life in which the queen attempted to "re-balance her character, to put her in touch with sides of her personality which she was afraid of losing touch with". The problem is that she, seemingly like the inhabitants of a country living mock farmhouse, fell for a delusion.

Marie Antoinette had addressed the fact that something indeed felt wrong with the decadent nature of upper class living, yet instead of attempting to address the continuing gap between society and the aristocracy, she fled from it, buying into this chocolate box illusion of peasant life, where the actual problem became worse.

And this is de Botton's point, that by allowing ourselves the indulgence of buying into this myth, we are living in denial. And this relates back to my very initial observation that we observe rural life as "the simple life" The focus is that as Adults, according to Nietzsche we should be "Someone who no longer denies, who looks truth in the face" If there seems to be a nostalgia for a simpler existence, surely that must infer that if we are to avoid the mistake of Marie Antoinette, we should address the anxiety associated with modernity rather than fleeing from it.

And it is this area which I feel would be most useful as a subject to grapple with, currently it seems, There is nothing wrong with wanting to work a farm, live a farm life, or any life in fact; however I do not believe that a person can truly be balanced if their dwelling place is in someway an illusion. Surely in this modern society, the form should follow the technique and the materials, rather than being a box attached with traditional ornament.

I think the most encouraging positive aspect to this is that a design can still hold traditional values, but without being an illustratory. Because as soon as you create a pastiche (as I may have done with my chairs) you simply take the image of what something appears to be, and without truly assessing 'why' that something is, you transform meaning into a two dimensional mural.

"In general we no longer understand architecture...Everything in Christian or Greek building originally signified something, and indeed something of a higher order of things : This feeling of inexhaustable significance lays about the building like a magical veil. Beauty entered this system only incidentally... What is the Beauty of a building to us today?

The same as the beautiful face of a mindless woman ; something mask like"
Nietzsche : Human, all too human 1878

Although I doubt i will be re-designing a house, I feel the physical inhabitants of the dwelling owe just as much to this illusion, as the facade. When we buy a fridge which takes on the style of a 1950s jukebox, or when we buy an Aga rather than a more economical appliance, we are in the same way, denying the beauty of the object itself, masking our objectives in a ulterior skin. So my project is in essence an exercise in exposing beauty within the modern, the mundane and the casually un-noticed, ranging from form, to pattern, or even to social action, the design should be a process of exposing the beauty behind modernity, so that maybe some appreciation for it can be rendered for the psychological happiness of the person who before felt modernity as a terrible thing.

And to achieve this, my next step is to compose a Manifesto of how I will go about this.

Ghost Chair

I made this prototype as a twofold experiment, one to practice using the laser cutter, and two to put me theories into an object to see how it comes across. I don't know what Iv been doing for the last few weeks, because apart from this, I don't really have much to show for it, So I decided that Id better get my work on.

The chair carries forward my ideas of the fetishisation and commodification of antiques, objects with a story etc. The way in which people crave an embedded history in their items as a way of justifying their lifestyle. Objects are no longer just objects etc. And when people move to the countryside, they are surrounded by a field of simulacrum that appears to be filled with history, and meaning. And meaning is generally a commodity polarised in the towns, the truly historic is behind glass, and the modern commodified items are in casual abundance. So moving to the country, a common reaction to this newfound "meaningful" lifestyle is to surround and be enveloped in meaning.

And I guess this reaction is regarded as a general love for the past and collecting, but on a more inquisitive level, I would like to observe it as a method of justification; the history embedded within the items emit a glow of authenticity. The collector gets a sense of pride from this nostalgia; they are effectively living the dream, and this material ownership offers a sense of authenticity, heritage, pride.

"This desire to possess material fragments of people and places that have been important to us seems to be on the increase. According to this way of thinking, an object no longer simply embodies its material value; what counts is the narrative in which it becomes embedded. What matters about the gravy boat that went for £2,100 is not that it was hammered out in the reign of George III, but that the Queen of Crime herself once dribbled it over her Sunday lunch.

