S.IPROPOSALS

1 2 3 4l a u r a

c a r l e s s

1KEY WORDS:

BIOMIMICRY

DIGITISATION

ORGANIC VS DIGITAL

TRANSFORMATION

ADAPTATION

PROGRESSION

REGENERATION

BEAUTY

BIONICS

“Philosophy will clip an Angel’s wings,Conquer all mysteries by rule and line,Empty the haunted air, and gnomed mine —Unweave a rainbow, as it erewhile madeThe tender-person’d Lamia melt into a shade.”

- John Keats

<<< Falling Light for Swarovski by Troika London

150 years after Sir Isaac Newton dissected the phenomenon of the rainbow, English poet John Keats commented that science had robbed nature and the rainbow of its spectacle by reducing its notion to prismatic colours.

I love the idea that science can make nature more beautiful by being able to understand it, and I want to look at the way that science and technology is seeking to replace nature, more specifically at how it is improving it, and how it creates something of beauty in the process. I am also intersted in peoples views on whether nautre is beautiful because it just exists or whether beauty is added on understanding how it exists.

“IMITATING THE ORGANIC”

AREAS OF INVESTIGATION:

- Installation design - look into more pieces similar to Falling Light by Troika

- Architecture - organic forms used in modern design.

- Typography - type inspired by nature but created digitally

- Materials - astroturf, faux fur; attitudes towards these as a replacement to the original materials.

READING LIST:

Unweaving the Rainbow by Richard Dawkins

The Organic Approach To Architecture by Deborah Gans and Zehra Kuz

Heatherwick Studio - architecture and design studio, often base their work on nature >>>

Troika’s ‘Falling Light’ for Swarovski (which was at the V&A British Design exhibition), is inspired by John Keats’ view on science and beauty. The piece is really amazing and makes you appreciate the way that technology can recreate nature.It used Swarovski crystal lenses, moving armatures and lights to create beautiful light patterns on the floor that mimick the ripples that occur when the surface of water is disturbed. The thing of beauty in this piece is not only the light patterns but what creates them, something which is usually hidden, but here is used to add to its visual appeal.

Heatherwick Studio create large scale architechural pieces inspired by the beauty of science and nature.

2KEY WORDS:

RELIGION/FAITH

WORSHIP

ARCHITECHTURE

GOOD/BAD DESIGN

CHRISTIANITY

OPULENCE

AUSTERITY

“unholy design?”

In places like the British Museum, the artefacts I admire most are the old religious artworks, sculpture and shrines. They are always so ornate and beautiful, covered in gold and rich hues, they are exquisitely opulent and in no part modest. This is how christian churches used to be, and the way the most important remain, but what happned to this opulence in design that occurs in religion? Modern churches are hardly designed as a place of the highest beauty, and general design that is involved with religion is usually very dated or not really considered at all. Has religion lost its flamboyance? I want to research into good and bad religious architechture and design. Who is doing it well and where are the others going wrong? As an athiest I can understand that in our current society, religion is slowly becoming less important, but is this why we are forgetting the beauty of the church? It is meant to be a place of God, a place of utmost beauty, to remind us of his power and place in our world, but often it seems churches are thrown together with no care to its look or design.

<<< “Made in gold and enamel and decorated with precious stones, the Holy Thorn Reliquary depicts the salvation of mankind through the sacrifice of Christ.”an example of the opulent design usually associated with Christianity.

Jean, duc de BerryParis, France, before AD 1397

AREAS OF RESEARCH:

- Modern church design

- Graphic designs role in christianity

- Difference in views between strands of Christianity (Catholic/Protestant etc.)

- History of design in religion - churches/the bible/publications?

