Scenario Design Blog

2010-05-25T20:51:00.000-07:00

On Friday 21st May 2010, MothEaten™ Lights appeared in all their glory at The Taipei World Trade Centre. Is this the end of our journey? Not yet, MothEaten™, along with a new collection of bio-inspired pieces will be on exhibition at The Xue Xue Institute, Taipei. And, for those of you with a yearning to own your very own MothEaten™ Light, a capsule collection will be available for purchase. Additionally, for further information regarding a special MothEaten™ commission please contact us via:
eleanor@brownehsieh.com

MothEaten™ Lights Taipei World Trade Centre 2010 Imagebank

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2010-05-16T18:09:00.000-07:00

Well it seems that our MothEaten™ Lights have caused quite a stir with the help of two fab blogs: Design *Sponge and MoCoLoco. A big thank you to both these online giants for their support!

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2010-04-21T20:57:00.000-07:00

The Conversations With Nature Design Trilogy

View more presentations from The D/sign Lounge.

2010-04-09T01:58:00.000-07:00

Well it (this adventure) all started back in October 2009 with a latte, and fittingly it ended in the same way! Le moment de vérité arrived today when we presented our three finished designs at the 2009 NSC Design of Future Products with Advanced Engineering Technologies Conference at NTUST. For all our faithfull readers, it is our pleasure to share our designs with you…enjoy!

Motheaten™ (top image)

Society places strong emphasis on the health, energy and future of our habitat; and since governments have taken measures, such as the phasing out of incadescent lightbulbs, in the aim of encouraging more energy efficient lighting like compact flurorescent lamps (CFLs) and LED lights, the classic incandescent glass lightbulb has begun to take on a new significance and charm; and in the same way that moths have an inexplicable attraction to bright lights, hence the expression "like a moth to the flame", individuals are now attracted to this once commonplace household object. Exploiting the decorative potential of lace and its delicate threads and bio-inspiration as direction for form development, this design tells the story of the amalgamation of culture, nature and technology where these extremes co-exist. The moths and their survival instinct, along with the cultural tradition of lacemaking have made a pact to survive in the same way that the classic incandescent lightbulb will continue to glow long after their carbon filaments have been banished.

Disintegration™ (middle image)

'Memento mori,' a Latin phrase, with a tradition in art dating back to antiquity, is translated as 'Remember you must die;' it also names a genre of art that varys widely, but all of which share a similar purpose: to remind individuals about their own mortality. Disintegration is the irreversibility of components breaking into small fragments and biodegradation is the chemical breakdown of materials by a physiological environment. These 3 diverse elements underscore the conceptual thinking behind Disintegration™. Navigating between materials experimentation with lace and lighting, this piece, infused by the natural world, explores the poetic and emotional aspects of our often dehumanised interiors. And, in this era where almost anything, is only a few 'clicks' away, the unique immediacy of an object along with its multi-sensory properties gain renewed importance, and become cherished for its idiosyncrasies.

CamelliaDrape™ (bottom image)

Phenomenon found in nature combine many inspiring properties such as sophistication, miniaturisation, hierarchical organisations, hybridation and adaptability. The camellia, a seductively large bloom with its quasi-geometric shape and near perfect petals have afforded design directions, where a multiplicity of oversized elements, combined with a geometric system are united to create a 'leaf wall' that is also a piece of installation art. CamelliaDrape™ goes full bloom with its extra large proportions, and the collection of layered modular units, arranged to form a curtain represent a design philosophy where art meets functionality. Because the units are modular they can be constructed and grown to any size required for a space. Drapery in some form, is an intergral part of interior decoration, especially with habitats being very multi-functional, therefore CamelliaDrape™ will provide an intriguing focal point in any space whether formatted vertically or horizontally.

2009 NSC Design of Future Products with Advanced Engineering Technologies Conference Imagebank

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2010-04-01T21:13:00.000-07:00

The art of making lace has existed from the earliest ages, and there are scriptural references to various web-like fabrics, which were of crude construction, no doubt, but whose general characteristics were identical with those productions of the modern skill which have for centuries has been known as 'lace'.

It is an openwork fabric, patterned with open ‘holes,’ and traditionally made by hand; it is now commonly machine-made today, thus losing many of the artisanal qualities we revere it for. Originally linen, silk, gold or silver threads were used, but now lace is often made with cotton thread, and in the worst case scenarios synthetic fibres. Thankfully though, a few modern artists continue to make lace with fine copper or silver wires. On our latest sortie to Taipei’s Di-Hua Street, to seek out the best lace currently available, we stumbled across this beauty…let’s see what happens when we introduce this delicate creature to FRP!

