[28/08/2015] Interior Design Projects III - Workshop 01: Making while Narrating, Narrating while Making

23rd August 2015 marks our start of a new semester which is semester 4. Our studio project this semester is to design an Interactive Library for Children with different age group to choose from (1-4,5-8 and 9-12 years). During the first 2 weeks of class, our respective lecturers held 2 workshops to help out with the preparation before actually designing the interactive library. The first workshop was to make our dream toy.

Brief: students are to spend an hour in the studio creating a toy for an age group. You are to bring the necessary materials such as scissors, fabrics, paper, thread, etc before arriving to the studio. Think of a toy that you once wish that you can make with your hands. You may use your design journal for thumbnail sketches as to develop ideas. Tell a story about the toy that you have created to your classmates.

While thinking of what toy we want create, we were asked to answer these questions to help us in understanding the toy we want to create:

1. INTENT: What was my intention? What follows is shaped by the intention?
2. DEFINE: What features exist in my design?
3. EXPLORE: What ideas does the design convey?
4. SUGGESTIONS: Where and for whom is the design most meaningful.
5. INNOVATING: How was the design produced?
6. GOAL GETTING: How innovative & effective is it & why?
7. KNOWING: What cultural significant does it have?

I made a toy that is very meaningful to me. A stuffed animal. The reason why was because it represent my childhood as a whole. I spent my childhood days with the stuffed animal I already had till today. So I was thinking of remaking the stuffed animal and innovate it in a simple way.

This was my result. A comparison with the existing one and the new one. I only had 1 hour to do it so it is not as perfect as I wanted it to be but we were told to upgrade/redo it again and submit it in week 4 (18/09/2015).

I learned a lot from this workshop. It was my first time stitching a stuffed animal. I actually find it fun and interesting though you need patient and time to make a perfect one. 

F.