" R E A S O N S T O A V O I D C O N C R E T E "
T H E B R I E F
This project is a collaboration between another designer, Lewis Jarvie, and myself. The brief was to each chose a design direction independently and then combine our directions to set the theme for a trio of objects.
T H E I D E A
We both loved the light wood seen in many Scandinavian products, and the ironic theme gave us plenty of fun idea to work with. After hours of brainstorming, we settled on the idea of three objects you would find beside you before an evening read - a lamp, a book, and a pair of glasses - all with an ironic twist of course.
T H E L A M P
The lamp heavily features both design styles, with the classic Scandinavian wood aesthetic being prevalent in the base and the pegs holding the lamp shade. The irony is portrayed through the concrete lampshade, where we have taken an object that is traditionally translucent and made it out of the most opaque material we could use - over an inch of concrete!
T H E B O O K
The second creation was a concrete book aptly titled 'Reasons to avoid concrete'. As the book is made out of concrete, it cannot be opened. Useful, right?
T H E G L A S S E S
The third and final creation, a pair of glasses, heavily showcase Scandinavian and ironic elements. The arms are made from the same wood as the lamp base, while the face of the glasses are made of a single piece of concrete. Although glasses are designed to enhance a user's vision, our glasses block the users vision entirely. Maybe it will be effective, who knows?
T H E T R I O
I'm extremely pleased with the outcome of this project. For a first time working with concrete I view this as a success, and it was nice to refresh my lathe skills when working on the lamp. I'm definitely looking forward to working with concrete next time, although next time I will adjust the ratio of the concrete and increase the drying time as there were lots of issues with the concrete crumbling and breaking throughout the course of the project.