Ribbon + Lace Samples Imagebank 29.03.2010

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2010-03-25T21:03:00.000-07:00

Who knew that shopping for electrical cable could be so exciting with so many different kinds? It’s almost as exciting as shopping for shoes. How could I pass over these beauties without giving them a second glance? Cable comes in so many derivations: striped, layered, woven, smooth, pearlescent…the choices are endless…funny though, you can’t beat black for a polished, timeless aesthetic…(the same goes for shoes!)

Electrical Imagebank Cable 25.03.2010

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2010-03-22T20:14:00.000-07:00

It seems that incandescent lightbulbs are the new 'transparent lasercut acrylic ' and are now popping up here, there and everywhere. Well, not ones to say "we told you lightbulbs are cool," but we did back in February...at least Ligne Roset can rest knowing that they are in good company, in the appreciation of this charming, soon to be outlawed, artefact. Whilst this 'design-foward' company has focused on cradling the lightbulb with a lab appendage, the designs we featured, play with the glass bulb's decorative potential, to create a lighting experience that is simply exquisite.

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2010-03-18T03:29:00.000-07:00

The phrase "like a moth to a flame," is a simple allusion to the inexplicable attraction that moths have to bright lights. It also describes the attraction desigers have to experimenting with strange materials in the pursuit of creating something beautiful! Follow the link to view more images.

R+D Workshop 3 18.03.2010 Imagebank

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2010-03-09T18:03:00.000-08:00

Far from the drab grey material of old, new types of concrete permit eye-popping curves and paper-thin surfaces. Start up a conversation about concrete, and most people's eyes will glaze over, yet the stuff of bridges, freeways and buildings has been the talk of the architectural community lately, thanks to remarkable innovations in how it's made and used. Stronger and more supple than its forebears, concrete now can be made smooth as marble or translucent as rice paper, and some can even eat pollution! And, it's not just for large-scale projects anymore – artist Charlotte Gyllenhammar has created large scale pieces (top image).

Concrete Pod (bottom image) created by architect Kazuya Morita, and exhibited in the Concrete Art Museum (2005), Nagoya, Japan, is micro-space furniture for private and public use. Made from extremely thin fibre reinforced concrete applied using the traditional Japanese plastering technique Sakan, plaster was applied to a styrofoam dome-shaped mould with a trowel, and after hardening was dismantled and removed. And amazingly, though its shell is a mere 15mm, it’s strong enough to climb on!

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2010-03-02T21:07:00.000-08:00

Image Terrain are just plain pattern crazy; and now we can all create hundreds of patterns too by using their ‘pattern generating’ software. For a free trial period, they will allow users to explore (and enjoy) the software, before deciding to purchase it. The D/sign Lounge took Image Terrain up on their offer and generated the patterns seen above. Satisified trial-users can even extend the test period and upload their own images. It’s not often that software developers extend this kind of courtesy, so we gave Image Terrain a big ‘thumbs up’, for not only creating this great tool, but allowing us to test it out.

Led by Theo Meth, who has been at the hub of the textile design business for many years - he owned and presided over Deadline Textile Designs Inc, Manhattan from 1985 to 2007; and was one of the first computer textile design studios to apply proprietary computerised textile design software; their next mission is to create the world's largest image content website for non-representational imagery for artists, photographers, professional designers and art hobbyists in the world!

www.imageterrain.com

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2010-02-28T18:24:00.000-08:00

Back in October 2009 we expounded the virtues of IDEO’s Method Cards, even emailing our friend Bill to get a deck, well surprise, surprise, they have recently released the Method Card iPhone app as a free download with 8 cards to experience (top image). First released in 2003 as a printed deck intended as inspiration for practicing and aspiring designers, as well as those seeking a creative spark in their work, the 51 cards are classified as four suits—Ask, Watch, Learn, Try - that define the types of activities involved in using each method (bottom image).

This app is certainly a stylish addition to any iPhone, although the printed deck would be ideal. By the way, we’re still waiting for Bill to reply to our email…maybe he’s too busy now that he’s Director of the Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York. We’ll forgive you Bill!

IDEO’s Method Card iPhone app

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2010-02-11T20:08:00.000-08:00

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2010-02-11T17:28:00.000-08:00

Incandescent light bulbs have begun to take on a new significance (and charm) since governments have increasingly passed measures to phase them out. The aim is to encourage use of more energy efficient lighting alternatives, such as compact fluorescent lamp (CFLs) and LED lamps. Interestingly, there is evidence of panic buying of incandescent bulbs ahead of the EU lightbulb ban in 2011, and the phase-out has been referred to as ‘Light bulb socialism’. Many people seem to have a preference for incandescent bulbs, complaining that LED lights project a cold, flat, unnatural light, and I think I have to agree.