Fetishising mundane objects like this is one of the many byproducts of living in an age of virtuality. By making light work of sending images - copies, in effect - around the world, the internet actually increases the mystique and value of the original object, which can be viewed only in one place at one time. According to this way of thinking, there may be hundreds of pictures of Agatha Christie's gravy boat proliferating in public space, but there is still only one solid artefact, now in the hands of its delighted new owner."
Kathryn Hughes, The Guardian

I think the chair embodies my feelings towards this. The image of a farm chair has been etched into the plastic, creating a warped sense of the antique. The objective is to regain a sense of appropriateness. Although the user desires the aesthetic of everything looking old, the chair is obviously very modern. The historic, nostalgic aspect is embedded into its sentiment rather than its physicality, creating a much more fitting artefact. The chair is new, but it wants to be an old established chair, reflecting the intended users desire for the past to come to life, but is inherently modern and imposes an air of it simply being a cosmetic modification.

So the user would accept their modernity, without letting go of their longing for the past.

Any comments then feel free to suggest them.

Birds Nest

If people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done.
- Ludwig Wittgenstein

I currently see my work as kind of like a massive birds nest of ideas all tangled together and difficult to unravel. Its frustrating, every time you think you've found a way forward, another knot gets in the way. But enough with metaphors, Iv found recently that I'm finding it difficult to stay concentrated on something. To really get my teeth into what I'm doing. I just end up going back to the books to find out more interesting nuggets of information (which co-incidentally adds a few more knots to my nest) but Id rather have it this way than have one route. Id just end up with a linear process. But my problems currently lie with the investigative process, and how to clarify my ideas. How to extract the intersects of thought and how could a project be spun from my threads.

Having began with Agriculture and Traditions, Iv been analyzing why, and what it is I find interesting, and as a consequence I have moved my focus back into the living space. The domicile. Iv been reading a book by Akiro Busch called Geographies of the Home; her perspective on the domestic relations within the home are inspiring, thought provoking and almost offer me a glimpse of the gems that I could base a project upon. The areas which stand out in my mind as I write this, are her observations on the way modernization has changed out impression of the Kitchen. In Victorian times, food smells were considered vulgar, and therefore isolated from the rest of the house (and having attempted a slapdash omelet tonight I can thoroughly sympathize). The kitchen was a place for servants to cook, an industrial place for routines. In modern times, the kitchen has become the central hub of the home, and as we bolster our collection of gadgets, utilities and appliances, our time in the kitchen has shifted in perspective.

Culinary commodity is stocked on our supermarket shelves as both hyper-instant and DIY, one day you may buy a ready made sandwich, the next you may bake your own bread. We choose to both consume the ready made, and invest time in home production.
"While mechanization has surely diminished the drudgery of household chores, it seems that when we are able to choose which chores to do, and when we do them, they can give us profound comfort"

Busch references her statement with note to her acquaintances and how a person such as a barrister will bake his own English muffins, as a method of therapy.

I guess the argument is that, once you know a process, it becomes easy to do without really thinking about it, and although if every task you did in the day was similarly without stimulus it would be dull, for those who feel fatigued with their stresses find relaxation in the act of doing something such as cooking, a basic need. But it almost reveals that this is their only motive for doing so. The hard wired act of cooking for survival, for nutrition has been superseded by the need to relax.

Another similar strand of interest is our love for new time saving appliances, but never at the expense of traditional looks. While we shroud our dishwashers, fridges and washing machines in faux cupboard fronts, the Aga sits quite proudly within its own island of importance. While probably being the least responsive or reliable appliance, its nostalgic charms of a simpler life give it an elegant charm, but that isn't to say we don't have a gas grill tucked away nearby, or possibly even a microwave skulking in the recesses of a cupboard. These objects almost shame their owner, especially within a traditionally designed kitchen, but like many things that shame us, we still rely on their presence, even if we seemingly try to block them out of the kitchen "scene"

I guess the whole of my research stems from nostalgia. The intrinsic nostalgic values which we embed within our homes, which may run at odds with the actual way that we live. In the same way that the barrister bakes his muffins as a mental retreat to a simpler existence, his place is in the present, and I very much doubt that after careful thought he would personally regress to the role of a farmer or a servant.

