Bouroullec Design

"Clouds coats architecture in a fluid yet chaotic way; bringing surprisingly colourful fabric windows to your place" (Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec)

Through our current project, Modern Age, I have been looking into the designs of Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, mainly in the design they did for Kvadrat, 'Clouds'.

Clouds is a tile concept which is designed for use in homes, and is vey versatile in what it can be used for. When hung from the ceiling, it can provide a partition to separate rooms or areas, whereas hung on a wall it can simply be art. The tiles are attached by rubber bands, to make it easy to change and rearrange the tiles when desired, giving the opportunity to change the look of the space as many times as you want.

The idea is that new tiles can be added or removed as required, to create an ever-changing look, and the tiles come in 7 different colour schemes.

Designers, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, have been working together for ten years and have won various design awards, including the New Designer award at the international contemporary furniture fair in New York in 1999, and Designers of the Year in 2002 at the Salon de Meuble, a trade show in Brussels showcasing interiors, decor, gifts and homeware. They have also done a few architectural projects, such as Maison Flottante (Floating House) which is shown below.

www.bouroullec.com

So…third year has begun! In our first seminar group meeting, we looked at the areas of design we were going to be looking into. Between us, we will look into what crime, climate change, branding, critical design, research, gender and creativity are, and how they affect design.

Included are a few photos of us brainstorming each of our topics, and I will follow with a more detailed description of climate change and the affects it has on design. Through doing the mind map, I felt I got an insight into topics which I had not previously studied, and which I didn’t know much about. It was interesting to find that most of the topics overlapped, particularly branding. We found that because branding had a lot to do with the advertisement and identity of products and services, this linked with a lot, as the advertisement of products is important in most areas.

In climate change, the advertisement of products which are eco friendly, and the image that eco friendly and renewable products and services give across, is very important to designers when introducing new things to either clients or colleagues. The branding of a product has a huge impact on the success of that product.

Banksy in top 30 most visited global exhibitions

I have just seen on the BBC news website that a Banksy Exhibition held in Bristol was among the top 30 most visited exhibitions in the world, with only one other in the UK making it with him, which was the Saatchi Gallery. The exhibition, which was held at the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery Event, attracted almost 4,000 people a day, despite there being no publicity before it started as it had to be prepared in secret.

The full story is on this is at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8595341.stm (again the link isn't working, sorry).

Disneyfication - Part 2

Recently I have been re-watching s few of my favourite Disney movies from when I was younger, including Bambi, The Jungle Book and The Little Mermaid. Watching these and being a lot older, I am finding myself surprised at how many parts of the films you don't notice (or understand) when you are younger. This made me think back to our lecture with Hamid Van Koten on Disneyfication and the hidden messages in Disney films.

Baloo and Mowgli, Disney's The Jungle Book

As a child, The Jungle Book was definitely one of my favourite Disney films - I watched it constantly! However, after watching it again I was surprised to see how many parts of the film I didn't pick up on when I was younger. I used to think that the story was very basic - a boy lived in the jungle and didn't go want to back to the 'man village'. Now I am older I realise how many hidden messages there are in the film, as well as picking up on comments I had previously been oblivious to.

The story of Mowgli and his journey, from being abandoned to being brought up by a wolf pack, to making friends who he feels then betray him, to finding his way back to where he belongs, goes through various aspects of life and puts across to children messages that they will probably have already been told, but in a way they are probably more likely to understand.

Mowgli being discovered by the wolves

From the start, where Mowgli is abandoned and taken in by the wolf pack, the film addresses important issues. The issue of abandonment is one, although it is only now I am older that I actually picked up on this, as is the way the wolves 'adopt' Mowgli. The way he is brought up as one of their family is showing that you can always feel as though you belong even somewhere where you may be out of place. Shere Khan the tiger, who everyone in the jungle fears, is a good example of sending a message to children that you should not speak to strangers as they can be dangerous, no matter what they come across as. Although Mowgli has been told that he should be scared of Shere Khan "everyone runs from Shere Khan", he stands up to him and says he is not to be scared, only to find out that this just runs him into trouble which he needs his friends to save him from. The story also puts across the message of being careful who you trust, and that you must be wary of new people. Kaa the snake is a good example of this. When Mowgli runs away from Bagheera and Baloo, he comes across Kaa the snake, who he trusts only to discover later that he shouldn't have, and that Kaa really only wants to hypnotise him and later eat him. King Louie is also a good example of this, as he tries to befriend Mowgli and although he is unsure at first, he falls for it even though King Louie just wants him there because he wants to be a man. Again, it is Baloo and Bagheera who save him from this. One of the positive messages the film puts across is that of friendship and the importance of it. No matter what he does, Baloo and Bagheera are always there for Mowgli, caring for him and thinking about what is best for him. In this respect, the film is maybe trying to hint at parenting skills,and that no matter how much you, as a child, don't want to do what your parents tell you to and think they are being horrible, they are always looking out for you and doing what is in your best interests. Bagheera the panther symbolises the more responsible parent, thinking sensibly and constantly worrying, but with a quick temper at times, whereas Baloo the bear is like the relaxed, fun parent, although just as caring, but who eventually realises that he too must do what is best for Mowgli in the long term.