However, for lovers of this classic lightbulb we have something just for you. The ScenarioDesign Lab has embraced the outlawed bulb and created a hybrid that combines the classic lightbulb shape with LED technology. Never ones to do anything by half, we have created the most beautiful crystalline patterns inside the glass bulb using FRP. We’ve banished the stigma of the naked lightbulb, replacing it with a very elegant alternative. Additionally, the Butterfly Bulb looks beautiful with or without a shade, although our butterflies do add an ephemeral touch. To view more images visit the link below.

R+D Workshop C 09.02.2010 Prototypes Imagebank

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2010-02-09T00:33:00.000-08:00

A humble Ikea lampshade served as the mould for our latest incarnation ‘Camelia’ Light. After painting the mould with several layers of liquid wax (see bottom image...what a beautiful smell) we sprinkled it with camellia petals lasercut from leather and felt (top image). Our aim was to create a fragile-looking dew-kissed petal skeleton. Let’s see if the FRP will co-operate and transform itself into strands of dew! To view the imagebank of material that documents today’s R+D Workshop visit the link below.

R+D Workshop C 09.02.2010 Imagebank

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2010-01-28T19:19:00.000-08:00

Designed by Francesca Lanzavecchia to oppose the iconic thick and rigid image neck braces have, this delicate lace is coated with flexible plastic to support the neck in the style of a Victorian collar. Additionally, the perforations inherent in the lace pattern naturally ventilate the supported area. Who knew orthopedic accoutrements could be so stylish? It’s worth having a pain in the neck if your physiotherapist reccomends this neck brace!

Francesca Lanzavecchia Website

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2010-01-28T17:55:00.000-08:00

The similarities between Dadaism and Materials Library are striking. Dadaism, a cultural movement that began in Zürich, Switzerland, during World War I, was primarily involved in the visual arts such as poetry, art theory and graphic design. Their activities included public gatherings, publication of art and literary journals, and the passionate coverage of art, politics and culture discussed in a variety of media.

Materials Library is an interdisciplinary collaborative team that makes objects, events and exhibitions that foreground materiality; as well as engaging in both scientific research and artistic practices that explore the senso-aesthetics of materials. Thankfully, Materials Library focuses their anarchism in the areas of materials: “at the heart of all we do is the creation, curation and development of the physical space that is The Materials Library; a resource, laboratory, studio, workshop and play pen for the material minded”.

A home to some of the most wondrous matter on earth, The Materials Library contains an ongoing collection of material-objects that foreground the materiality of stuff.

Materials Library Website

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2010-01-28T17:48:00.000-08:00

Puff & Flock are a super-cool Textile Lab collective, based in über-chic London Fields, UK. Their portfolio of work includes inflatable and urban textiles, magnetic and affective textiles, recyclable textiles, luminescent and tectonic textiles. Their luminescent blog reflects current design crushes as well as a flavour of their thoughts and creations. As though this weren’t enough, P&F are all CSM Textile Futures alumni…welcome to the club Puff & Flock!

‘Carbon Copy’, pictured above, by Jan Hendzel and Oscar Hunt of Hendzel and Hunt, Jenny Leary and Melissa French, is a test of technical might where all designers collaborated to reproduce a textile copy of the Ercol’s Butterfly Chair.

Ercol, is a great British company where design is at the heart of all of its operations. Their designs constantly evolve to reflect how we live today, whilst continuing to reflect their quality and craftsmanship. Combining carbon fibre and one of Ercol’s bestselling fabrics, ‘Carbon Copy’ is lightweight yet rigid, creating an intriguing curiosity.

Puff&Flock Blog
Ercol Website

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2010-01-22T01:22:00.000-08:00

One of our many (dear) followers and friend Rhoda, emailed us yesterday to ask "where is your design?"...well here it comes. We confess, we've been engaged in a lot of research to date, but after a day of R+D all our concepts are coming together. Pictured above, are the highlights of yeterday's activities, with more to follow we promise (Rhoda). Camelia light, soon to be re-named 'Hydrangea', is a series of lasercut leather units which when combined form a 'whole'. Because of its modular nature, it can re-worked into many configurations and used variously, plus the addition of LED lights adds ambience. FRP has been coated onto the surface of some of the smaller units (centre image) to add a 'sprinkled with dewdrops' feeling...we hope you like it! To view the complete set of R+D images visit the link below.

R+D Workshop A 21.01.2010 Imagebank
R+D Workshop A 09.02.2010 Prototypes Imagebank

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2010-01-21T00:19:00.000-08:00

The days of dull, grey concrete are about to come to an end. Hungarian architect Áron Losonczi has combined the world’s most popular building material with optical fiber, from Schott, to create a new type of concrete that transmits light. Litracon is normal concrete but with thousands of parallel optical fibres embedded into it. “In theory, a wall structure built out of the light-transmitting concrete can be a couple of meters thick as the fibers work without any loss in light up to 20M” says Losonczi. “Load-bearing structures can also be built from the blocks as glass fibers do not have a negative effect on the well-known high compressive strength of concrete. The blocks can be produced in various sizes with embedded heat isolation too.”

