Peer Comments

Jen Jun Zhu
http://jenjunzhu.blogspot.com/

Chelcie Nielsen
http://chelcienielsen.blogspot.com/

Charmaine Chen
http://charmainechenpy.blogspot.com/

Daniel Kotzen
http://danielkotzen.blogspot.com/

Fiona Lee
http://fionalee-ides1031-2009.blogspot.com/

Upcycling: The Tool Box

From the very start of this project a number of ideas zoomed in one ear and out the other. Some seemed impossible and some seemed to easy but they all shared a common idea. This idea was to design something along the same lines of context of the trash it was made out of.

During my research I thought of alot of things that just wouldnt work because of time and labour constraints, such as welding nuts and bolts into a hammer. I played with the idea of repititon, and a series of smaller objects becoming a bigger object. - 'The whole is greater than the sum of its parts'

I began to start experimenting with old pens i had at home. I disassembled the parts and started to play around with what i can make. I drew up some sketches and made the base out containing walls of my unrefined accessories box.
As I ventured on, I started developing self impressive ways on how to twist and change different parts of pens to my advantage.
I thought to myself that it was rather simple and therefore further refined my accessories box by adding an interior second shelf that presents itself as the case is opened.

This pro took me quite a while as to how to make all the components work without fail or breaking.
I pursued with the idea of making the entire model out of nothing but pens, and this included no hinges or joints or locks.
I made the hinges out of sliced pen shell casings and ink tubing. I also twisted the ink tubing into a lassoo to act as a lock and keep the box shut.

I see much potential in the mass manufacturing of this as there are so many old and used pens that are just thrown into the garbage. The disposability of a pen has become an advantage to me in the assignment. Overall I am quite pleased with my final outcome because I never thought the components would actually work at the end. :)

Annie Leonard: Story of Stuff

Our current linear system of production is quite opaque as we are lead into a false sense of awareness of a flawless method, but Annie Leonard reveals that it is far from this. Calamaties such as climate change, disease and harmful wastes are a result of the system that doesn’t take into account natural factors and limits including us as humans.

Annie Leonard has revealed and educated on how our world is run by industries and not for people. Corporations are depleting our finite natural resources and thrive on over consumption. Apparently, according to Leonard, 80% of the earths natural resources are gone.
This was a huge shock to me and really opened my eyes of how not only corporations, but we collectively as individuals are responsible for this because of our consumer driven ways. Annie reveals how everyone is so concerned with the commercial world that the quality of life in terms of happiness has dropped since the 1950s. People are working more to spend more.

A moral question for industrial designers is whether is to change the way we design and mass produce in risk of our careers, or continue and risk our future lives. It is clear to see that there must be a change if we want our future generations to be happy, or even have a life. Money makes the world go around, but what happens when theres no world left?