Material + Spiel

Exhibition: Material+Spiel (Hamburg, July 11-13)

2007-07-04T12:45:00.000-07:00

This year's Material+Spiel project will display its results during the KONZENTRAT07 end of the year show.

You are welcome to join the opening of the Material+Spiel exhibition on Wednesday July 11. at 18.00 at the HAW Hamburg (Armgartstrasse 24, Hamburg). We are exhibiting toys and games designed and developed during a playful summer semester at the Design Department from July 11-13.

Looking forward seeing you there and feel free to write or call in advance for a personal tour. If you are not able to join us but are interested in project documentation - pls. send a short e-mail to: info(at)materialstories(dot)com

Fr. Gruesse and kind regards,

Prof. Marion Ullrich & Arnold van Bezooyen (project coordinators)
Produktdesign Textil

Link: http://www.konzentrat07.de

Samples Arrival & Prototyping Tips

2007-06-12T12:16:00.000-07:00

Dear all,
for those who didn't pick up their sample materials yet, please see Prof. Ullrich's office for fibers and spacer fabrics. Further, an overview of some useful links for working out your prototypes.

- Meike, Inga // Make your own Throwies at Instructables
- Kirsten // Surrealistic Wallpaper
- Linda // Re-designed Korean Rubber Shoes

Finally, for your interest // Mode Wettbewerb: Geist Trifft Materie

Gruss! & see you next week, Arnold

Week 9: Start of Prototyping

2007-05-14T01:09:00.000-07:00

[photo: spacer fabrics]

This week we review the start of hands-on prototyping.
See our photo site for photos and results of the following weeks...

Link:
- www.modulor.de (materials for model making)

Competition: Child's Play

2007-05-11T01:26:00.000-07:00

Dear all,

The Social Design Network might be an inspiring place for your design thoughts of today and tomorrow. Also, they now have an competition titled "Child's Play" which you might take into consideration if you are considering toys for children?

Design an object that encourages children to cultivate their own imagination and creativity

Children's toys are very often prescriptive in their function, designed with a certain task or role-play in mind. This competition asks for an affordable object or a series of objects that a child can play with in which the function is not prescriptive but open to interpretation. The object can be of any scale. The objective of the design should be to encourage exploration and to inspire a child to derive his/her own associations and invent their own interaction or way of playing with the object.

You must specify which age group your design is aimed at and how your scheme takes into account the cognitive development level of that age group. In addition, your scheme should demonstrate environmental responsibility, whether through material selection, production techniques or potential for recycling or reuse once the object has been outgrown.

---

Links:
- Social Design Network: Child's Play competition
- Social Design Network

Tipp: Falten gestalten - Meisterwerke des Origami

2007-05-08T01:49:00.000-07:00

[photo: Organic Abstract Paul Jackson 2005]

"Mehr als 50 Künstler aus 16 Nationen präsentieren über 120 faszinierende Faltkunstwerke aus Papier und lassen so die 2000 Jahre alte Geschichte der japanischen Origami-Kunst neu aufleben. Die Ausstellung gewährt einen Einblick in die Vielfalt des internationalen Origami und in die Einflüsse der Faltkunst auf Wissenschaft und Gestaltung. Unter den teilnehmenden Künstlern befinden sich Größen wie Robert Lang (USA), Koshiro Hatori (JPN), Michael La Fosse (USA), Miri Golan oder Paul Jackson (ISR)." - MKG Hamburg

Date: 11. Mai 2007 - 28. Aug. 2007
Link: www.mkg-hamburg.de

Thanks for 'der Tipp' Kirsten!

Week 8: Samples Delivered

2007-05-03T06:13:00.000-07:00

[photo: samples on location]

"Dear ladies, all samples have arrived.

Please see Frau Ullrich's Headquarters for you orders.
(no need to start digging - we have tagged the samples with your name).