This material really is amazing and we look forward to receiving our samples soon! To learn more about transparent concrete follow the link below.

www.litracon.hu

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2010-01-12T02:40:00.001-08:00

The expression ‘no pain, no gain’ comes to mind when I review the past couple of weeks. We’ve been quite busy to say the least, generating design concepts and pulling together all the threads of research conducted since this project’s kick-off back in October 2009. Our studio walls are wallpapered in post-it notes, and nowadays mid-conversation we frequently spit out increasingly ambitious concepts. I think we are all suffering from design indigestion!

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2009-12-28T20:00:00.000-08:00

Conducting research is not dissimilar to preparing for Christmas – months of planning, days of preparation and the evaluation of endless possibilities, all of which result in an ending that can be further refined! Well, what to do? Keep going I guess, in the hope that the next result will be perfect. Sourcing new materials thankfully always supplies perfect results. Today we went to judge a competition, sponsored by a major Taiwanese textile manufacturer, where students were asked to use their creativity to design clothing with embedded interactive qualities, such as motion sensor LED lights. The results were varied, and ranged from applicable to totally conceptual – however what struck us as most interesting were the spools of stainless steel yarn we spotted on display in the showroom. The spools of magic thread were as beautiful as they were practical. Woven in the same way as traditional cloth, the resulting fabric is durable and of course heat resistant.

All that glitters certainly is gold, as far as we’re concerned, as this thread immediately conjured up endless design possibilities, it even looked beautiful just sitting on the shelf! The most interesting aspect though, is that this thread can be woven along with traditional yarn, and should it burn, not disintegrate in the same way as its counterpart. It can be woven as fine as organza, yet remain as strong as…well metal! Used most usually as an industrial heat suppressant, steel fabric is also apt for more tender, delicate applications; or should anyone wish to engage in medieval warfare, be re-worked to create a more stylish suit of chainmaille!

Conductive Thread + Stainless Steel Imagebank

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2009-12-28T19:27:00.000-08:00

Leather really is a beautiful material, not only to look at, but also to work with. It’s fairly cooperative and has many applications. Purchasing it however is a much more complex process. We visited a highly noted leather supplier this afternoon in the backstreets of Taipei. Tucked away in a small apartment building, above a coffee shop, we discovered an Aladdin’s cave of the most beautiful hides. Known for her high quality merchandise, Mrs Cheng has been in the leather business for over 30 years (her extensive collection of leather samples confirms this), she supplies many major Taiwanese brands and we were lucky enough to be introduced to this exclusive supplier.

Buying leather is a different ballgame from purchasing cloth, where you buy in yards or metres; when purchasing leather, it is bought by the hide, so you buy very carefully! Dealing with tanneries mainly in India and Italy, Mrs Cheng provided us with mountains of catalogues and swatches to browse. Atema, a notable Italian tannery provided so many samples in one catalogue that it was about 12cm thick, bound by a wing nut (bottom image). After our humble purchase of one hide, Mrs Cheng gave us a guided tour of the art gallery, which she also runs. She really is a connoisseur of luxury, what could be more delicious than browsing through the most sumptuous of materials followed by a dose of contemporary art? Food for the soul indeed!

Leather Samples Imagebank 23.12.2009

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2009-11-30T01:11:00.000-08:00

Design icons certainly come in many shapes and sizes, and every now and then they’re adapted to construct a new visual language. The NYC Subway map, top image, re-designed by Massimo Vignelli in 1972, has been reinterpreted by Christian Francis Roth, to become the ‘Subway Map Dress’. ‘Disposable’ fashion is not a new concept. Back in the 1960s disposable paper clothes seemed the wave of the future. At the time, living in space looked like a real possibility, and, as one textile designer stated for Life Magazine, "Who is going to do laundry in space?" For a brief moment the future of paper garments looked rosy as hundreds of thousands of garments were sold between 1966 and 1968. Scott Paper Company, created the catalyst for the phenomenon in the spring of 1966 when it introduced two paper dresses as premiums to promote its new line of ‘Colour Explosion’ paper products.

Paper clothes with their wild designs and trendy geometrical lines represented an interest in combining fashion, pop art and popular culture that emerged in the mid 1960s. According to one costume historian, paper dresses also fulfilled a need of the post-Depression, post-World War II generation to rebel against a status quo that valued durability. Ephemeral objects satiated a desire for owning contemporary products, ones that could be easily replaced as the definition of ‘contemporary’ changed.

