SBID Meeting

A few weeks ago the Interior & Environmental Design department attended a meeting with Simon Cavelle, the vice chair of The Society of British Interior Design. Simon basically introduced us to the organisation encouraged us to become members of it, and answered any of our questions about it. It is a huge advantage for us interior design students to be part of this body as being a member involves networking with other Interior design students, and seeing what other people who are going down the same career path as ourselfs are doing. I think that it's so good that interior designer's finally have their own organisation because we don't feel that "interior design" as a whole gets the recognition it deserves. I will definately be joining this organisation because I think that I would be stupid not to and its going to be hugely beneficial to us. Our job is not all about scatter cushions and colours of wallpaper, and this is a huge misconception that people have about Interior designers. This is something that I feel very passionate about because it angers me so much when someone asks what i'm studying at university and I reply "Interior and Environmental Design" and the response I get is always the same. Everyone thinks that it is not a "real" subject and that all we do is arty doodles and pick out wallpaper and cushions when infact our course covers most aspects of design, and this is why I love our course and what I'm studying so much because once we have our degrees we will be capable of designing anything that we put our mind to, from lampshades to complicated architecture projects. After talking to one of the fourth years one day in the studio it made me reconsider our title as Interior Designers as he now prefers the title "An Interior and Exterior Designer" and this I think sums up exactly what our role is.

Frank Gehry

In every project that I have done so far, there is not one that Frank Gehrys work does not help to inspire me with. His designs are always extravagent, unique and very modern and these are reasons that I like his work so much. All his designs seem to have that unique Gehry look about them, however they are all still different from one another.

Although I do love Gehry's quirky and brave designs which stand out from the crowd, I don't think that he takes into consideration the aspect of materials, time, practibility, and sustainability. In my opinion these are all very important factors to consider when we are designing in today's world and our current economic climate.

I really liked this chair by Frank Gehry because it is so simple but is also very modern, different and practical.

Gehry is well known for his use of unusual materials. With his "Easy Edges" furniture he succeeded in giving a new aesthetic dimension to such an everyday material as cardboard. Despite their appearing bafflingly simple, the "Easy Edges” are nonetheless constructed with an architect's care and are extremely robust and sturdy. Having given them a makeover from the world of colour, Gehry has given the "Easy Edges" a new dimension - colourfulness.

Bibliography, Assignment 3

BARABASI, Albert-Laszlo.2003."Linked: how everything is connected to everything else and what it means for business, science, and everyday life"


Looks into the social aspects of the internet and social networking sites.



CARTER, Clint.August 2006. "Littles big move", Journal Article.


An interview with UK footwear designer Tim Little, who started his own label in 1996. Discusses challenges in setting trends.



CHIU, MM.2000."Group problem-solving processes: Social interactions and individual actions".


To help consider why some groups solve problems successfully but others do not, this article introduces a framework for analyzing sequences of group members actions.



HOWARD, Judith A.2000. "Social Psychology of Identities"


Review the social psychological underpinnings of identity, emphasizing social cognitive and symbolic interactionist perspectives and research, and I turn then to key themes of current work on identity-social psychological, sociological, and interdisciplinary.



KATZ, Rayna. 2006. "Call on the Mavens",


The article provides information on Mavens Network, a partnership established by planner industry leaders that aims to offer education to meeting planners.



KURTZ, PD.1998."A case study of a network as a learning organization".


Looks at how people are connected to others through networks composed of family, friends, colleagues, and organizations. No doubt everyone involved in the field of social work is a part of many networks.







RHEINGOLD, Howard. 2000. "The virtual community: homesteading on the electronic frontier",



Looks at the social aspect of the internet and how different people use to to communicate for different things such as people who talk, argue, seek information, fall in love, and organise politically. In this book he tells moving stories about people who have received online support during devastating illnesses, and he also acknowledges a darker side to people's behaviour in cyberspace.





SWEED, Phyllis. January 1997. "Who sets trends",


Focuses on the profiles of people who influence trends in the retail industry.



YANG, HH, LAI, YH, CHEN, SF WANG, MH, 2009. "Propensity to Connect with Others, Social Networks and Job Satisfaction of Nurses",


Looks at the relationship between social networks and job satisfaction. Social networks serve as a social resource which affects job satisfaction through the provision of supportiveness.





Some Useful Design Websites

www.architecturedigest.com

www.designboom.com

www.wired.com

www.wallpaper.com

www.sbid.org

www.interiordesign.net

www.designweek.co.uk



Other useful websites for keeping upto date in life

www.bbc.co.uk

www.timesonline.co.uk

www.newscientist.com

www.sciencemag.org

Latest Project...

We have recently started a new group project to design and build a piece of furniture primarily made from wood. I'm really enjoying this project because we have so much scope and there are so many things that we can do with a couple of planks of wood! I'm also enjoying researching for it because there are so many amazing and clever designs that I have came across for example the rag chair which i found on the Droog website which is basically a chair constructed from old recycled rags which have been tied tightly together. I'm really interested in the peices of furniture which have been made from recycled or simple infinite materials because I think that in our current economic climate it's so important to incorporate these different but everyday economically friendly materials.