Charrette of a Design

This weekend participated in a design charrette at SCAD.  It was held by the school of design and was mostly attended by industrial design students.  I wanted to see what it was all about and thought this was a great opportunity to expand my horizon and meet new people and designers with different approaches to solutions.  In my group I was the only fibers student in a mix of industrial design under grad and grad students.  It was a great group and opportunity to collaborate with them.

The challenge was to create a carnival game in 24 hours using cardboard and anything else, there were really no rules.  Just a fun design challenge to do on the weekend.  I enjoyed experiencing how this group of designers approached the design process, especially in this large group scenario.  As a group we were very cooperative, came up with a great design plan, and had fun with it along the way.  

Our theme was Lazer Cats versus Ninja Bunnies.  Our plan was to make a game where you would catapult a ball into different sized holes of difficulty, all on a cube system structure.  There was a lot of room for creativity while also focusing on the structural aspects if the construction.  I was particularly interested in seeing how these designers approached this problem and solved simple and compex engineering issues.  I am happy to say that I was able to hold my own with my background in simple construction.  I helped to solve problems that arose along the way and helped to create this beautiful structure.

It started out with the background and foundation of the set. The sides to of the set were angled to funnel in the the balls and to give the display some depth.  The bottom is slanted so to return the ball easily. 

 
Our cube production with all shape and sizes of cut outs.  We made about 16 cubes with openings on the top and bottom so the ball could fall easily to the bottom and be returned.

I wanted to get a little fibers in there so I offered to create the backdrop of the set.  The theme lent itself to an outer space design so I created something with layers of colors and textures to represent the universe.  I started with a simple tie dye base.  I had to makeshift my dye and ended up using watered down house paint.  It ended up giving the fabric some rigidity and a slight marbled effect. 

After the first stage was dried I spray painted sparingly over the entire fabric.  The base color was purple and I topped it of with spray paint in two shades of blue and a black.  What tied it all together, and is one of my greatest finds, is spray glitter.  I used both gold and silver and it added the perfect touch and sparkle to the universe.

The final product was much cooler than I could have ever imagined.  It had depth and interest everywhere you looked.  And I loved the glitter.

This application of materials would not be practical for a functional piece of fabric as I do not know how it would wash and wear but it did serve its purpose for the day an I plan on implementing some of these same techniques in future projects.

After the foundation was set we had to add an open grid system to elevate the base to a level surface for the cubes to sit and stack upon.  It needed to be open to allow for the balls to fall through and roll back.

After that grid was set up and sturdy we started to stack the cubes. 

The piece of fabric I had dyed was a sheet and it did not fit across the entire back, so I had to divide up the fabric so it would fit properly across the backdrop.

More stacking of cubes.  We covered all of the cubes with digital printouts of skyscrapers. This set included a wide variety of materials and techniques, optimizing everyone's talents.

The final product was this crazy game that was visually stimulating and eye catching.  It was the first game as you walked in the building so it was not to be missed.  It was fun and whimsical and added to the whole carnival atmosphere. 

I had a great experience collaborating with these designers and being able to work in their studios, much different than a fibers studio.  They have some great equipment including laser cutters and 3D printers that I hope to incorporate into my work in the future.  I also hope to be able to collaborate with these designers again as this experience really helped me to expand my artistic experience and growth by experiencing a new approach to solving problems and executing projects. I have grown as an artist and designer as a result of this experience.

Be Inspired. Be Bold. 

peace&love

Rebecca