The much fêted fashion designer Hussein Chalayan celebrated both the ‘ephemeral’ and the ‘contemporary’ in 1999, when he created the iconic ‘Airmail’ dress (middle and bottom images) manufactured from Tyvek, a commonly used material for medical packaging, envelopes and car covers. First discovered in 1955 by DuPont researcher Jim White, it was trademarked in 1965 and was first introduced for commercial purposes in April 1967; however it took a further 32 years for another creative genius to apply it to couture!

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2009-11-26T01:55:00.000-08:00

Great minds certainly do think alike. Yesterday we spent the whole afternoon molding and applying cement to lace fabric and paper in the aim of creating ‘lace cement’, and surprisingly, during my search for a more co-operative type of concrete I stumbled across the beautiful work of Alessia Giardino, an Italian Textile Designer, who has created a collection of one-off pieces based on the same concept – lace cement!

The amazing material she applied to her work is a new type of concrete that can clear the air by dissolving pollutants. Using light and air, ‘Photocatalytic’ concrete breaks down organic and inorganic substances responsible for air pollution. The technology is already in use for ceramic tiles. This unique cement is treated with titanium dioxide, which reacts with ultraviolet light to decompose pollutants such as smog-forming nitrogen oxides.

Manufactured by Italian cement-maker Italcementi, Photocatalytic white cement can also retain its whiteness. Maybe through design, we can transform the concrete jungles many cities have become into places of beauty? To view the Lace Cement Experiment Imagebank visit the link below.

Concrete Lace Experiments 25.11.2009 Imagebank

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2009-11-23T22:37:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago we attended the Look Insight Convention 2009 at NTUT where we met Professor Hung-Wei Chiu (top image). Inspired by his presentation, we invited him to The D/sign Lounge to divulge more details about this technology. Today he visited us to share some insight, and we weren’t disappointed. Fuelled by his material, we’ve started to plan another set of experiments that we can apply wireless technology to. Interestingly, this technology is not new, but through Scenario approach we can generate many new ways of applying it, in the same way as ‘concrete cloth’, a fabric that allows concrete to be used in a completely new way (middle image).

Originally developed for the award winning Concrete Canvas Shelters, a building in a bag, that requires only water and air for construction, it has a very wide range of applications throughout the building and civil engineering industry. Consisting of a 3-dimensional fibre matrix containing a specially formulated dry concrete mix, it has a PVC backing on one surface of the cloth to ensure the material is completely waterproof; while hydrophilic fibres on the opposite surface aid hydration by drawing the water into the cement. After hydration, it hardens to a strong, durable, waterproof and fireproof concrete surface.

The material can be hydrated either by spraying or by being fully immersed in water. Once hydrated, the material is workable for 2 hours and remains flexible. It can be easily nailed, stapled through or coated with an adhesive, for easy attachment to other surfaces and has good drape characteristics allowing complex surfaces with a double curvatures to be produced. Once set, the fibres reinforce the concrete, preventing crack propagation and providing a safe plastic failure mode.

Softening the edges of concrete’s industrial applications are the Women’s Design Service, founded in 1987 to work to ensure that the design and use of the built environment reflects the needs and aspirations of women. The provocatively-named, ‘Girli Concrete’, (bottom image) is a product developed by a two-woman team based at the University of Ulster, Belfast, Northern Ireland: Ruth Morrow, an architect, and Trish Belford, a textile designer. As Morrow states: ‘Girli Concrete comes out of an inclusive feminist agenda' which is not just about the product itself, but also the process of developing it. It involves drawing on local textile traditions of lace-making, linen manufacture and Aran knitwear, alongside other more modern textile technologies such as flocking, and fusing these essentially ‘soft' materials and qualities with the structure and depth of concrete. Belford describes it as an ‘alchemy of processes', stressing that it goes beyond decoration and aesthetics to interface with the integrity of the material itself and its performance, specifically in the area of acoustics. It is she says about establishing a ‘balance of masculinity and femininity', where the process is cast in terms of a ‘recipe', and the notion of ‘performance' itself is extended to embrace human response as well as technical efficiency.

The use of wireless transmission technology and concrete, demonstrates the power of creativity, underwriting the adage that “it’s not ‘what’ you know, but ‘how’ you use it!" To view more images please visit the links below.

Wireless Transmission Presentation 24.11.2009
Concrete Canvas
Girli Concrete

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2009-11-19T22:02:00.000-08:00

What do a delectable cake, paper, fabric and a seat have in common? A thousand layers! This week has been full of experiments. We’ve been ‘playing’ with paper, glue, plaster and fabric to name a few items, trying to compress many layers into a strong, workable material. According to the ‘old school’ method, we created paper pulp, and as I type our first mold is still drying! Our second layered delicacy is a combination of cotton fabric and FRP. Let’s see how delicious we can make it!

