In this project I was given a brief stating that I should looking at past design eras: Baroque, Georgian, Victorian, 1930’s And 1950’s. From these five design eras, I should pick one that interests me and through using the design cycle, I should create and design a outcome that could be worn on the body or had drawn influences from the human form.
For my research I started by looking at the five eras of design that was stated in the project brief. So I created a two page presentation of each design era in my sketchbook. I used various sources to gain my information. I Used books, websites and photos I have taken on my camera. For some the pages, I managed to find objects around my house that shows signs of a certain design era. For example I found an example of the baroque-characterised woodwork technique of marquetry a method of ornamentation in carpentry that involves the use of different wood-shades and types on a piece of furniture. I also used some photos I have taken in the past to show some primary research, such as a picture of a baroque snuff box that I encountered on my trip to the Victoria and Albert museum in London. After researching the design eras of the project. I started to look at Artists that use the human body in their work. At this point of the project some of my ideas were focused on creating an item that can be worn. So I looked in the work of Rebecca Horn, who creates items that are influenced by the body and worn by the body. I also looked at Artists such as Anthony Gormley and Stelarc. Stelarc in particular caught my imagination as he uses machinery such as robotics to create interactive pieces that are worn on the body. I found this industrial style of blending manmade machinery with the human body made interested in picking the Victorian era as my design choice.
My ideas grew from the research I studied. In my mind I had the idea of blending the world of industry, machines and blending it with something that could be worn on the body. As I have said, I found the Victorian era a great point to use as the industrial side of the ideas I was forming. Because of Industrial Revolution that occurred in the Victorian era, I found this a great way of introducing Victoriana into my work and possibly even bringing in some of the influences of nature that the Arts and Crafts movement used in the Victorian times. After talking to my tutor, Mark, he suggested that I should look at the ideas created by the Steampunk movement- a movement that blends the industrial side of Victoriana and modern day even fictional, futuristic design ideas. This led to me sketching a few design ideas that used these influences. I was originally thinking of creating a Chest piece that was made of copper, brass and tin.
These initial ideas soon developed. The idea of creating a chest piece proved to be difficult to create. After much consideration, the design I was thinking of making would cost too much in materials to make, simply because It was so large. I also believe that the design I made looked incredibly difficult to physically make. After presenting my first idea to Mark, he said I could still have a design that could be worn around the neck and Mayoral Badges of Office would be a great way top start. I went away and researched Badges of office. I found out that these chains that are worn by City and town mayors are passed down heir looms that are many years old. Some chains even had small pictures of past mayors. After this research, I sketched a couple of designs that could be made into a chain of office. When these sketches were complete, I picked my favourite one and started the collect materials that could be used in the creation of the piece. I found a crank cog of a bicycle that I wanted to use as a centre piece and I also found test tubes which I eventually incorporated in the design.
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| Close-up of Detail on Final piece |
My final outcome was created over four weeks. I found this piece out of all my final outcomes throughout the year I have made, the most challenging. This was because I had a lot of various problems when creating the piece. For example, attaching the leather to the band of steel proved hard work and I found a solution to this by welding pins the band of steel than forcing them through the leather, securing it by bending over the wire pins. I also found that when attaching the copper pipe, It was difficult to bend into the right shape that would fit perfectly to the steel band. I had to attach the copper pipe through the use of silver solder and flux. I used a wide variety of techniques in this final outcome. I used sand-blasting, welding, soldering, the fly-press and weaving to get the look I wanted. I found that my piece looked exactly how I imagined it, admittedly, I did have to make a few alterations such as the colour of the test tubes which originally intended to be clear rather than green. But overall I found it very successful.
I believe I would take time in attaching certain items to the final outcome next time. As the piece on a whole is very fragile and I take great care when handling it. Overall, apart from the one area of improvement I would not change anything else about my final piece. I am really happy with how it turned out and I truly enjoyed the project.
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| Brad wearing the final outcome |