Ariel, Disney's The Little Mermaid

The story of The Little Mermaid made me think back to one of the points made in Hamid's lecture about the women in Disney films. Ariel is a typical 'Disney Princess'. She has lovely long hair, a beautiful voice, an angelic look about her, and what is perceived to be the 'perfect' body. On the other hand, Ursula, the sea witch, with a more voluptuous figure, is the 'baddie'. I feel this is such a bed message to be sending out to young girls, like I mentioned in my last Disneyfication post.

One of Disney's newest films, Up, also covers a variety of life issues that children might face, from the obvious good and evil to divorce, loyalty and friendship. For those of you who haven't seen it, Up is the story of a boy who meets a girl who has the same interests as him, and they make a plan to travel to South America and go to paradise falls. The first part of the film is a little depressing, with a shortened version of their life together, from not being able to have children to her dying. The man turns very grumpy and, when he is told he must go to a retirement village, he fills his chimney with balloons and the house floats away. Little does he know he has brought a little boy with him by accident, who was trying to find a bird under his porch. Together they battle through the weather and make it to paradise falls, where they discover a bird which the old man's hero had been looking for years ago. However, when they come across the hero, he is not what they thought he would be like, and so the story goes on... (I don't want to give the whole thing away!)

Old Mr Carl Fredricksen and his floating house

The hidden messages in Disney's films are becoming more and more noticed. Recently a group on facebook has been created, in which you become a fan to discover Disney's most shocking message which apparently 97% of people don't notice. I, and a few of my friends, have found that this doesn't work and is just a con, but I can't help but wonder what it is...

After watching and re-watching many of Disney's animated films, I think they provide not only entertainment for children and adults alike, but they also put across important messages to children about life.

My thoughts on design

creativity. understanding. knowledge. constant learning. problems. solutions. research. artistic. sense. current affairs. ever changing. space. shapes. original. functional. personal. think. expressive. watch. listen. atmosphere. helping. decorative. inspirational. constructive. influential. stimulating. innovative. productive. fashions. life. colour.

We can never know it all...

Everything will be alright

Driving through Edinburgh a couple of weeks ago, seeing this made me feel instantly more positive...amazing how one little thing can make a difference...

This has been erected on the front of the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art, and was by Martin Creed, a Scottish Turner prize winning artist. This was also displayed on the 'pallazzo arengario' in Milan in 2006.

*Assignment 4 - Interviews*

*...What does the way someone decorates their living space tell you about them?...*

Being an Interior and Environmental Design student, the impact a space has on a person is an issue which needs to be thought about all the time. The atmosphere a space creates and the mood it puts people in is an important part of your designs. Through colours, furniture, size and shapes, the effect of the space can be altered and therefore can alter the atmosphere and the impact it has on altering someones mood.

I started by thinking about what a living space and the way it is decorated meant to me...

Living Space: live. relax. eat. drink. personal. watch. chat. listen. read. think. mood. warmth. comfort. family. friends. relationships. chill. atmosphere. decorative. feelings. expressive. learn. creativity. hobbies. laughter.

Through my mind map I looked at the different areas of a living space and the sort of things I wanted to find out about - sentimental items, where they get their ideas from, who or what are they influenced by, what colours they use, how much time they spend in this room, does it have one function or multiple functions. I started to think about not only how the decoration of someones living space reflects their personality, but also how it affects their mood. This then lead me to think about what I wanted to gain from these interviews. To get the answer to my question, I wanted to find out the main uses of their room and what they used it for, who or what they thought influenced them when decorating or choosing furniture (people, magazines, TV), where or who the decorations (paintings, ornaments etc) in their space came from, and how much the room reflected them as a person.

I realised that talking to someone about their home and main living space, especially when you had not been in it, was quite a personal thing to do, so because of this I tried to make my interviewees as comfortable as possible by chatting to them before, telling them a little about the course and design studies. Through doing this I found that they appeared to become more relaxed, partly because they were getting to know a bit about me as well and partly because they were learning more about why I was doing this research and the other sorts of assignments I had done in the past.