It seems we are not the only ones obsessed with pastries, as we discovered that t.n.a. Design Studio, based in East London, has also been experimenting with layers in the form of Millefeuille light, bottom image, created for ISOS Collection, 2007. Founded by Tomoko Azumi, in 2005, t.n.a. Studio has undertaken design work in the fields of furniture, household and electrical products, and lighting and also carries out exhibition and commercial space design, as well as research projects. To view t.n.a. Studio projects visit link 3; and to view our experiment Paper Experiment and Millefeuille Seat Experiments imagebanks visit links 1 and 2.

Scenario Design Millefeuille Seat Experiments Imagebank
Scenario Design Papermaking Experiments Imagebank
www.tnadesignstudio.co.uk

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2009-11-06T03:04:00.000-08:00

Every presentation begins with a latte, so before we arrived at National Taiwan University to attend the Look Insight Convention 2009, we stopped off at Dean and Deluca to grab a few supplies. The event was very informative, but most noteworthy was Professor Hung-Wei Chiu’s discourse concerning ‘Wireless Power Transmission’. Although not a new technology, it is ripe for application to a variety of products. By coincidence, we bumped into Professor Chiu, after the presentation, in a nearby convenience store, lucky us! To view highlights from the convention visit the link below.

Look Insight Convention 06.11.2009 Imagebank

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2009-11-04T00:38:00.000-08:00

The smell of melted paraffin wax is a familiar odour in the studio these days since we’ve been melting, and re-melting, it to manipulate its liquid properties. Basing our experimental forms, and combinations, on the organic textures we photographed previously, so far some interesting results have ‘popped up’. Significantly, we discovered that the conductive thread we embedded into the wax is still able to conduct electricity. Every experiment is a good experiment! To view the current wax and conductive thread experiment database visit the link below.

Wax And Conductive Thread Experiments 03.10.2009

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2009-11-02T00:23:00.000-08:00

Based on Hau Huang’s Tuesday presentation, we had a brainstorming session this afternoon to determine S.E.T. criteria. S.E.T. criteria draw together many factors from social trends (S), economic dynamics (E) and technological breakthroughs. This process is critical, and fundamental, in the early stages of scenario design. Some of the S.E.T. factors elicited to date include:

Corporate Social Responsibility:brands are part of society.
The Business Of Crime:identity theft, human trafficking, intellectual property theft.
Communities:virtual, online, networking.
Personalisation:customising a product’s look + feel to match personal tastes.
User-Centred Behaviour:iPhone phenomenon.
Techno Life:technology is part of life, not just assistive.

To follow The D/sign Lounge’s Scenario Design S.E.T. process in more detail, material will be uploaded daily to the online S.E.T. database.

The D/sign Lounge:S.E.T. Database

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2009-11-01T21:54:00.000-08:00

In the aim of understanding the 'hardening' potential of FRP (fiberglass-reinforced plastic), we conducted a series of experiments by dipping and spraying various textiles such as wool, poly cotton and felt into liquid FRP. The results speak for themselves. For more images see our database.

FRP Materials Research 28.10.2009

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2009-10-29T03:05:00.000-07:00

Scenario Design disciple Hau Huang took time from his busy schedule to give The D/sign Lounge a presentation outlining the full scope one needs to embrace when using scenario design process. It was a revelation! Hau, a student of Taiwanese Scenario Design guru Professor Liang (a friend of IDEO co-founder Bill Moggeridge), has been conducting scenario workshops in the Asia region for some time and was able, in an after hours discussion, to give us step-by-step instructions regarding the S.O.P. Fully informed, we started to organise our keywords in order to make a wish-list of workshop participants.

Hau Huang's Scenario Design Presentation 27.10.2009

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eleanorjayne

2009-10-26T04:29:00.000-07:00

Our conductive thread arrived on Friday so today we decided to find out what it can do. Our variety has a higher resistance than typical copper wire so we needed to keep the length shorter. Our first experiments were rather basic, to say the least, but its potential is very exciting. Also, we found a kooky exhibition about open source embroidery that presents artworks that use embroidery, thread and code as a tool for participatory production and distribution; bringing together individual and collectively made artworks by artists, makers, computer programmers and HTML users that explore the relationship between craft and code through social and digital networks – an interesting concept.

Open Source Embroidery Exhibition

Conductive Thread Experiments 26.10.2009

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2009-10-22T04:06:00.000-07:00

We’ve been in a back-to-basics frame of mind today and have been delving into many different types of ‘old school’ craft techniques such as embroidery, quilting, knitting etc. Embroidery in particular piqued our interest, especially since our friend James Lee offered us a spool of conductive thread. This ‘magic’ thread (top image) can connect various electronics onto clothing as it can carry current for power and signals, and at the same time affords decorative potential in the form of stitching.

