Curriculum Vitae

Our newest task is to design our own Curriculum Vitae. I decided to explore that nature and properties of plywood as part of the CV. At first I was going to use polypropylene instead, however I felt plastics are very overused for laser-cutting and environmental unfriendly.

It was interesting to explore the flexibility and limits of this particular route. The outcome is a flat-pack CV that is sent and assembled by the potential employers. I feel this a appropriate as I wish to have my placements with production houses and furniture/product designers.

This is only my first attempt and the cut-out are still to be confirmed as I am still deciding on what pattern to be used. The envelope is sealed by a thread and can be opened with a pull of the string. I hope with this CV I will be able to showcase the various skills I process.

Anti-Social: 2nd Year Project

This project is called Anti-Social and we were grouped in 2s with a designated area each. In our case, it was Lambeth. We were sent off to explore the notion of anti-social behaviors. As I started investigating the area, I discovered that there was hardly anyone occupying the area and most of them tend to merely just pass through it. I started to question myself that, could, rather a human, a non-living object like space be anti-social. I feel that maybe for the past decades, the local has been suffering from poor facilities in the area and the lack of community awareness, as a result of government heavy investment and emphasis on business sector.

I decided to concentrate on the communal park in Lambeth as I feel a park should be a place where both the residents and businessmen can share and enjoy together. However the park is neglected. Therefore I decided to do a fictional campaign against such act. One of the actions was Re-generation. It encourages skilled and creative locals to renovate damaged objects in areas such as the park. This campaign is both passive and aggressive as this could act as a protest to the government’s neglection.

I started this program and renovated 2 fixtures in the park in a week, but I had no response at all. This is probably because I initially wanted people to discover them themselves; hence I kept a low profile. Since this has made no effect so far I have decided to push in a bit further by attachment notes of my action and of this campaign on to the renovations I made in hope that I can generate some reactions, but this is still yet to be complete.

SMITHS ISSUE 2

Goldsmith student magazine SMITHS ISSUE 2 is finally out after all those bloody hours. It still has a vast space for improvement but it is definitely looking far better then the first one. It proves that sometimes 6 people are better the 26 trying to have a say on the matter. Admittingly I am not the best graphic designer in the group but I have learnt a lot from those guys. Putting a well designed magazine together is definitely not an easy task.

Unfortunately I think I would give the third issue a miss as it is time to get ready for my portfolio and CV. Maybe I will start again on the forth one.

Graphic Project: Lomography

Just a little workshop project we were having fun with. The brief was to design a 8 page spread with a given topic. Mine was Lomography as you can see. I focused on their "10 Golden Rules".

Birth, Marriage and Death: 2nd Year Project

In this project, we were asked to explore various rituals around Birth, Marriage and Death.

Our group were mainly focused on the cut of the umbilical cord, and how other cultures differ from ours in ways of dealing with the placenta afterwards. One of the areas I researched on was how people deal with detached body parts, from both medical and religious points of view. I looked into Egyptian urns, bio-hazard disposal bags and various rite of passage ceremonies.

However I didn’t feel that it would be as solid as a project starting point as the other area I had been looking at which was medical procedures in hospitals. I wanted to bring warmth into the operation room, as nowadays, the procedures are often criticized, as being cold, impersonal and slaughter house-like. On top of that, the mothers are often isolated from the process, as there’s usually a screen to block the mother’s view.

But some how, having these kind of births has almost became a ritual in our modern society. In the sense that it is a common practice that majority of the population just go to the hospital to give birth without having second thought. This is when I decided to look into the cold and alien-like surgical instruments. I looked into ways of altering their forms and materials, so that the baby and the mother can have a more welcoming experience during these dreadful hours.

As I feel wood is one of the warmest and most natural materials you can find on earth. I made a few drawings trying to examine how I needed to change the form and structure of them in order to carve it out of hardwood.

People who are expecting a baby can first visit out website which includes information on different types of wood and sandpaper, a gallery for people to upload pictures. And then they can order a semi-finished wooden template with a wood that they feel represents them the most. And during their 9 month pregnancy, they can shape their very own forceps and other surgical instruments to be used in the hospital.

The aboves are examples of how the instruments could look like.

Not only will the mother be able to take part in the procedure, the baby will also, be delivered with something especially crafted for him. And do you remember that I also tested the finishes? I decided to leave the wood as it is cos after the procedure, the blood stain on the instruments also symbolizes the individuality of each birth, and the parents can take them home as a momentum as well.

Summer of Love: 2nd Year Project

During my exploration in relation to postcards, what I found most fascinating was notion of users creating their own format. In my research, I notice that all postcards are designed with designated areas for addresses, stamps and messages etc. However, many users often disregard these boundaries and write outside these designated areas, destroying these predetermined formats. These subconscious actions I feel, whether they are the smudging of the ink or the accidental coffee stains, provide a more interesting and personal response than any imagery could.

These folding postcards explore the idea of deconstruction of predetermined formats by allowing the users to first fold the postcards into their desired shape and write on them. Creating a pattern which the message can only be comprehend completely once the receivers re-fold the card upon arrivals.

Phobia: 1st Year Project

For this project, the year was split into groups with various 'phobias' and ours was Aquaphobia, the fear of water. The brief was to design and outcome for people who suffer in such conditions, whether it relieves or worsen the experience.

At first I looked into the root of phobia, which had led me to areas such as urban myths and early memories. From there I explored the ideas of extremes and various treatments for these phobias. A treatment called Total-Immersion catch my eye.

The outcome of this project is a parka jacket with integrated water pouches. This garment is designed for people who suffer from aquaphobia. The garment helps the sufferers by creating the sensation of surrounded by water prior to the actual panic attack, easing the sufferer into the situation.

Hello There!!

Finally got myself to create this blog.