64 x 2 = 128

Yeah, that's what I call some kinda mess! Our most recent studio project began with these instructions via email from our professor:
"For Tuesday you will need the following for the next project:
Two sets of 64 items:The first set should be sixty-four of the same natural object. These items should be mostly the same but different. For example, 64 four round stones from the river. They might vary in size and color but all sixty-four are rounded and stone. The second set of items should be sixty-four found objects. The objects should all be different in form but of the same material (either all metal or all wood). This set should all be manmade objects. You will need 12 feet of 1" x 1" poplar, white pine or bass wood by Thursday. We can talk about the wood on Tuesday. The items in your sets of 64 should be larger than a golf ball and smaller than a baseball."

TALK ABOUT A RIDDLE. I dare you to try and find 128 "found" objects in the course of 24 hours. Well, needless to say, we all managed to do it and the above picture displays the mess that walked into that studio Tuesday morning.

So, once we unloaded all of our crap (yes, most of it was crap) he asked us to make a grid with our items, categorizing them based on characteristics they share. For example, I did a column of metal objects that were colored. One of my columns was "things that make things come apart" and it included scissors, a wire angel (religion can break relationships! right? Okay, that one was a stretch, but I didn't have anywhere else to put the wire angel...) I'll admit, it was kind of fun for the first round...until he made us do it again with our natural objects! Here are some of the grids/piles:

The next task was to do the same with our natural objects, except this time, we had to order them large to small (top to bottom) and light to dark (left to right.) Here are some of the cool ones:

Our next task was to construct a connecting device for 8 of the manmade objects that was a 2 x 2 x 2 unit cube. The cube had to be implied and also reflect the objects that it held. More on that later!

NEOCON EAST

Not too long ago I headed up to Baltimore with a few colleagues to the design trade show of the East coast- NEOCON! It was at the Baltimore Convention Center and it is packed full of vendors, and companies trying to advance their products. Here are a few of the things I saw while I was there:

Below is a picture of glass tiles that you can write on with markers. It's a great idea for office spaces and family "work centers" and it's still quite nice to look at because of the images on the tiles.

This chair was a little freaky to sit in- I wasn't sure what was going to happen when you sat in it....heck, I wasn't even sure what it was when I saw it!

Bu, no worries! It conformed exactly to my shape and was pretty comfy at that. I'm not sure I like the aesthetic, but maybe for a dorm room or something...

There was one big bus exhibiting cork in its different uses.

They had six vignettes set up with mock interiors that used cork- all of which were designed for the show by Candice Olsen! I love her!

The show was fun and I got alot of business cards- hopefully I will be able to use some of them to get some samples or make some connections! Another bonus was all the free giveaways I got- an aluminum water bottle, design magazines and loads and loads of bags! Everybody loves a freebie :)