READING LIST:

- The Holy Thorn Reliquary by John Cherry

- Closer to God : religious architecture and sacred spaces by Lukas Feireiss

- Religion and architecture : how do architects interpret it? (Thesis) by Marta Lala

- No Place For God: The Denial of the Transcendent in Modern Church Architecture by Moyra Doorly

Just a small selection of badly designed ‘churches’ in my local area of Camberwell, south London. >>>

<<< Dayspring Christian Fellowship, Banks, Oregon

3KEY WORDS:

CURRENCY

WEALTH

GOVERNMENT CONTROLLED DESIGN

NATIONAL IDENTITY

TYPOGRAPHY

PATTERN DESIGN

“cash in hand”I was thinking; what are my obsessions? What do I think about every day of my life whether I like it or not? Money! Whether it’s what to do with it, worrying about how little I have, or how to obtain it, it controls my life and is something I encounter every single day. It passes in and out of my hands like wildfire, and once in a blue moon, I look down and notice it, actually taking in its timeless beauty. Who designs it?! Who is blessed with such a wonderful job? I have never, ever looked into this, and this is the perfect time to. I think that money is something that I wouldn’t mind being in my life little more, not for spending or for worrying about, but to study and to understand. I want to explore not only the design of currencybut its history, its evolution and meanings.

“Money is many different things at the same time. It’s a work of art, a medium of exchange, a representation of value, one, which most people take for granted. Everybody has their own answers when it comes to money yet we think that it is more generative and engaging to think about values and doubt. It is a balancing force.

Money creates a mood of euphoria. Money is one of the major constituents in determining what our lives feel like, what our typical day feels like. Money also represents our society. It’s everywhere. But money is just an idea - an abstract measurement.”

[www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/5440/money-design-and-history]

AREAS OF RESEARCH:

- Who designs currency? Designers/design companies / the government??

- Typography in currency design - history and its influence on design

- The Mint

- Currency in art & design

READING LIST:

- The art of money : the history and design of paper currency from around the world by David Standish.

- Money by Joe Cribb.

- The art of paper currency by Martin Monestier.

- The Art & Beauty of United States Currency: Gold Certificates: 1863-1934 by Dave Alexander

LTR Federal is inspired by typefaces found on the US dollar bill. >>>

4KEY WORDS:

PRINTING

PUBLISHING

ZINES

INDIE CULTURE

EDITORIAL DESIGN

PHOTOGRAPHY

TYPOGRAPHY

4“go publish yourself”

Design for print is something I have interested in for a while now and I’m starting to get a constant urge to make some kind of hand made publication, whether it be a collective project or just something to showcase my personal photography that I do as a hobby. Is this an urge that all designers get? Probably. It’s why zine fairs and art book fairs are so popular, and in the recession people are using their initiative to think of ways to get their name out there in creative ways. I think that one of the main appeals of handmade book and zine fairs is that chance to own something completely unique, or rare. Self Publish Be Happy are a small self publishing organisation founded by Bruno Ceschel in 2010. Their aim is to ‘celebrate, study and promote self-published photo books’.There are many small organisations like this, as well as countless photographers, designers and artists getting their name out their by making their own books and publications. I want to study this art and find out how and why people are doing it, and aim to start doing it myself.

<<< Self Publish, Be Happy Weekend at The Photographers’ Gallery. A showcase of contemporary DIY photo books selected by curator and founder, Bruno Ceschel.

AREAS OF RESEARCH:

- Self publishing companies

- Who self publishes?

- Printing processes

- Zines and zine fairs

READING LIST:

- Indie publishing : how to design and produce your own book. edited by Ellen Lupton

- The self-publishing phenomenon Yvonne Doolan(thesis)

- Stolen sharpie revolution : a diy zine resource. by Alex Wrekk

- Behind the Zines: Self-publishing Culture. by Robert Klanten

- Fanzines. by Teal Triggs

- www.zineswap.com

- www.selfpublishbehappy.com

- www.archizines.com

This is the Same Ocean #2 (2012) by Samuel Davison“A risograph print photography journal from Melbourne, Australia. This is the second issue and features the work of 7 photographers from 3 continents.” >>>

<<< “Hexagono is a publication about the Altamirano Public Walk Furniture designed by Emilio Marín in Valparaiso, Chile. The geometry of the public walk furniture is based in the hexagon and his geometric operations of adition, sustraction and intersection. The publication explore the technical especifications and shape of the Altamirano Public Walk Furniture. Limited edition of 100.”www.archizines.com

l a u r a c a r l e s s