Hello all,
We really liked the thread "table design" with James' project that we saw evolving with the help of advises from you all (see link below).
It is a great example of positive interactivity on Internet and it is symbolic of what Design Addict always wanted to be "a place to share and exchange knowledge". Personally, I learn something new every day thanks to you all and I guess it is the same for many other readers of the forum.
In the same spirit of exchange and collaboration, we would like to try an experience which, I think, has never been done before. We would like to invite you to participate with your comments, advises, critics and suggestions to the design of a product from its concept to its production and, why not, its distribution.
The goal is multiple:
- the pleasure of exchanging ideas with you in a constructive way.
- the teaching values of this creative and production process for us all.
- the possibility to support Design Addict financially since, thanks to the usual generosity of Koen, the vase will be produced in ceramic by Koen's workshop 'Atelier Orange' and the benefits from the sale will help to pay the improvements to be done on the website that have already been discussed in the forum.
Yes, I just mentionned a vase because as it was the case in James' thread, we need something to start with. An idea to start with, to comment on, to improve, to refine.
This is what I would like to submit to you. A project of a vase that I sketched a few years ago:
I began with the following statement: There is an incredible quantity of vases that look great, but many of them are not very practical. It is often difficult to organize the flowers the way one wants because the stems slip in the vase . So, I started my idea inspired from what nature invented to present branches and flowers in a harmonious way: a tree. A trunk and main branches that will help to keep in position the secondary branches which are in this case the stems of the flowers.
As you can see, it it is a basic proposal which leaves a lot of place to your proposals and comments. I am not a designer and I do not have any claim to become one so, feel free to criticize the project. Of course, constructive comments will be more welcome than unproductive ones ; -)
Dear partners, your turn to play, I am looking forward to reading you!
Click image to enlarge
This is going to be GREAT!
Patrick, how do you actually prefer to arrange and present your flowers? I mean, unless we're talking long-stermed roses, the hight and narrow diameter of the vase will keep the flowers nicely together anyway, sticks or no sticks. Is the vase intented for a large collection of flowers or a few, thin and whimsical flowers/branches? Judging from your illustraition I assume you mean the latter? It's just that your intension behind this vase suggests more direct interaction between user and vase than what I see here.
I too like the idea of wood and ceramic. An excellent example is Keaney/Alfström's Warm series. But I don't think wood and flowers have that much in common, unless we're talking small blooming branches from a tree (and even then it could be a problem having the two types of wood matching each other regarding esp. color and texture). I would rather venture out into the wonderful world of ceramic since we already have a workshop available + it has a more earthly feel to it as flowers mainly grow in the ground. I also think the vase should somehow be made of two materiales that are different, at least in colour or texture, but still go hand in hand and compliment each other. I've actually just rememberd Koen's series of tableware in porcelain and stoneware from Atelier Orange as an excellent example (can be seen in DA's index).
http://www.designaddict.com/design_index/index.cfm/fuseaction/designer_s...
I have to agree...
with m_andersen, the combination with wood (although technically so much easier) seems to take away from the natural coherence that flowers have between the stems and the flower itself. To add a closely related material like wood, would probably interfere with that coherence. I will have to come back with some technical aspects because as is, the vase would be extremely difficult (which is my take on impossible) to make in quantity. My hope is that we can at least produce it at reasonable cost so that everybody that has contributed to it and interested bystanders can buy one.
Lovely idea, great shape
A half-baked thought, humbly offered:
ikebana practitioners might appreciate some adaptable internal structure to facilitate plant-stem arrangement.
http://www.ikebanahq.org/
Following Antonella...
Following Antonella suggestion, what about a stainless steel cap/ring to go over the top of a ceramic vase that can be removed with the rods inclined to create an open top cone (if you understand my meaning). This would be less intrusive than the vertical rods and you should see more of the flowers/plant........
Learn from the past
There is a common old fashioned flower frog that points toward another way to approach the vase:
These are clear glass (for minimum visual impact) and sit in the throat of a trumpet shaped vase such as:
The point of this is make it in two pieces, a glass/plastic/stainless/silicone vase of any shape and an insert/cover/top/cap that provides the support. Two pieces, two materials. Something that can be used with a variety of vase sizes and shapes.
I was thinking something like a mesh or web or net of wire or interlocking screens or polyhedron that is designed to be able to conform to many vase shapes and thus provide the support in existing as well as a new vase something like this
Like the toothpick icosahedra I made when I was a kid BUT unlike the glass flower frogs of old it is meant to be seen and appreciated as an integral part of the composition of the haiku of a flower arrangment.
There is a silicone dog toy in the form of a complex polyhedron that's very close to what I have in mind, the blue one in the upper left corner:
It can hold snugly in a variety or vases; easy to remove; won't scratch or damage nice vases; various of colors and sizes.
I think the vase in...
I think the vase in Patrick's sketches is beautiful.
I don't mind James idea, but it is about a completely
different vase.
Personally I would work on the initial drawing and
study in depth the proportions and the materials considering
modifying the object without changing its character,
and expanding the concept instead of replacing it.
This is fun!!
Well, maybe Patrick can help me out here but when discussing his idea yesterday I send him two pictures of different solutions that we produce. The first one is a variation on the Aalto theme, the other is not unlike....James Collins' proposal but in an slightly easier way to produce...Patrick has the picture and could probably insert it somewhere.
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