Embroidery is the handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread or yarn. A characteristic of embroidery is that the basic techniques or stitches of the earliest works, including chain stitch, buttonhole or blanket stitch, running stitch, satin stitch or cross-stitch, still remain the fundamental techniques of hand embroidery today. This timeless craft has come along way, and although embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as metal elements, pearls, beads or sequins, the kinds of applications to artifacts we see today are as varied as the patterns embroidered onto them. ‘X bread’, a cross-stitched bread stand (centre image), created by design duo Reddish, is the offspring of a breadboard and a tablecloth!

The work of Claire Coles (bottom image) is as spectacular as it is beautiful. An Applied Arts graduate from Middlesex University, her commissions include wallpaper designs for Liberty, Ted Baker and Oasis. Additionally, she has authored a collection of porcelain slip cast tea sets that evoke nostalgia to times forgotten. Each cup and saucer is either intricately hand embroidered or inlaid with patterns of doilies and flocked wallpaper. Her work is truly inspirational.

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2009-10-20T21:38:00.000-07:00

Today we uncovered a very interesting concept – textiles and sound. Berit Greinke, a graduate from CSM’s MA Design for Textile Futures, has been experimenting with the idea of the benefits of bringing sound into a design field that is traditionally dominated by seeing and touching. Her investigations have been placed mostly in the area of sound absorption, especially in architecture where acoustics play an important role. Curtains, wallpapers and rugs can change the sound of a space enormously. Throughout Berit's blog she discusses several propositions including:sound in virtual spaces, playful applications which show visually the noise level of places, musical applications, warning applications and/or devices for blind and deaf people and nostalgic or future sound designs.

Greinke’s, The Noisy 5 Series, (top and middle images) are a series of textile samples, developed further from her Conductive Material Project Part 1 and 2. The project explores ‘the aesthetics of the handmade’ in the field of conductive textiles. Paper has been covered with graphite dust and then lasercut. The fragile designs are embedded between two layers of fine tissue and are wired to a microchip. This so called “Auduino” developed by Peter Knight works like a synthesizer. By touching the Noisy 5, the user alternates the sound in pitch, volume and decay. The bottom image illustrates the conductive material used.

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2009-10-19T03:35:00.000-07:00

Continuing our materials’ research, we began to set up a database of all the data collected to date. Our ongoing search has yielded much quality information, and at the same time highlighted our challenge of creating something outstanding. Of particular interest today, is a great book we’ve just ordered, entitled handled with care:contemporary ceramic design. It is the book featuring 180 fragile projects from designboom's 'handled with care' Exhibition, London, September 2007. A limited edition of 1000 copies, each book is numbered by hand and certified by designboom; so not only is it a great source of inspiration (and knowledge), but a collector’s item. We’re thinking maybe we could link some of the ceramics’ knowledge with a great material we found out about called Nextel Ceramic Fibers, in our quest to make ‘soft’ become ‘hard’.

Poor Little Fish by Yan Lu (centre image) is an unusual approach to saving water. When using the basin, users are prompted into thinking about consumption when the water level in the fishbowl goes down (but does not actually drain out). There are two separate pipelines, so the water level will go back to where it was once the water stops running. As well, the water from the tap is pure, as its pipeline does not connect to the bowl.

Additionally, we also stumbled across the work of Puff&Flock, graduates from the Central St. Martins’ MA Textile Futures course. Introducing themselves as “a recently formed group of textile designers, bound by a shared vision for the future direction of design. Far from the common perception of textile designers as girls who draw flowers, we are individuals who integrate aspects of material science, fine arts, academic research, storytelling, and product design into our practice. Because this broad understanding of textile design is still considered unconventional, we join forces to create a stronger statement for textiles”. Some of their work is thought-provoking, others just beautiful!

Jo Angell’s Bittern Wallpapers, (bottom image) won first prize in a project sponsored by Graham and Brown with the brief to design a collection of innovative wallpapers with a focus on sustainability. The designs are based around the Bittern, a bird whose reedbed habitat is seriously under threat from rising sea levels.

handled with care exhibition highlights
Bittern wallpapers

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2009-10-16T01:42:00.001-07:00

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Inspired by the beautiful work we reviewed from the SENSEWARE ’09 Exhibition in Tokyo, we made a field trip to a few materials vendors in Taipei. We found various kinds of generic materials, which could be re-worked or modified to change their dimensional flexibility and a few which were new on the open market such as super-thin silicone fabric.

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2009-10-14T22:16:00.000-07:00

Tokyo Fiber was created in 2007, with the goal of introducing the world to the potential of Japan’s fiber industry, and due to its success has continued to expand, exhibiting in Milan, where it received great acclaim. Aiming to be ‘not just another exhibition’, but something that ‘transforms into a focus on the enduring promise of Japan’s artificial fibers’, SENSEWARE ’09 showcases the amazing work of Japanese and international architects, artists, designers and studios such as Kengo Kuma, Nendo, Yasuhiro Suzuki, Ross Lovegrove and Antonio Citterio, to name a few.

