Project #2

Project #2: A Cup, a Napkin, a Spoon: Cultural Meaning and The Material Intelligence of Everyday Objects

Now that we have practiced tracing the history of certain material resources (Object Implosion and Assignment #1), students will be paired up to design and produce a prototype of a functional object. Feel free to bring your art, design, or discipline-specific mindset into this project as you are not thinking about a traditional functional object that is available at the store. This is a one of a kind object, one that only your team could and would make. 

To begin:

Choose one of the 3 types:

• a vessel (a cup, bowl, plate, basket, etc... - typically designed to hold/contain something)
• a utensil (a spoon, fork, knife, pair of tongues, etc... - a tool that is designed to manipulate things with)
• a piece of linen (napkin/tea towel/furoshiki, Links to an external site. etc... - which could have a variety of uses from wrapping to cleaning, holding, decorating, insulating, etc...)

Your materials may be natural or man-made, but choose them with mindfulness about where they come from, how they come into the project, and how you are using them. 

Your accountability as an artist/designer encompasses considerations of these materials and processes from as many angles as possible: thinking across personal, familiar, communal, and social geographies, cultures, time periods, crafting and making practices, use-values, environment impacts, etc.

Explore both poetic and mundane potentials. 

Important: The user of this object (the clients you are designing for) is you and your design partner. 

Finished Assignment Deliverables:

• 1 Object Prototype Due: on Tuesday, October 31st in class along with material evidences of all kinds: tests, "mishaps", etc.
• The Visual Story of the Object's development: inspiration, cultural and material connections, including cultural and natural history of the material resources used.  Use template provided for the submission Download Use template provided for the submission Save and submit in PDF format with your name and project title in the file name. IMPORTANT: Each student is asked to present their own take and description for the submission. Collaborating on visual documentation and discussing together how you might answer the questions in the template is highly recommended, but it would need to be your own wording and structuring of content in the submitted document. We would like to know not just what went well, but also where you see unresolved or challenging further issues. This report is due: on Thursday, November 2nd, submitted to this assignment. 
• In addition, please see schedule for assignment check-points and deliverables. In general, strive to make: test materials, processes and outcomes and experiment with physical things. - At project check-ins and instructor conferences we would like to see tangible results. 

Tentative timeline of this project (please make sure to check Week by Week Schedule for updates and deliverables.