Final stop motion clip

Standpoint

‘Concept to Product’ is an integral process in Industrial design. It is Industrial design. It is design to be produced for the consumer, produced on mass and with consistency.  It is with this in mind that Industrial design separates itself from other specialisations in design.

My stop motion clip has the theme of ‘Concept to Product’ in Industrial design. It sought to make one think about the order in which this creative process is carried out. This is the idea that function can follow form and produce very interesting and unique results in industrial design.

The usual process finds a solution to a problem, perhaps with limitations put in place by a client, in the form of a concept. Traditionally the artefact subject to design is recognised up front, be it a pair of scissors or a toothbrush, then research is carried out, mind mapping, sketches and modelling. The end result is a form.

However, aiming to foster the design of fresh, unique and atypical forms, this process is being undertaken in reverse by some schools of design (Morris, 2005). It has been taught as a means of thinking outside the box of preconceived aesthetic limits (Morris, 2005).  Ryan Jorgensen, a student of Morris (2005), took part in a design project based on this idea and articulated it as, “We are so programmed to what certain objects look like it is very hard to overcome those preconceptions. But working backwards and finding out what you are making at the end allows your pure creativity to show through.”

My stop motion clip creates some food for thought by demonstrating this with play dough. Some forms are modelled, sketched and a possible product is revealed to show its potential. These are of Italian design which make them relevant to the flavour of the film.


Citations


Morris, J A. (2005). Function Follows Form. IDSA. Retrieved from http://www.idsa.org/function-follows-form

Clip Storyboards

The Video

Loco-visual

St Mary of the Angels on Boulcott St. is a particularly striking example of the Gothic revival architecture that can be found around Wellington City. The church is the third to be built on the site after it was damaged by fire near to the end of the 19th Century. Its design being a product of Wellington architect Frederick de Jersey Clere who favoured this Gothic style.

The architects partiality to concrete construction is celebrated here in that most of the building is reinforced concrete, giving it unique character unlike any other ecclesiastical construction of revival style found on Wellington.

It is of no surprise that St Mary and the others specimens found in the city were designed in Gothic revival style. A style which gained favour steadily throughout the 19th Century and came to be symbolic of Christianity and its ideals because it was regarded as pure design. God’s true design. Values which Augustus Welby Pugin held in high regard and advocated in his extensive writings on Gothic architecture and design (Clark, 1928).

He believed the style, associated with the Arts and Crafts movement, to be of form true to function. He believed in its honesty. He was enthused by its application of structure as aesthetic, it told no lies. Why not celebrate the screws and bolts and hinges which remained integral structural elements? To Pugin, beauty lay in the skeleton of a building, a concept which became the very foundation of his reformed Gothic style. And it was Pugin who was responsible for bringing the rationality and strict principles of Neo-Classicism to Gothic revival (Clark, 1928).

Gothic attributes are plenty and easily identifiable on the exterior of St Mary of the Angels. First and foremost are the abundance of Ogival arches. These pointed arches adhere to strict mathematical equations. They are structurally fundamental and load bearing but also aim to add height to the building. Fluted turrets also frame the church and contribute height. Loftiness and elegance both being important powerful characteristics of Gothic revival architecture making it distinct from other styles. This value of height is clearly associated with proximity to God (Rosemary, 2001).

Other Gothic elements are its stained glass windows and ribbed vault ceiling, both seen best from the interior church. The visible bones, functionality and non-triviality of its design are the essence of this Gothic revival church.



Reference list

Clark, K. (1928). Churches. In J. Piper & J. Betjeman (Eds.), The Gothic Revival (pp. 123-145). London, England: Constable and Company Ltd.

Clark, K. (1928). Pugin. In J. Piper & J. Betjeman (Eds.), The Gothic Revival (pp. 164-204). London, England: Constable and Company Ltd.

Rosemary, H. (2007). The professor of ecclesiastical antiquities. God’s architect: Pugin and the building of romantic Britain. (pp. 243-258). London, England: Allen Lane.

History of St Mary of the Angels. Retrieved from http://www.smoa.org.nz/about/history.php

Images retrieved from http://www.smoa.org.nz/gallery/building.php