Senior Design Project: Concept Development

Hey there! Here are a few images of my concept development for my senior design project. Feed back is greatly welcomed!

Buy Local Think Global

Examples of the Coffee Table I am building

Last week while driving home from a friends house, I noticed two gentlemen selling wood slabs on the side of the street. Ive always loved solid wood slab tables but haven't had the cash flow as a full time student. When I saw these huge raw slabs, my finance and I turned the car around and purchased a piece. The piece of wood we  now own comes from a very old maple tree from Madison County. The tree had recently died from a storm, so the property owners decided to sell it.

These were the some of the slabs we could choose from, we purchased the one on the right

Here is our soon to be coffee table, we now need to dry our table for 3 months! After this we will sand it, and put a varnish on it. I haven't decided if I want to stain it, it all depends on the intensity of the color after it dries. This giant slab of Arkansas grown Maple will make a beautiful costume coffee table. My next challenge will be to design an appropriate base and stand. Wish me luck :)

Design Every Where

Here are a few cool new designs for everyday use, I found these clever

Zero Waste Life Style Means: Reduce first, Reuse second and Recycle third

Check out this video, it is about a family of four in California that have made the conscious choice of living a Zero-Waste Life Style. I have listed Bea Johnson’s blog where you can find her daily tips: Any effort is worth it!

http://www.thezerowastehome.com/

Acoustic Hexagonal Wall Tiles

In my Studio Class we are currently working on a 27,000sqf commercial building. To increase collaboration I have designed an open office environment. Acoustic qualities are going to be key to creating a functional space. The following are colorful hexagonal wall tiles by “Form Us With Love” which are made of sustainable materials that have great acoustic properties.

“The tiles are made from wood slivers which are known primarily as excelsior or wood wool in North America. The material is mainly used for packaging, cushioning, insulation, and even stuffing teddy bears. The process of making wood wool cement is very simple: wood slivers are cut from local tree logs and then get mixed with some water and cement, which acts as a binder and provides strength. The mixture is then put in a mould and left to dry into shape. The result is a material that is environmentally friendly, moisture and sound absorbent, and fire and water resistant.”  Inhabitat.com

I will be specifying this product in my project because of its acoustic properties, sustainable materials, creative pattern making, and simple and removable application.  

Poster Design Competition

I recently entered and designed a poster for my all-time favorite band the String Cheese incident!

Here are some images of my process work. I started with colored pencils, rendering markers and pen. I then imported my hand drawn picture into Photoshop and enhanced the colors and reworked my gradience so that I could submit something that was poster quality.

The winner should be announced any day now so i'm bursting with excitement!!

3 Green Lamps to Light up Your Life

Pop Pendant Light by Mauricio Affonso

This innovative pendant is solely made out recycled soda can pull tabs, and when illuminated it creates a beautiful array of light beams and shadows.

Clothes Hanger Chandelier by Luis Teixeria

Luis Teixeira's elegant recycled chandeliers are composed of cast-off clothes hangers fanned out in a circular array. We love how each unique hanging lamp lights up with a sparkling gleam that rivals the finest crystal chandeliers. Love.

Cola Bottle Lamp by Sarah Turner

It's hard to believe that Sarah Turner's brilliant starburst pendant lamps start out as a bunch of plain plastic bottles! The UK-based designer sandblasts old coke bottles, carefully cuts them into ribbon-like shapes, and then assembles them into orbital lanterns. Beautiful.