Focus Week 2 - Tate Modern- The Unilever Series: Ai Weiwei

This exhibition called 'Sunflower Seeds' is made of millions of small 'works' each almost identical. These porcelain seeds were each hand crafted in small scale workshop in China, (hence being almost identical) they were also painted by hand. The 100 million seeds that were seen during the exhibition formed a seemingly infinite landscape.

The artist, Ai Weiwei, used traditional methods to make these porcelain seeds, a method that has seen China excel in porcelain exports over many years. The exhibition was sealed off on the 22nd of October, so the public could not access the porcelain seeds as the dust from the seeds were causing visitors health issues.

The process of making these porcelain seeds could have been much cheaper and also much quicker if it was made by a mechanic process. But as mentioned above Ai Weiwei was adamant to have every single sunflower seed 'almost identical'. The idea of having each one hand made will undoubtedly ensure that they will be unidentical but at the same time look the same.

This is a great example showing how far designers/artists will go to ensure that their intended specifications are met. In my opinion this exhibition would not have been as impressive if the sunflower seeds were made by a mechanic process.

A video of the making process was also being played repeatedly throughout the day, this made the experience so much more excited. I felt more appreciation for the work, after watching this video.

Fantastic exhibition! 9/10

Focus Week 1 - Way Finding

Over the past few years of studying Landscape Architecture, my knowledge in this field has greatly improved/increased. Hence after visiting South Bank again a few days ago (after a good couple of months) it was fascinating to see how my 'design improving' mind was picking up on things and relating it back to what I had previously read or worked on.

One thing in particular was the way finding around the south bank area.

Way Finding is an important part of landscape architecture. It will help visitors/users of a certain landscape or park to be directed to certain landmarks or sites of interest across the landscape.

As I identified that his can be an important part of my upcoming projects, I spent time reading a book on the topic.

The Wayfinding Handbook: information design for public places - David Gibson

Although this book is intended for Graphic designers, it gave me a great insight and many ideas on way finding. This book describes the history of way finding to the planning and strategy of where they can go.

The author goes into great detail about topography, symbols and layout. This book is a very easy read, the detailing of images and interesting texts keeps you very interested!

Highly recommended!

Focus Week 1 - Views on John Pawson's Minimalism Ideology

After attending the John Pawson exhibition I was keen look further into his work.

His design work is associated with the 'minimalistic aesthetic', a term used to describe an art movement where designs are taken apart to show basic features.

In my opinion this is a 'safe' way of designing - as less constraints are encountered during the design process, however I feel that it could hold back your design thoughts hence reducing creativity.

After looking at the work of John Pawson, it is quite apparent that he is very talented at designing with minimal aesthetics.

Tilty Barn Essex 1995

Tilty Barn is a series of residential spaces which was made from a complex of agricultural barns.

Using this as an example, a 'minimal aesthetic' approach can be seen in this image.The walls have been stripped down to expose beams and other supporting structures. Its refinement of modern elements such as modern furnishing/fire place and flooring are all simple but bring out the beauty of the design.

Although I still strongly believe that this kind of design approach can limit your creativity - John Pawson is very talented at doing what he does!

Focus Week 1 - Week John Pawson Exhibition

John Pawson - Plain Space - Design Museum
"The father of modern architectural minimalism"

-The New York Times

The Design Museum presents an interestingexhibition of the works of John Pawson.

John Pawson in conversation with Alain de Botton from Design Museum on Vimeo.

John Pawson, is often described as a 'minimalist' as he is known for his deep reduction process, which leads to remarkable designs of simplicity. Some of John Pawson's major projects include : the Cistercian Monastery in Czech Republic, the Sackler Crossing (Royal Botanic Gardens) and the Calvin Klein store in New York Madison

The quality and detail in the models that were on show was very refreshing and inspiring. (see slide show)

John Pawson's project - 'Casa delle Bottere' was also included in the exhibition. This particular work caught my eye as it had an ecological dimension incorporated in the project, which at the time came in very handy for me as i was researching the topic surrounding sustainable materials for my dissertation.

http://www.johnpawson.com/home

Focus Week 1 - BFI

The BFI has a number of resources, and has a collection of the world's most significant collection of film and television. The BFI has over a million tites, from the earliest silent films to the new advanced 3D techonology movies.

My visit to the BFI was brief, in which time i spent in the mediatheques, watching short clips and documentaries in the British film culture. Interesting films and clips that were watched included, Designing a Nightmare, The African Trade and Another Case of Poisoning.

Going to Southbank was great, the way-finding element to the surround buildings, proved to be inspiring, as this was an area being studied in studio at the time. Pictures shown below.