Dubai Design Day 2012 - VCUQ MFA.DESIGN. Stand...

A few images from our stand at the recently concluded Design Days Dubai. The event was tremendously enjoyable (despite the countless hours one ended up spending on one's feet) and the work was very well received. The displays included original work, much of it produced specifically for the event, by the MFA.DESIGN. Departments faculty and students. 

Already looking forward to next year's event... 

 Top, above and below: The Sadu String Cabinet, in which it's interior is accessed through separating the Sadu threads (see below) with ones hands...

 The shadow of the Sadu String Cabinet 

 Paolo Cadini's Middlefield Foosball Table, with its regional theme

 Close up of the Middlefield Foosball table

 Above and Below: Ben Jurgensen's tissue holders

 Above and Below: The Henna Table (with real henna) by the Boyms (Constantin & Lauren Boym)

 Above and Below: Chairs by the Boyms

 Glass piece by Corby Elford

Glass pieces by Sameh Ibrahim and Alia Khairat 

 The MFA.DESIGN. stand at Design Days Dubai

Exterior view of the Dubai Design Days venue (Burj khalifa is just adjacent, behind from where this photo was taken)

Funnel Bed, Doha...

This is a real bed in a real bedroom. A bed in daily use. A bed slept in, lounged upon, read in, walked across, a place for late night and early morning chats, a locale where the 'tickle-monster' sometimes hides, and more... This is our bed. We designed it for ourselves... It's a simple bed. It's comfortably low, but it can still be sat on when tying ones shoelaces. It's wide (200 by 200 cm) so the whole family fits onto it on Saturday mornings before the pancakes...  Its backboard is slightly angled (about 15 degrees) and quite tall (approximately 80 cm), just enough to so one can lean ones back and head against it while reading. Across the top  a 'funnel' runs across its back (thus the name of the bed) into which various bed or other related paraphernalia (from glasses and mobiles to artworks) can be stored... 

We've had the bed for a few months now and it's turned out to be a very good bed. We've now extensively field-tested it and it works like a down-filled charm. It's ascetic simplicity suits our Scandinavian/ Arabic sensitivities well, and that's all we can ask of a bed... 

 The bed's 'funnel'...

The backboard can be used to store and display various kinds of paraphernalia and artifacts, including PaperCuts and a (my) childhood teddybear...  

Fuglies - Fun + Ugly Designs...

Some photos of Fuglies - fun but ugly - designs, made to fill some 'me' time whilst participating with our MFA students in a workshop at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam. The workshop materials included the used canned or already shaped, foams, as well as a form of casting resin/ wax (name of which I forgot) made famous by Jerzy Seymour, the head of the Dirty Art Department at the Sandberg. 

The results are not much to look at, but the resulting artifacts do, to me, reflect the somewhat, call it, 'spurious joy' of making them. They're the true products of homo ludens (man of play), and that's absolutely ok in my book (sometimes)... 

 Top and above: A small foam and resin fruit-bowl/ tray

 Detail of the above fruit-bowl/ tray

A larger version of the foam and resin contraption

 Above and below: a few resin bracelets 

 A small resin bowl

 Resin artifacts

Above and below: The pot in which the resin was heated 

 A torus shape made with 'foam from a can'

A small bowl made using 'foam in a can' 

 The bottom (cake side) of the above bowl

A larger 'foam in a can' bowl 

The tools involved in making 'Foam in a Can' artifacts

Sadu Strand Cabinet...

A few photos of a recently completed design, the Sadu String (or thread) Cabinet. The cabinet uses Sadu thread, usually used to make traditional Middle-Eastern fabrics, as a wrapped cabinet surface. The cabinet's interior can be accessed by parting the thread surface with ones hands... 

The cabinet will be exhibited at the upcoming Design Days Dubai taking place at Downtown Dubai from March 17-21. It will be shown at the VCUQ MFA.DESIGN. stand. It will be exhibited, along with a set of glass artifacts produced by our MFA students, next to a set of furniture by the faculty, such as a set of 'regionalized' Enzo Marni chairs and a Henna Table by the Boyms, as well as a Middle-East/ Gulf inspired foosball table by Paolo Cardini. 

 The surface of the cabinet is made of Sadu weave thread

The cabinet's interior can be accessed by parting the  thread surface