Inverted Dunes - Exhibited at the Sultan Gallery's 50/20 Exhibition, Kuwait...

Tomorrow the second half of the 50/20 Exhibition at Kuwait's Sultan Gallery opens. The exhibition celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of Kuwait's independence. Our contribution for the exhibit is titled 'Inverted Dunes' which, as the title might suggest, consists of a set of laser-cut reliefs of imaginary concave dunes 'viewed' from a macro, meso and micro scale.

During the last few weeks we've been working a lot with molds with my students, which as tacit artifacts are (instead of being mere secondary form givers to the protagonist object) very engaging in their own right. These molds, and the processes involved in making them, have probably been an influence on these works...

The works are all 18 x 24 cm, and are made in limited editions of 10...

The opening takes place from 7-9 PM...

All the pieces were made at the Digital Fabrication Lab at VCUQ...

Presenting at the Pecha Kucha Night in Doha...

I'll be presenting at the next Pecha Kucha Night here in Doha, taking place next Sunday, February 13, here at VCUQ's Atrium, starting at 6.20 PM...

My presentation is titled:

From Hardware and Software to Buildware - Celebrating the Wonderful World of Digital Fabrication in the Context of Design...

Should be a fun night..!

Detail of a PaperCut ('weaved' laser-cut paper)

MFA.DESIGN Open Day at VCUQ...

We're having an Open Day here at VCUQ next Wednesday, February 16, starting at 6 PM...

Click above or here for further info...

Celebrating Idiosyncrasies - The Kuksa...

On a recent visit to Finland I received this 'Kuksa', a wooden cup carved out of a single piece of knotted wood, from my parents as a gift. Apparently it was hand-made by Anders Eklund and was purchased at the Christmas Market that took place at the Esplanade in central Helsinki.

I've been using it as my work-coffee-cup here at VCUQ, and it has received its fair share of admiring looks... In a world which some claim, due to the facilitated access to both wares and information, is becoming an 'ubiquitous porridge', where national and cultural idiosyncrasies have been diluted out (something I'd like to strongly dispute), it's nice to come across something, in this instance an artifact, that proves them wrong...

ps. The 'stick' attached to the cup's handle by a leather string is a short section of reindeer-horn that can be used for stirring...

A Short Poem About the Ideal Digital Fabrication Lab...

What would the optimal Digital Fabrication Lab be made of..?

Perhaps of Lasers that splice, or 3D Printers real nice..?

Maybe it should be an assembly of Machines that Sinter, Glue, and cure - to make objects Very precise and pure…

Perchance it should use bits that are small, to build things most tall..?

Or be conceivably conceived by a designer, to make a wedding-ring, or even a diner..?

Could it use Software & Hardware with Buildware in a most excellent way, to make a Thing that Saves the Day..?

What would the ideal DF Lab be made of..?

Examples of Additive Buildware Processes...

A Stratasys 3D Printer at the AA Digital Fabrication Lab in London...

A few further video examples of, this time, additive Buildware processes...

A small scale, more 'domestic', additive printer at the AMRG at Loughborough University in the UK...

Further Examples of Subtractive Buildware Processes...

3-Axis milling machine at the AA Digital Fabrication Lab at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London...

Following the previous blog entry, some further examples of subtractive Buildware (CAD/CAM) processes...

A short video taken at the Metropolitan Works digital Fabrication Centre, London, of their large scale 5-axis CNC Milling machine...

Laser etching a pattern onto glass at the AA Digital Fabrication Lab in London...

Laser-Cutting & Etching at VCUQ...

Laser-cutting paper at the VCUQ Digital Fabrication Lab...

The Following videos (and blog submissions) are actually for a report on Digital Fabrication I'm in the process of preparing (I'll just add hyperlinks to this blog entry in the PDF formatted report), but, who knows, there might be others that might find these of interest as examples of available digital fabrication techniques...

Laser-etching on glass at the VCUQ Digital Fabrication Lab...