Enjoy the weekend, enjoy the prototyping,
and bis Dienstag! Arnold"

"Hairy Displays"

2007-04-26T03:00:00.000-07:00

"Philips really seems to be thinking outside the television box these days. First they come up with their Ambilight technology (which I’m still not sold on BTW) and now they’re looking into creating displays made of fur. Instead of LEDs or some other technology each pixel on the display would be made of a colored piece of fabric covered in different colored hairs.

When the hairs are all lying down flat you’d only see their color. But when an electrostatic charge is applied all those hairs would then repel each other and stand on end revealing the color of the fabric below. By precisely controlling the charges being applied to each fabric pixel you can in theory produce a fully functioning display.

Of course while the technology could be used to produce a TV that’s soft to the touch Philips instead sees it being used to incorporate displays into clothing or other items made of fabric. So instead of throwing paint on a fur coat PETA might one day be able to show their public service announcements on them.

- By Andrew Liszewski"

Link: OhGizmo
Link: www.newscientist.com/blog

Grass Mat

2007-04-23T03:05:00.000-07:00

Fibers as plastic grass?
Here some more info on the 'Grass Mat' gadget holder.

"Everyone has seen those little sticky/grip pads for a car, but those things work as well as an ice cream sandwich in hell. This dashboard tray can definitely hold your gadgets regardless of how reckless your driving is. Renault calls it the "Grass Mat" dashboard, and this mat is actually integrated into their vehicles. Hey, Honda. Take a hint from Renault and put something like this in your vehicles. I'm sick of my phone sliding around and falling on the floorboard." –Travis Hudson

Link: gizmodo.com/gadgets

Wooden Origami?

2007-04-23T02:44:00.000-07:00

Hi Kirsten, this is Foldtex material by I meant regarding your origami thinking.

"Foldtex turns thin plywood into a material for origami. This sandwich sheet consists of machined plywood with a textile covering. The folding and creasing is possible by the textile covering that acts as a flexible and tear-resistant joint."

Find an application example here:
Link: www.tisch-decken.de

See you tomorrow, Arnold

Fabrics: Safe & Cool

2007-04-15T14:41:00.000-07:00

Interesting example of using the 'space' of spacer fabrics.

"...and the picture shows a detail of the cooling apparatus derived from astronauts' suits: the cooling tubes are weaved into the improved textiles developed by the Safe&Cool project (Credit: Safe&Cool Project Consortium)."

Link: http://www.primidi.com/2006/03/04.html

Magnetic Clothes Hangers

2007-04-15T14:29:00.000-07:00

Nice one...

"Clothes hangers and clothing spaces have largely remained in the sameformat over the years. Hangers usually consist of a styled wooden, plastic or metal frame upon which clothing rests, with a hook component at the top. Similarly, contemporary wardrobes often use a contained space with horizontal bar(s) upon which to place the hangers in a linear pattern.

These hangers replace the hook with a magnet, accompanied by a suspended piece of metal to allow full freedom of arrangment and display."

Link: http://danieltodesign.blogspot.com

Week 5: Brainstorming (materials)

2007-04-13T06:38:00.000-07:00

This week we do a brainstorming on three material groups (magnets, fibers, spacer fabrics) - using the materials samples.

// 'Associations' - helps us consider the different material properties,

// 'What if...?' - brings us on three 'material worlds' requiring special solutions for our usual activities on an unusual world.

// 'Material applications/accessoires' - supports thinking of applications for 'our world' with known products.

See photos for this week's results.

Next week we will discuss the 'material applications',
think of further ideas/concepts,
and ask ourselves "was ist spiel?" (and what is not?)

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/groups/materialspiel/

Week 4: Claus Voigt ueber spielen

2007-04-13T06:30:00.000-07:00

April 3, Mr. Voigt gives us a crash course 'spielen' (which is different than 'spielzeug' because of the use of its rules).

