Black Bear

On Thursday night (28th January) I watched a Natural World documentary entitled 'Bearwalker of the Northwoods' on BBC iPlayer. I put this on thinking it would be simply the story of a biologist gaining black bear's trust using food but this documentary was so so much more. I love watching anything to do with animals and nature, if there's a program on I’m there, totally enthralled in it. However, this documentary meant more to me than any other. It truly hit home and was an intimate, heart wrenching story that had tears welling in my eyes.

The fact that this biologist had worked with black bear's from ever he could remember and had such a relationship with these often feared animals was incredible in itself but the story he told and the following of the bears he worked with, brought you straight into the story and had you feeling every emotion that he was going through. Mother bears leaving their cubs after a year so that they could find a new mate, the rivalry between mother and cubs afterwards because her new cubs were now what she protected, cubs suffering due to disease and mothers having to leave them behind dying - all of these brought emotions that I just couldn't simply believe. Disbelief, shock, enlightenment but most of all pure sadness.

There was one thing though that I could not and I mean could not simply get over - hunting season. The length in season varies between each state in America depending on the black bear population, for some it's an all year round season for others it last 6 weeks. "Black bears can live to a staggering 25 years old but due to hunting most are lucky if they reach the age of 2"; I couldn't believe what I was heaing when this was said. To help protect the bear's being followed in this documentary, the biologist's had wrapped brightly coloured ribbons around their tags so that they would stand out. Posters were even created welcoming the bear hunters, with large fonted messages, asking them to spare any tagged research bears. Sadly, the hunters weren't interested in research or as courteious as the biologist's as many of the bears that I had watched and been following in the program had been killed within the first 2 days of hunting season. Heart wrenching and too sad for words. Not only was this bad enough but soon came the feeling of being appalled. As much as I love animals when it comes to hunting them, under certain circumstances I can understand that it's food for tribes and so on but this, this was just murder in my eyes, a game to these hunters, a trophy kill, a rug for their floor and a head for their wall. To me this is totally unacceptable and just not right! This is simply one thing that I will never condone or understand.

Flexible Love

When I first seen this video of the 'Flexible Love' chair I thought it was absolutely amazing. It's made entirely from cardboard and is such a simple but very quirky design. However, I was sceptical as to whether or not the chair could actaully hold people and have up to 16 people's weight on it at once but the second video that I found shows it can! :) This is another fine example of how bio-degradable and re-usable products such as Cardboard can become a very interesting, smart and important design.

Radiolarian Sofa

This amazing environmental sofa design just makes me wonder what you can't do with cardboard. The sofa and arm chairs shown in this blog have been made entirely from corrugated cardboard by Lazerian Studio. All of the designs for this furniture have been inspired by wasps nests and sea organisms.

 

This Honeycomb range of furniture emerged as part of a collaborative project between furniture designer Liam Hopkins and artist Richard Sweeney at Lazerian studio, Manchester. The design process involved experimenting with columnar forms, which were inspired by structural forms in nature.

Eco-Design

Back to uni and into the thick of projects again. The first project I was given was to research a topic to do with sustainability and give a PowerPoint presentation on Tuesday 26th January. We were all split into groups of 4 or 5 to do this, as there is so much information out there for each topic. My group was given 'Eco-Design'. To be honest I knew it was to do with sustainability but apart from that I didn't really have a clue what it was about.

Eco-Design, like Environmental Design, Green Design and so on is to do with sustainability but the one thing that sets it apart from everything else is the fact it is to do with removing anything environmentally detrimental from a product/design, at every stage of its lifecycle. This ensures that the product/design is as environmentally friendly as it possibly can be and at the end of its life it can also have another use (i.e. be recycled or re-used) rather than just being discarded.

So while all four of us were researching into Eco-Design we were all given a separate sub-category to look into as well, mine being 'Eco-Interiors and Furniture'. The title is pretty much self-explanatory but after completing my research I discovered that hundreds of companies are jumping on the sustainability eco wagon and are producing more and more eco friendly products. It also revealed that it's really easy to make your home more 'Eco-Friendly'. . . from your light bulbs to your floors! Simply buying energy saving light bulbs (CFL's) will save up to 75% less energy than ordinary light bulbs and will last ten times longer.

Despite this, kitting your home out with all these Eco-friendly products will cost you an arm and a leg but in the long term, money will be saved.

 Made from recycled plastic bottle felt. Sewn together with 100% cotton threads. Filled with recycled plastic bottles with an organic cotton.

4 plastic bottles = 1 cushion cover

6 plastic bottles = Filling for 1 cushion

Avatar

When trailer's came out for this movie my boyfriend couldn’t wait to see it, at first I was sceptical but the more I seen the trailer the more excited I got too. At first I didn't really know what all the fuss was about but then it became clear to me that this movie was to be a new leap into 3D movie making and CGI using Motion Capture.