Kenya Hara’s exhibition design is a true masterpiece, underscoring the exquisite nature of Japanese design.

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2009-10-13T03:33:00.000-07:00

Following my time-honoured maxim: ”you can never do too much research”, we invited one of our project advisors Kun-Chia, to a meet with us a couple of weeks ago, to ‘cram up’ about scenario design. It’s not that simple we found out! Since then, we started to put together some rough visuals and ideas… I’d better email my friends at IDEO to get the lowdown.

IDEO Method Cards are a collection of 51 cards representing diverse ways that design teams can understand the people they are designing for. They are used to make a number of different methods accessible to all members of a design team, to explain how and when the methods are best used, and to demonstrate how they have been applied to real design projects.

IDEO's human factors specialists conceived the deck as a design research tool for its staff and clients, to be used by researchers, designers, and engineers to evaluate and select the empathic research methods that best inform specific design initiatives. The tool can be used in various ways—sorted, browsed, searched, spread out, pinned up—as both information and inspiration to human-centered design teams and individuals at various stages to support planning and execution of design programs.
Inspired by playing cards, the cards are classified as four suits—Ask, Watch, Learn, Try—that define the types of activities involved in using each method. Each approach is illustrated by a real-life example of how the method was applied to a specific project. As new methods are developed all the time, the deck will grow and evolve over time.

Our job is to create a set/s of D/sign Lounge Method Cards that we can use in our design workshops to generate great concepts.

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2009-10-12T20:30:00.000-07:00

ScenarioDesign is now online at sevenload. You can view our material at the following address http://en.sevenload.com/users/ScenarioDesign

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2009-10-12T00:57:00.000-07:00

Our social network is growing. You can already find us on Blogger, now you can also communicate with us on Twitter...https://twitter.com/ScenarioDesign. We look forward to your tweets!

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2009-10-04T19:35:00.001-07:00

Last Friday, armed with plenty of Starbucks, we went our first NSC first meeting where we were briefed regarding the aims and objectives of the research project we’ve been invited to join. One recurring point made in presentations was the need to record every stage of the process, so this is the online diary of an integrated NSC (National Science Council) Project, of which we are one small part. The 3-year long project, organized and coordinated by Professor Ling Ling Chen, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST), aims to fuse design with technology. Professor Chen’s aim is to bridge the gap between technology and the kinds of new innovative products currently being created. South Korea, for example, has won numerous IF Awards and has been cited as a model to follow (and learn from).

Our Lab, The D/sign Lounge, is in the Media+Visual Communication Department Chang Gung University, Linkou (about 35 minutes from Taipei). With a strong background in design, we often engage in industry-education practice based collaborations, but never a project of this kind, so the whole experience is not only a leap of faith, because we really don’t know what our result will be, at this stage; but a completely new experience in terms of embracing Scenario Design. Watch this space!

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CONTACT

2001-01-01T17:28:00.000-08:00

If you wish to discuss, or propose a research collaboration with us on any level we are available through the following channels:

Telephone
+886 3 211 8495

Fax
+886 3 211 8500
Please title your communique F.A.O. The D/sign Lounge

Email
Browne@mail.cgu.edu.tw

LINKS

2001-01-01T17:27:00.000-08:00

ABOUT US

2001-01-01T17:25:00.000-08:00

Scenario Design And The D/sign Lounge
Founded in 2005 by Eleanor-Jayne Browne, MA (CSM), The D/sign Lounge is a lab with a difference. The word ‘research’ is interpreted in its broadest sense and is considered to be a set of activities that seek to break the boundaries of current thinking – from both a theoretical and applied angle. We are the point where design, research and 'nature' intersect.

As The Media+Communication Design’s flagship lab, we are firmly rooted in design education. Our activities are wide-ranging and projects conducted by us vary from NSC Taiwan Government suppported research to education and industry collaborations with FPG (Formosa Plastic Group) and Beso shoes, to name a few. We have won several awards including 2009 International VMSD Merit Award, 2009 Most Honourable Award:Taipei Culture and Creativity Promotional Merchandise Competition, National Taiwan Craft Research Award 2006 and Ju Ming Museum Arts Corridor Prize:2006.

Our core specialties are branding, brand identity, pure graphic design, printmaking and textiles. However, because of our unique skill set and research interests we engage in exploratory projects such as our current venture into Scenario Design. Trying to imagine the future, this integrated NSC Innovative Concept Design Program explores the potential for transforming ‘soft’ into ‘hard’, and through the process incorporate and engage in materials’ exploration and future solutions. By looking at our topic from a human perspective, we aim to create business focused, high-tech and innovative solutions and apply material technological advancements to everyday products to develop creative suggestions for existing and new markets.