2013's Designers in Residence were invited by the Museum to respond to the theme of Identity, to explore how design can be used to convey, create or reflect a sense of identity through an object or experience. Glued to his laptop, locked in his flat, emailing, DM’ing, posting, stressing and Skyping, what sort of a collection could a characterful designer produce in 3 months? This project explores the potential of now ubiquitous rapid fabrication techniques to free designers from Through a blog (please click through to the blog about page for more info) I created a character, a fictional tool, who existed for three months in a fever of rumination and production. Each post was a lived scenario which brought together a wider issue such as generalised anxiety or facebook envy, with a fabrication technique such as 3d printed ceramic, plaster, sintered nylon or slip-cast porcelain. The character fused these into a dizzying array of designs, each contributing to a collection which tells the story of a search for identity told through the design of objects. A journey which, thanks to technology, any one of us could embark upon in the oh-so-near future. To conclude I terminated the character, and the tripartite display of his project consists of a table on which all the various objects are collected, a miniature museum of the said designer, as well as the blog through which the stories behind each of the objects is relayed, and a film which compresses and conveys in a non-didactic manner, all the various influences and themes embedded in the overall project. See below for the film that goes with the collection of objects: See below for a taster film made by Alice Masters for the Design Museum: And the film below is the initial proposal with which I was awarded the Residency: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() A video of me presenting a summary, a postscript of the project, in 25 slides... ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Photo by Gareth Gardner ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Photo by Gareth Gardner ![]() Photo by Gareth Gardner ![]() Photo by Gareth Gardner ![]() Photo by Gareth Gardner ![]() Photo by Gareth Gardner ![]() Photo by Gareth Gardner ![]() Photo by Gareth Gardner ![]() Photo by Gareth Gardner ![]() ![]() ![]() Photo by Gareth Gardner ![]() Photo by Gareth Gardner ![]() Photo by Gareth Gardner ![]() Photo by Gareth Gardner ![]() Photo by Gareth Gardner ![]() Photo by Gareth Gardner Image above and two below: a selection of pieces from Identity Parade were on show between May and June of 2014 at the Hospital Club in Covent Garden, London. ![]() Photo by Gareth Gardner ![]() Photo by Gareth Gardner ![]() Photo by Sophie Mutevelian Two designs from Identity Parade (image above and two below) made again here in Porcelain (on the left and centre), as well as a new glazed earthenware piece on the right called Scrollascraper, were exhibited at Platform on the King's Road, London, as part of the show "Space Craft", a collaboration between the Crafts Council UK and Habitat. I was (extremely) proud to be exhibited alongside Edmund de Waal, 6a Architects, and Studio Weave amongst others. The show toured the country for 18 months following its launch at Platform. ![]() Photo by Sophie Mutevelian ![]() Photo by Sophie Mutevelian Back to top |