Deciding on Plague

Today I’ve been trying out a few different styles/materials for the plaque which will be placed on the front of the bin. I’ve tried one in plywood (as I’ve posted about before), one in black plastic and one in brass. I’ve also changed the wording a little that goes on the plaque – made it a bit shorter and more succinct. I think the brass one goes best with the overall ‘feel’ and aesthetic of the project. The prototype one (pictured) is a little hard to read (due to problems when making it which I’ll post about later) so I’m going to remake it and hopefully oxidise it so that the lettering stands out more.

Degree Show Catalogue

Although the project is not over, we have all been asked to submit a short (under 150 words) summary of our project along with a picture which represents it to be used in the degree show booklet. As my final piece isn’t completed yet the picture I’m using is quite ambiguous and just shows some detail of the wood working/style. Summary:

A critical design project based around the amount of food waste that we all produce. The project aims to make a statement about how little we think about the effort and resources that have gone into producing our food and how carelessly we throw it away.
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 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 discarding the object with the more abstract wastefulness of the resources and effort used in producing the food which we have taken for granted.

Practising the Opening/What’s next

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.

Beginnings of a Mark 1

Today I took the first steps towards what I think will be the mark 1 prototype. After drawing up plans for the food waste bin and having a conversation with Malcolm in the workshop I decided that it was probably best to practice making parts of the prototype with cheaper wood rather than jumping straight in with the stuff I got at the wood mill.
And although its only the mark 1 prototype I do feel its important to make it out of reasonably high quality materials as part of the project will be seeing how people interact with the object and what message it communicates.

Basically the bin will be made up of 7 disks of wood each with alternating light and dark segments (these will then be stuck together and turned on the lathe). Technical drawing and first attempt at creating the segments. 

The first attempt at making one layer was not bad but some of the angles were off – creating slight gaps that would be problem when turning. I made another, more carefully measured this time which was better (less gaps) but its still pretty difficult to cut and sand 8 identical pieces of wood all with a perfect 22.5 degree angles. So for tomorrow I’ve made some MDF templates for the segments which I can draw round and cut – making them all (hopefully) identical.

Phase 2: Desk in need of a tidy.

Final Concept Decided

I’ve finally made some concrete decisions about what the final outcome of my project will be. Heres a quick outline of the project:

My project is based around reducing food waste, specifically getting people to buy less food (that will go uneaten) by getting them to think about the massive amounts of resources and effort that have gone into producing it. My idea is that I will produce a beautiful and well crafted food waste bin that is sealed and therefore cannot be emptied or reused and would have to be thrown out along with the food waste that it contains. The idea behind this being it would make people consider the effort thats gone into producing the food – sort of equating it in the users mind with the obvious effort thats gone into producing the bin.

Obviously this isn’t an everyday product that would be used in every home. Its a bit more of a conceptual, critical piece of design that makes a statement about the carelessness with which we regard our food (which I’m much happier about).

Now I need to start looking into what makes people value and become attached to objects and what makes them think ‘wow, thats really well made’ or ‘a lot of efforts gone into that’. The form and size will also be key decision points.

Another aspect, which was raised by my tutor, is that the final outcome could actually be seeing how people interact with the bin and how attached they become. How much do they not want to throw it away and how does this affect their food wasting habits?

Decisions Decisions

Basically, I’ve been starting to panic a bit recently due to the fact that I’ve still not decided on my final concept and we only have a few weeks left before we have to present our mark 1 prototypes. I’ve been trying to narrow down my project to make it something more specific rather than just ‘reducing food waste in the home’. I’m also still not sure whether my final concept will be a single product or a sort of service, or maybe even a range of linked products.

However, I have definitely decided that the core of my project will be about reducing the amount of food that goes to waste and making people aware of the effort and resources that goes into food production. Making people more focused of prevention rather than thinking ‘as long as we compost it’s still fine’.