I spent a lot of time choosing my questions, and thinking about how I myself would answer them if I were to be asked one, as well as how close friends and family might answer them. I found that by doing this the questions I decided on worked better and provided people with the option for a more broad answer than if I had just thought about what I wanted to know. By thinking about how I would feel being asked these questions, I was also able to limit how personal the questions felt, but still making them so that the answers would give me the information I needed. In the end, my interview consisted of 8 main questions. I felt that although the guideline of 5 would have been enough, by adding a few more my end result was better, and by still keeping the number fairly low, the interviews did not take very long, which was what I had intended so as not to make people feel they were being interrogated and also so as not to take up too much of their time. On the whole, the people I was interviewing answered the questions the way I hoped they would - in detail, but keeping it fairly brief, and giving me the main points I was looking to get, with a few others too. Some of the questions required a little persuasion through other questions to get the kind of answer I was looking for but, by rewording the question, or asking one which was similar, I found that I got what I needed from it. Through some of my questions needing a bit of persuasion and for me to give the interviewees a different way of looking at them, I found that I was beginning to think about how I could have worded them differently to make them easier to understand, which I feel is good as in future I will now know more for when I next need to interview someone. I found that shorter questions were easier for people to answer and gave the most in depth answers, which was the opposite of what I was expecting, which was that the questions that asked more information would give the longest answers. If I were to do this assignment or any interview again, I would make all my questions fairly short to make them easier for people to understand. It was interesting to see that people sometimes only picked up on one element of the question, and I occasionally had to reword another element later on in the interview to receive the answer I was looking for.

An interviewee signing the consent form.

Although my interviewees were all female, they all led very different lives and it was interesting to see how the answers to some of the questions differed and how some were very similar. It was interesting to discover that whilst in my home TV is probably one of the main uses of our living space and the TV is on a lot of the time, in other people's it does not feature greatly in their lives, and one of the people I was interviewing didn't have a TV and hadn't for 18 months. She described this as 'difficult at first, but you get used to it' and went on to say that she realises now that she doesn't really need one at home and she does watch TV at friends' houses. All of the people I interviewed said that their living space was mainly used for relaxing, listening to music or watching TV, doing small hobbies such as crafts and sewing, and for comfort. Through the answers to the questions, I was able to determine who was close to their family and who wasn't. One of my interviewees mentioned, while talking about the main uses of her living space, that it was used as a place where the family gathered to eat, relax and be together. She also later mentioned, when asked about the sort of decorations and personal items she had displayed, that she had lots of family photos and things which she and her husband had gathered whilst they had been together. When asked to give a brief description of her personality and her life, she mentioned her family and husband in most of her main points which, along with the previous information, made me able to tell that she and her family were very close. In contrast, one of my other interviewees said in the description of herself and her life that she wasn't that close to her family, and that she 'was fond of them, but liked to keep them at a distance'. By receiving a short description of people's personality, I found I was also able to link it to the choice of colours they described in their living space. One person described herself as 'laid back, calm, sensitive and caring' and said she had a calming influence on her friends, family and the people around her. Her space was decorated in neutral colours, and had a relaxing and calming feeling. She had no bright colours in her space and the decorations such as cushions and curtains were also in neutral and calming colours. In contrast to her, another person who described themselves as open and friendly, and came across as quite chatty and bright, had her room decorated with neutrals (as her house was dark) but with splashes of very strong colours. She had two bright red walls, one with a mural on it, and the accessories in the room were all in strong colours. She also mentioned that she had a lot of sculptures and paintings. It was very interesting to see that with all of my interviewees, colour reflected their personality well.

Through my interviews I found that everyone I spoke to had a collection of decorations such as ornaments and paintings from around the world which they had gathered, or in one case made, themselves. They all also said that most of the things they displayed in their space were bought by themselves, or them and their partners throughout the time the had been together, and none of them mentioned anything which had been passed down or been a gift from family members, despite me asking questions which would have led directly to them telling me if they had. I found this quite interesting as it proves what I had originally thought about at the start of the assignment, which is that a living space is a very personal space, and although you may be influenced by magazines, family members or TV, the main decision maker and influence when it comes to decorating your home is you.

One of my interviews taking place.

Overall, I found that there are many factors of a person's personality which come through in the way they decorate their home. Colour, accessories, uses and influences all reflect someones personality well, and through asking questions about these, I found I was able to link the way people decorate their living space to how they described themselves, and also how they came across to me and my first impressions of them. I would definitely use an interview in future projects, as I found that it was a good way of getting a range of opinions and views on something, and you are able to gather all the information you wanted to, and sometimes more.