When the automobile became popular in the post war climate of England, the daily commute was stretched, people could live outside of the city, and seeing the quaint villages, the city folk restored farm buildings villages, however now the occupants lived in a hollow myth. They believed themselves villagers, but their occupation was one of a dormitory, the once working farm building has been improved, cosmetically at least; but the effect was one of taxidermy. The point of the building had irrevocably changed, and soon the working communities became empty all but the commuters. This in the same way represents our nostalgic struggle with the domicile. We have in place traditional elements that have no rational (or at least honest) place in our lives. and speaking from personal experience, Aga ovens are crap.

Thesis? Where?

This is a thesis...

" A statement or theory that is put forward as a premise to be maintained or proved" or in Helgian philosophy "a proposition forming the first stage in the process of dialectical reasoning"

I'm finding this whole business of outlining a thesis very disturbing. On one hand my over reaching foresight into the realms of a final design hinder my search for an appropriate one, and on the other not enough grounding into what I aim to achieve will equally hinder my progress. I can neither cling to keeping my eyes on the horizon, nor can I stare at my feet. The feeling being quite similar to being asked to walk in a completely new environment blindfolded, and my stumbling will somehow lead me to the interesting gems of discovery; which indeed makes sense, but my reflexes are on red alert.

Similar to being told what to wear as a child, clothes feeling rigid and constricting, the imagined sensation of asphyxiating collars and top buttons, this project feels like we have been forced into something new. What brief? There is no brief, write down one hundred ideas, pick your favourite, explore the idea. How? How do I know if this is right? Obviously there is no "right" path, but my rationality suggests that there MUST be an "incorrect" path, and the more I consider my choice of direction, the more I worry my choices will lead to a flimsy half baked project.

And so ensues a torrent of "escape" projects sideline trains of thought, because I know what I planned to do when I began this project, but now my ideas seem too hazy or irrevocably detached from a design path. My interest in the subject lies in the fabric of the history rather than design possibilities stemming from it. But then again, if I was already imagining designed outcomes, I fear I would have finished too soon, running out of options. But then some of my peers have already began "playing" already at the stage where ideas can be generated physically. I have my arena, but no focus or feeling as to where it may go.

Tommorow I'm getting out Howard's End, maybe something will come from that. Why are academic texts not in Audiobook, what student has time to read everything?

At the moment the project is looking at Rural life, and the way that "the city is the achievement of the countryside" I used to live on a farm, and now I have entered the city, so it remains a poignant topic. My nostalgic clutch of memories grow every year, life in the sticks. And its something that has apparently been of quite some interest in the nineteenth century when due to rising imports, farming waned, and due to their poverished state, people were forced into the towns to find work. Man was severed from the land, and this nostalgia for it ensued.

In the "single tax" campaign of Henry George, his analysis of the economic situation was simple "the wide - spreading social evils which everywhere oppress men amid advancing civilization spread from a great primary wrong - the appropriation by the few, of the land which and from we must live...no power on earth," he asserted "can rightfully make a grant of exclusive ownership of the land" he suggested that once this was sorted out 'all ills vice misery, poverty and pauperism' would dwindle away.

Blake's 'green and pleasant land' willing the destruction of those 'dark satanic mills'

their suggestion was that we should abolish the factories and return to the 'guilds and workshops' of the village, a sentiment later echoed by Vance Packard and Victor Papanek, that smaller worked better.

But I don't believe in any way that this is my direction, my skepticism is far too overpowering to believe that any attempt to alter society will result in anything more than to appear hippy-ish or idealistic. The project needs to feel more like a tangible, do I want to expose our roots with the ground? Or possibly subvert them?

I feel like my work should err towards a form of responsible design which encourages self sufficiency, or home industries, or some way of empowering a person. Design an object that tries to re-establish the link between man and the soil, or something like that. I guess I cant force a path, I just need to find it. Find what it is that I want to say. Oh fuck this is hard.