I looked up a few reviews to see what all was being said after it had premiered in London on the 10th December 2009, to discover if this movie had been hyped up more than it should have been. Overall there were mixed reviews. Hollywood Reporter's raved "Bottom Line: A titanic entertainment – movie magic is back" and went on to call the movie "a jaw-dropping wonder" and many more critics wrote lines of praise for this movie. However, there were some that said it was over rated, one even said "literally vomit inducing with some beautiful moments", and concluded the review with, "overall it's a horrible piece of shit". Quite strong words I think you'll agree.

So I went to see the movie in 3D on Friday 8th January. I didn't see any point in going to see the movie if I didn't see it in 3D, after all it was produced to be viewed in 3D.

I totally loved it from start to finish. The excitement itself of going to the cinema to see a 3D movie was enough to make you bias towards this movie but as it turned out the night wasn't let down by the movie at all. I thoroughly enjoyed Avatar and the length of it had me worried at first in case I would get bored half way through but apart from a slightly numb bum I had no complaints at all, as I was enthralled from start to finish.

Some have said that the plot of the movie was boring and could have been a lot better but in my opinion the amount of work and impressive CGI that was achieved, more than makes up for it. Even in saying that though, I personally really liked the story line.

Overall a must see and I loved it!

Torn Picasso

When looking through some quick news headlines on my AOL homepage today (Monday 25th January), I came across a link entitled " Ooooops! Clumsey visitor tears hole in Picasso picture". I clicked to read more and it was exactly what it said on the tin. A female visitor to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, accidentally lost her balance and fell into the famous Picasso piece. The museum said a 6 inch vertical tear was created in the lower-right hand corner of the famous painting 'The Actor'. This 6x4ft canvas will have to undergo repairs this week to return to the 250 works of Picasso currently held in this museum.

Reading this article made me wonder how such a notable piece of artwork and by such a world renound artist could possibly get the chance to be torn and devalued by a clumsy visitor. I always thought that such precious remaining canvas' would be protected or even have a slight barrier around them so that on lookers where more than arms length away. Is this not the case? and if not, should this not be put in place to prevent such accidents?

Artefacts, paintings and so on, from the past are precious items that should be greatly looked after and in my opinion, no chances of damage should be risked. On the other hand, they are displayed to be enjoyed but at what cost?

Flower 001

When I came across this piece of lighting and was totally intrigued by it. Not only did I find it intriguing and interesting, I thought that the white design to this light was beautiful and simplistic.

I'm keen on anything environmental and to do with nature so discovering that this light revolves around these concepts had me even more excited. As the sun's rhythms influence how a flower opens and closes, the Flower 001 lamp moves its own petals according to the heat generated by the light it produces. The layers are spaced in such a way that the light is evenly distributed and so this movement can be achieved. This amazing design has been created by Christian Kocx.

It Will Rock You

As part of my Christmas present my (amazing) boyfriend bought me tickets to go and see ‘We Will Rock You’ at Edinburgh playhouse. So on Thursday 18th of December 2009, we got dressed up and got the train to Edinburgh. I was so excited and just couldn’t wait to be walking through the doors of the playhouse. Since ever I can remember my dad has listened to and loved the music of Queen; one of the most renowned bands of all time and complete musical geniuses. This love for them passed down to me and I simply love all their music. I worried at first that I would hype the show up so much that I would be let down by it but I have to say it was one of the best nights of my life. The way the music was worked into the story line was just simply incredible and the story itself did not only do the play justice but the music as well. The whole time sitting in your seat you were totally enthralled, involved and wanting more. The thing I especially liked about it was that it was also funny throughout. All in all I would have to say that it was simply amazing and a must see, especially if you’re a Queen fan.

'101 Stool' (My Work)

I previously blogged in December about my furniture project and the '101 Theory' to do with the way in which people sit in public. The '101 Stool' is a stool that we have designed around this theory, principally for the general public. Each stool moves on 4 ball transfers, has the ability to connect to other alike stools and is made from Oak and Beech Plywood. Therefore with this ability to connect stools, if you want to sit by yourself you can but if you are with a group of people you can join your stools enabling you to sit collectively together.

The two white boxes that can be seen on the presentation boards are representations of the stool as we didn't have enough time or materials to make more. However, in theory there would be multiples of identical '101 Stool's.

We also had the thought of creating a track in which you could move along on your stool e.g. the track and stools could be positioned in a certain way in a museum, so that the general public would be able to sit and move around and be directed to the best viewing points and so on.

Public Seating Research

Connection

Inspiration

Concepts

Perspectives

Final Design