Turkish Airlines Sick-bag...

A short while back I had the opportunity to fly on a Turkish Airlines flight. Whilst somewhat underwhelmed by the flight itself (cramped seats, weathered interiors, short-staffed and somewhat chaotic service), the food was decent and I really liked the look of their sick-bags, with their egg-shell color tone which is subtly highlighted by the white sealing-wires attached at the top. The black serif font also adds a nice 'softness' to the composition. On future flights if I had a choice regarding what kind of bag I'd like to get sick in, this one would be at the top of my list...

Driving on Wintry Roads = Better Driving Sense..?!

A residential road in Grankulla, a town near Helsinki...

Today and yesterday evening we've had a bit of rain, well, some drizzle, here in Doha. It's been interesting driving to and fro work and seeing how the local drivers are either taking full advantage of the slightly less crowded roads by speeding and veering in and out between cars and lanes, or, conversely, driving excessively slow, usually in the middle-lane.

The driving conditions here in the Gulf are almost exclusively hot and dry, but there is some inherent value in driving in conditions that diverge from ones norm. Too often we become buffered, in our hermetically sealed car-cockpits, from both the speed and conditions in which we drive. Difficult driving conditions can awaken our awareness and sense of how fragile, exposed and indubitably impotent we are whilst in a moving car. Driving in challenging conditions, be these rain, snow, ice (black ice), sand or mist, provides us with an opportunity to become more aware of our own, and our vehicles, vulnerabilities, as ignoring them will very likely have dire consequences. It also forces one to drive beyond the usual spatiotemporal paradigm of driving usually practiced here in the Gulf, where ones attention span only reaches perhaps twenty meters and maximum two seconds into the future. Driving in snow, fog or a sand storm forces one to not only to be aware of the immediately adjacent lane and cars, but also to keep an eye out for what is happening further down the road and its vicinity, as well as, based on past experiences, plan ahead ones route, and consequently adjust ones choices and actions accordingly. Driving in demanding circumstances inevitably forces one to apply a form of oscillating range of considerations that provide a more well rounded and comprehensive perspective regarding driving that probably benefit ones more general driving habits.

Driving well at speeds, entails more such aforementioned (empirical) sensitivities than just having a heavy foot. So one can speculate that it's at least partly the Nordic driving conditions that have contributed to the vast number of world champion drivers (both Formula 1 as well as rally) that have originated from this northern tip of Europe.

The approach to a wintry intersection...

A residential street...

Länsiväyla - one of the main motorways connecting Helsinki to the suburbs...

A slip-road between motorways...

Pohjois Esplanaadi - a central (mainly pedestrian) shopping artery in Helsinki...

Gilded Building at the Cultural Village in Doha...

A few details from a building at the Cultural Village in Doha covered with gilded ceramic tiles...

Road Printing...

An interesting project from the Dutch company Tiger-Stone, which allows one to 'print' a brick (or other stone or concrete block) paving surface onto a sidewalk or street...

It certainly introduces a new take on Additive Fabrication (how could this be adapted into the Z-axis with added mortar?!)...

Original piece found at this Gizmag link. Image above and video below from the same source...

Seasons Greetings...

Seasons Greetings from us all, currently enjoying a chilly white December here in Finland...

The ginger-bread-coupe (with a heart) above was made by one of my daughters...

Belgian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Italy...

A few images from this year's Venice Biennale's Belgian Pavilion, which was amongst my favorites. The whole exhibit consisted of various worn and weathered everyday artifacts (table-tops, carpets, floor-tiles, railings, etc.) from various public, or publicly accessible, spaces, which had selectively been cut-up and were displayed in the pavilion's gallery-esque setting.

The exhibit was put together by Rotor...

Canadian Pavilion at Venice Biennale, Italy...

This is the first submission of photos from some of the pavilions at the recently concluded Venice Architectural Biennale.

The images for this blog-entry are from the Canadian Pavilion, which this year featured an installation by architect Philip Beesley.