During a playful afternoon we quickly go through a series of 'SPIEL - REGELN - ELEMENTE - MECHANISMEN'. Mr. Voigt included a useful document with issues that should be considered in game development and references such as:
- http://www.spielbox-online.de (platform fuer spiel)
- http://www.pagat.com (englische website mit kartenspielregeln aus aller welt)
- http://www.luding.org (Deutsche datenbank der erschienen Spielen der letzten 20-30 Jahren)
- http://www.perlhuhn.de (spiele autoren treffen)
See photos for more links/books.

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/groups/materialspiel/

Week 3: Spielen in Berlin

2007-04-13T06:06:00.000-07:00

We get up early to catch the early train to Berlin. During the morning we visit the Ludothek in Prenzlauer Berg where Mrs. Kramp gives us a great introduction on the role of play.

The Ludothek is a meeting point and brings people together and includes children with special needs. We learn that play is not just for fun but also has an important pedagogic aspect and brings old and young generations together. The demonstrated toys are often handmade and not only by experts.
- Toys are very many-sided and support aspects of having fun, developing skills, emotional/social issues and dealing togetherness/individuality.

The afternoon we visit the "Deutsches Technikmuseum" and get a quick impression of the history and development of technology through toys in the exhibition 'Spiel mit Technik' (there is a book available for more background).

Later on we did some sight seeing in Berlin before the last train to Hamburg brings us home-sweet-home.

See photos for more info and workshop notes: http://www.flickr.com/groups/materialspiel/

Fibers: Kick It furniture

2007-04-04T14:00:00.000-07:00

for your interest,
'Kick It furniture' spotted at Cologne's furniture fair this year.
Am sure there are more examples out there.

link: Core77 photo galleries

Exhibition: Playtime

2007-04-04T13:54:00.000-07:00

PLAYTIME - 31.03 - 28.04

Der Frühling beginnt, unser Spieltrieb erwacht...

Bei White Trash Contemporary beweisen das zehn Künstler und Künstlergruppen mit verspielten Installationen und Zeichnungen, dadaistischen Wunderkästen und satirischen Lichtskulpturen.
Die Ausstellung läuft vom 31.März- 28.April 2007.

Link: http://www.whitetrashcontemporary.com

via: Ann-Kathrin

Week 2: Materials and Applications

2007-03-22T08:39:00.001-07:00

[Photos: Magnet, Fibers, Spacer Fabrics]

The second week, we review the materials samples (cork, felt, stone, latex, styropor, leather, etc.) and their applications.

We see that single materials have many applications that vary from very decorative (visible) to very functional (hidden). Also, we see that the processing and finishing (verarbeitung) plays a key role in various applications and quality of the material. Regarding material names, we see that artificial leather (kunstleder) has the image of being a 'fake' product and seems to be replacing leather as affordable sustitute. This is different for Neoprene, a name that sounds futuristic and profiles itself in high-tech applications.

At the end of the day we get in first contact with a set of three material types that will be driving our course, namely:
1. Magnets
2. Brushes/Fibers
3. Spacer Fabrics

More on materials week. First, it's time for our theme 'Spiel' which we will experience next week in Berlin.

Week 1: Introduction

2007-03-22T08:19:00.000-07:00

[photos: Stunt Egg]

The first week we start with a short introduction on materials and design. We reviewed the many and different roles of materials in design and noticed that we are experiencing materials all day long, simply by their applications.

This course we will be focusing on a selected set of materials to research and find new applications driven by the possibilities of the materials instead of form or functional requirements.

An 'Stunt Egg' show closes the day paper constructions give 4 out of 10 eggs a safe landing while jumping from the 1st floor at the HAW.

Material+Spiel weblog

2007-03-22T07:11:00.001-07:00

Dear all, started this weblog in order to share thoughts and ideas on this semester's materials. Please don't mind me writing this in English.

Feel free to check in from time to time since:
- here you will short wrap ups of our weekly meetings
- this is a useful place to share books, links and other info with each other
- I will publish course information etc.

For now, enjoy the weekend and see you in Berlin next Tuesday!

Arnold