Now that the bin is finished and the plaque is on I’ve taken some pictures in the product design photo studio. These are just to show what the finished piece looks like – the ‘One Great Image’ deliverable won’t be taken in such a boring setting.
Recently I’ve been working on making the surround which will go around the opening of the bin. I used a thin (about 1.5mm) sheet of basswood which I laser cut to the right shape then painted with 5 coats of matt black spray paint.
I’ve also painted the inside of the bin black to create the impression of more space. It also helps to reinforce the idea of the post box – looking into a sort of blackness – and therefore the idea that food can go in but nothing comes out.
Over the past few days I’ve been working on a few different things – mainly trying to get the actual bin itself finished. The opening was cut out by drilling 6 holes (one near each corner and two in the middle) then roughly jigsawing between these holes – I then used a chisel to remove the remaining wood.
It was then sanded on each surface until smooth.
After that I filled all the small gaps between each of the segments and layers by rubbing in a mixture of bees wax and pine rosin. So the outside is pretty much done now and ready to be oiled using Danish oil.
I’ve decided that I will make some sort of surround to go on the opening as I feel that being able to see the flat edges of the segments is distracting. I may also spray the inside matt black to give the feeling that there’s more space inside – to reinforce the post box idea.
I did a quick mock up of the sort of surround i intend to make using card which I coloured in with black marker. The final will probably be made out of plastic (a non eco-friendly material) which will remind the user of how unsustainable wasting food is.
The two other parts of the project I’ve been trying to finalise are the title and what will be on the plaque below the opening. For the name/title of the project I’ve been thinking something like ‘Thoughtless Food’ (trying to emphasise how little people really consider where their food comes from and what’s gone into producing it) but I still haven’t made the final decision. For the plaque I think it will be a short explanation/summary of the project itself but I’m still unsure wether this will be something the user can take out and keep or if it will be binned along with their food waste.
The next big decisions once the bin has been finished are the ‘one great image’ and the 1 minute video hand ins – more to come on these later.
Today I had a go at cutting the slot out of my bin which the food waste will go into. Luckily I practised on my mark 1 prototype first, as it was a lot more difficult than I anticipated. I’ve decided that the best way to do it is to drill four corner holes then jigsaw between them but getting the angle of the drill right is quite difficult on the curved surface.
I’m going to have another go at it tomorrow then move onto the actual one. I think I will also put a small wooden surround on the opening just to make sure it looks as neat as possible.
The next big decisions are the name of the project and what is going to go on the little plaque/card below the opening. I’ve had a few ideas regarding this but no concrete decision has been made.
I’m thinking it’s either going to be a sort of explanation of the project and/or something which the user takes out and keeps after the bin is full and has been disposed of.
I could also go a bit more out there with it since my project already exists in a sort of fiction (as in it’s a bit more of critical/discussion piece – not something practical that people would buy) and make it a sort of dystopian “This card states that you have wasted all the food that you are allowed to.” kind of thing.
* is a conceptual project based around the amount of food waste that we all produce. But rather than simply discouraging people from wasting food, the project aims to encourage people to think more about the resources/effort that have gone into the food which they are discarding.
Simply, it is an intricate food waste bin which can only be filled – never emptied.
Each bin is painstakingly crafted using traditional decorative woodworking techniques – making obvious, to the user, the amount of effort and resources expended in constructing it.
It is sealed so that once filled the bin must be disposed of along with the food waste inside – instantly and visually equating the obvious wastefulness of the object with the more abstract wastefulness of the effort used in producing the food which we have taken for granted.
*I don’t quite have a title/name for the project yet.
Today I’ve been clamping and cutting the base and top of the bin and joining it all together.
After this one of the technicians added that I should probably try and sand down some of the angles on the main body as they may catch whilst turning and gouge out chunks of wood.
So now that’s pretty much it ready to go onto the lathe and be turned.
However, I have been having some second thoughts on the overall design. I feel that having the domed top and wider base as well as the slot is taking inspiration too literally from a post box. It just feels a bit heavy handed and obvious so I’ve been doing some sketches and trying to rethink the design slightly.
I think keeping it as simple as possible is probably the way to go – the slot should be enough to evoke the idea of post box and communicate the same things. It may seem late in the day to be rethinking it but I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about my original plans and I’m glad I’ve decided this before I put it on the lathe!
After gluing each of the fifteen rings together I’ve started gluing the layers one on top of the other. This time, to try and minimise the small gaps between each layer I’ve sanded each of the rings individually and glued them in much smaller amounts (instead of gluing all 15 at once then clamping I’ve been doing it in groups of 3).
The next step was to join the two planks of Walnut together (the piece I bought isn’t wide enough to form the base and top without being cut and glued). After clamping and drawing on these two planks I was advised to use biscuit joints to make sure they were absolutely flush and wouldn’t come apart when I went to turn it on the lathe.
