Collab 2008: 1st Place

The Philadelphia Museum of Art's Collab gallery has a student design competition every year. This year the topic was "Processing Frank Gehry," to coincide with the gallery opening of architectural models at the Museum.

My entry is the Lewis Bench, a set of two laminated plywood benches. I'm pleased to say that I was awarded first place! The former organizer of the competition said that it was the first time in the sixteen year history of the student competition that a project has been unanimously chosen for first place by all the judges.

There were murmurs among my classmates that the winning bench would be made by the museum. Unfortunately that never happened, and the bench still remains a quarter scale model.

One of the judges was Lewis Wexler of the Wexler Gallery in Philadelphia. Talking with him after the competition, he mentioned that if I build the bench, he will put it in his gallery. So, if you love the bench, and would like a one of a kind piece of furniture from an up and comming designer, than by all means please get in touch with me.

The PMA website has a very official looking posting of all the Collab Student Competition: 2008 winners. Click the links to see the poster, more photos, and information about the bench.

The Salp Light

Click here to Download The Salp Light PDF

The Salp Light is a modular light fixture. Chaining together individual “salps” enables the user to adjust the look and luminosity as desired.

The first question that you may ask yourself is "What the hell is a salp?" to which I would respond "It's a marine invertebrate that is a very important step in the evolutionary chain... which happens to look like clear jello with a blueberry stuck in it."

The project brief this time around was "Biomimicry": Looking at plants and animals natural systems as design inspiration.

Previously this year I haven't had the chance to do any lighting design, which is one of my very favorite areas of design. Once I found the tubular, gelatinous, bioluminescent salp, I couldn't keep my self from lighting any longer.

For much better explanations of both the salp, and The Salp Light, consult the PDF

iClamp Pro

Sick of trying to read the JHG Design Journal with only 1/4 of a screen? Then you need the iClamp pro: The perfect accessory for any almost new MacBook Pro
where 75% of the screen is gray due to a factory defect!

But seriously, there is a short circuit in my laptop screen that causes the bottom part of my screen to turn gray, like in the photo above. The only fix for it is to squeeze the screen with a clamp in just such a way that the screen connection is pinched, and the circuit uncrosses.

Apple products are beautifully designed with careful consideration to detail, and assembled with very tight tolerances: but it doesn't matter if the thing doesn't work and you have to stick a giant orange clamp on it!

I'm going to have to make a visit to the church of Steve Jobs (Apple Store) and get this straightened out.

Re/dis-assembly

For Materials and Processes class, Tristan and I were asked to rip a printer to shreds to see how it works. It took us 45 minutes, you get to see it in 5, in reverse, with a catchy soundtrack. (Sorry about the gray screen at the beginning, I guess youtube dropped it or something.)

If you listened to the live sound, you would hear me telling Tristan to get his head out of the picture every five seconds, I guess that's why we decided to be designers and not actors.

All the parts were recycled properly when the project was over.

Nimaya - Architecture Graphic

This is a graphic design project I did for a software company called Nimaya. I was asked to do a visual redesign of their Actionbridge software Architecture Graphic.

Unfortunately I was mostly asked to design for graphic appeal, not clarity. It's like looking at the pictographs of an ancient culture, no one really knows what they mean, but they're pretty. That being said, think my graphic is considerably more clear than the one it is replacing. Decide for yourself, their old graphic is below.

It was fun doing this project, working with the company was really easy and smooth. It was good researching a product that I had absolutely no experience with, and then conveying that knowledge through a graphics project.

Flex Bench - 2x4 Final Presentation

Click Here to Download the 2x4 Final Presentation PDF


Make a finished piece of furniture and a presentation that sums up a half-semester project, all in 6 days: no problem. I was so exhausted after this project that I'm only now posting it four months later. I think first semester sophomore year at UArts is like ID boot camp. They kick your ass early to make sure that you can handle it.

The bench turned to be pretty cool; it's still flexing and is in one piece. If you want to see it, I have it in my living room. See a recap of the project and the final product in the pdf.

Wind Powered Bubble Blower

Click Here to Download the Wind Powered Bubble Blower PDF

Who doesn't like bubbles? This project for 3D Techniques class was a study in mechanics and kinetic sculpture. Made mostly from wood, with a few styrene and aluminum parts, this sculpture went through a lot of design alteration to try to make it functional. Have a look at the PDF to see how it works.