Made Madd » Design

A Means To An End

Tim Cong — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 22:35:18 +0000

A collection of drawings from Central Saint Martins (Foundation 08-09 & BA Stage 1 09-10), my design work has always predominately existed through 2d work. After my first year on the BA Product Design course, I realised (the hard way) that it is just one of the many skills a designer must use during the process. My style is quite illustrative and loose but does not describe technical aspects appropriately. I drew the way I did to try and make things more interesting for me and for other people but design sketches are not precious they are a means to an end. This calls for a change, new things to come…

Playing with Plastic

Tim Cong — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:57:16 +0000

A project driven by the exploration of a material. I discovered that this reformed plastic had incredible steam bending qualities which allowed for the design to mirror the contours of the relaxed body position. The construction consists of six identical pieces, two of which are reversed to create armrests as well as to provide structure. Accessible means of manufacture as well as the potential for tessellation in packaging proves promising. A design in its earliest form, requires development and sensitive handling of this versatile material. (http://www.ecoplastic.net/)

Work in Progress-Dorris Does Shop

Andrew — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 08:25:03 +0000

Here’s a quick picture of a work in progress. Dorris Does is a tiny shop situated in Camden Stables Market that will be selling vintage clothes and jewellery. It is the project of a friend of mine – she’s just leased the shop after working the market for over a year, and asked for my help to fit it out.

This pic shows the main rail comprised of broom handles and iron plumbing pipe connectors, and a small shelf made from found wood and slate.

More coming soon.

Peckham Palais Lighting

Dom — Tue, 11 May 2010 17:15:35 +0000

Our first “official” commission was for the re-opened Peckham Palais, previously an old R’n B night club. The interior is… eclectic, to say the least. Think the inside of a 70’s British holiday caravan abandoned by the road-side, mixed with the interior of an old slot machine/amusements hall and you have a pretty accurate picture of the style the Palais is “rockin” at the moment. Our brief was simple; replace the current light shades running up the stair well between the three floors. The current light shades in the Palais, are quite simply hideous. Imagine, a blind homeless bear has tried to draw from memory scenes of a tribal moon dance, with his claws and a blow torch, into aluminium trash cans.

We drew our inspiration for this project from tessellation folds used to pack and transport solar panels into space. In some ways we underestimated just how difficult achieving this tessellation fold in paper was, but after more then 35 hours of cutting, measuring, folding and cursing we eventually got there, and with a bit of clever packaging (think accordion sandwich) some courier-quick delivery and 4 hours of installation, it was done. I think what makes the lights work is not only their juxtaposition against the palais desperately random interior, but the combination of their curious and intricate shape and the warm ambient light they radiate. All in all a pretty successful first job… Well apart from the fact that 2 hours before the opening the management considered them a fire safety risk and asked us to take them down in favour of Edward scissor hands attempt to open cans of baked beans in the dark with severe munchies.

Even though we had tested them, and they were covering fluorescent tube lighting (which doesn’t heat up significantly) the MAN, he say NO.

This project was designed and completed by Dom and Jonny

- Words by Jonny & Photos by Dom -

Wishbone Burner

Dom — Sun, 09 May 2010 20:04:11 +0000

> Anything can become something else:

One evening while eating my dinner of roast chicken I found a wish bone. Just before breaking it in the traditional manner I noticed a small hole at the apex of the joint. Upon further inspection I found that an incense stick slotted perfectly into this hole, so with a bit of bleaching, sanding and careful balancing later, I had this neatly poised incense burner that shifts its weight as the incense burns away.

This is just a simple example of how we are constantly surrounded by objects that can have a myriad of uses if just a little lateral thinking is applied.

Burl & Copper

Andrew — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:05:11 +0000

This is my third ring to date. This ring is for guys, taking on more of a geometric, bulky, shape. I wanted to include some other materials with this one, yet keep the emphasis on the grain of the wood. Therefore, after much hunting around the metal workshop, I decided to add some copper studs, placed along the side.

The Reverso

Ollie — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:29:50 +0000

Check out the new duffle bag I made!

The specs:
Heavy duty black canvas with 3 layer breathable nylon in DPM (disruptive pattern material) on the reverse.
Hard-wearing, little to no stretching and completely waterproof
250mm sq sides and 500mm in length
Reversible 6mm metal zipper in orange
Only visible/external stitching is along the zip
Flushed metal D-rings on both sides for shoulder strap
Central “Proper Goods” woven label
Polypropylene webbing on both sides

More to come from my mighty hands and dying sewing machine. Think I should invest in something a bit more powerful!

Varden Street Table

Andrew — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 19:49:10 +0000

One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.

This is a motto shared among many of the Made Madd crew, and here is an example of what happens when it is applied.

This is a coffee table constructed purely from found wood. The tables design echoes the silhouette of the vessel that carried its parts; a lovely, yellow skip that was sitting outside a house development on Varden Street, East London. It appears the floorboards were ripped up from said development, and whereas I imagine much of the reclaimed wood went to a reclaimed flooring company, there were enough small lengths left in the skip for us to construct this.

Built by Dom and myself.

Burl Ring

Andrew — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 16:36:11 +0000

This was the result of an afternoon with a dremel against a chunk of wood I’d knocked off a tree trunk in South Wales.

After a little research, I discovered that the ‘chunks’ of wood such as the one I was working on are actually known as ‘burls’. A burl is an irregular lump of growth on a tree, often prized by wood workers for its interesting, erratic grain.

See here for more information on burls: http://www.blakelyburltree.com/burl.htm

I can definitely empathise with the worship of these mysterious little things. They are beautiful when worked and stained in the right way, and will be collecting more when I return to Wales over the Easter weekend for future experiments.