The biscuit joints are basically a small crescent shaped hole each of the bits of wood, a ‘biscuit’ (oval shaped piece of absorbent wood) is placed in one of the holes – when glued this biscuit expands and locks the two pieces together.
The next decision was about the best way to cut the slot where the food waste would enter. After advice from the workshop technicians I decided that it would be best to cut this after the bin has been turned so that the chisel doesn’t get stuck whilst turning.
I’ve also been thinking about wether or not to put a small surround on the slot to add to the overall aesthetic as well as preventing the food waste from spilling onto the outside.
So I’ve been to Brodies Timber in Dunkeld again and got the materials to start my mark 2 prototype. Same as last time, American Black Walnut and Scottish Sycamore, just in much bigger quantities as the mark 2 will be around 3 or 4 times the size of the mark 1.
The wood has been planed and cut, this time with much more accurate angles to make sure there are no gaps between each of the segments.
These are the plans along with a quick rendering I did of what I want the mark 2 prototype to look like.
Some of the cut segments along with a shot of four of the rings gluing in clamps.
So that’s where the mark 2 is at the moment. This time there will be 15 layers each consisting of a ring of 8 segments of the alternating Walnut and Sycamore woods. There will also be a solid piece of Walnut at either end (roughly double the width of one of the layers – making the whole thing a lot taller and wider giving the object a much bigger physical presence.
I’ve decided that the final design for my food waste bin will take inspiration from post boxes. I feel that this is a good starting point as it’s something that pretty much everyone recognises. I feel it also quickly communicates the idea that you are allowed to put things in but not take them out – similar to my food waste bin.
The bin will still be made in the same style as my mark 1 prototype – using traditional woodworking techniques to give a sort of ‘beautifully crafted’ feel and look to the product. The bin will be sealed at both ends and have a slot near the top (similar to the post box slot) where plates can be scraped straight in. I like interaction that the user would have with this – semi inserting a plate and scraping their leftovers into the bin. I think this would again remind the user of the effort of producing the food since a meal would have just been cooked.
I’ve been doing some sketches and this is the sort of thing I’m thinking about. Trying to keep the form simple yet still communicate the post box idea as I feel adding too many details would detract from the crafted feel.
My main concern at the moment is deciding how people will use the bin. How will the user physically get their food waste into it? This interaction will be critical to the project so right now i’m focusing on that and what it could be. Not just from an engineering ‘how will this work’ point of view but from a designers’ point of view – how/what will it communicate to the user. The aim is to create something that will be able to instantly convey what the project is about to someone who has no background knowledge of it.
As per the advice given to me at my mark 1 presentation I’ve been taking my ideas to the extreme in search for inspiration. Looking into how you might seal something whilst simultaneously communicating this fact. A few thoughts I’ve been having on the very general ‘sealed things’ have been; welding, rivets, clasps, safes, combination locks, post boxes, plastic packaging and even ideas such as meshes or grills so that anything going into the bin would have to be cut into tiny pieces or liquidised. Whilst these are pretty ridiculous it’s a starting point from where more sane ideas could be worked out.
I quite like the comparison with a post box as it’s an object which almost everyone is familiar with and its also universally understood that you are able to put things in but nothing can be taken out.
Today I’ve been thinking about the branding of the bin and how this will affect the way people think and interact with it. To go along with the bin I’ve decided that it would be good to include some sort of information explaining the concept and possibly how it was made and the effort that’s gone into it. This would hopefully help to emphasise in the users mind the wasted resources going into the food which they are throwing away.
Some sort of leaflet/booklet or printed packaging could be included. The branding and over all look of these would be extremely important, influencing how the user sees and interacts with the product.
I’ve also been considering how important it is that the bin is sealed and thrown out after use. I like the idea and the critical point that it makes when the whole product needs to binned after use. But would a well crafted and beautiful object be enough to encourage people to waste less food on its own? Still making the same point – equating the effort of producing the food with producing the bin – but without such an overtly critical tone.
Do I want my end result to be so overtly critical/an impractical object?
This week I’ve been looking into what shape my food waste bin will take and what kind of materials will be used. In order to get people to value the bin and be aware of the effort exerted while producing it, I’ve been trying to use shapes and materials that would give it a a real ‘craftsmanship’ type feel. Something handmade but not tatty or sloppy – made by a skilled hand.
I’ve also been trying to think of ways that the user will be able to put food waste into the bin without any way of getting it out again (i.e. sealed so the whole thing must be discarded once used).
On the craftsmanship side I’ve been taking inspiration from a variety of sources as well as looking at some of my grandad’s work – he used to make wooden table lamps (amongst other things) that I really like and think communicate well the amount of skill and effort involved.
I’ve been taking inspiration from these, especially the chequered one with the light and darker woods.
Some quick initial idea sketches.
Some quick sketch prototypes – playing about with different forms using blue foam. Two done on the lathe and two just using hand tools. (Obviously they are at different scales!)
Donald Struthers Honours Project 