Paper, Shapes & Text (By Seema)

As soon as I saw this artists' work it reminded me of some of the things Reiko had been talking about for her artwork.

The artist's name is Francisca Prieto and I saw her work on the blog Design Sponge.

She craftily folds the insides of envelopes to create patterns and text. To see more of Francisca's work see her website or check out jaggedart.

Containers Part 2 (by Seema)

Some other artists and their container art.

This stalagmite stalactite wood installation reminds me of some of Aleks' ideas of seeing elements of natural, colony like growths mimicked by artificial "man made" structures. These structures also remind me of tall city buildings. The container aspect of this piece is that it was installed in a truck container for Container Ground at Tokyo Designer Week. You can read about it here from de zeen Design Magazine.

This is an installation by Gayle Chong Kwan. This installation is made from used plastic food containers to create the lost city of Atlantis.

Miwa Koizumi uses plastic PET bottles. She likes the idea of using "liquid containers to make water animals. Contained/containing, trash/not-trash, like the jelly-fish or anemone: Living/non-living". I like it too.


Recyle-art light installation in London, with reused plastic bottles.

hexagonal pixelated cursive (reiko)

I have been working on making cursive fonts out of hexagonal (honeycomb) patterns. Here is part of the alphabet I've created. I like the contrast of using cursive letters in a very rigid pattern. Ideally I would like to make each pixel out of wood pieces that are raised off the base (protruding from the wall). These hexagon pieces could also be translated into buildings of a city. I'm contemplating different heights of the pieces but I'm not sure if that will be successful. I would also like to add wallpaper to the tops of the pieces. In Photoshop, I'm currently experimenting with the format of messages and the scale of the pieces which is proving to be challenging. I don't want the hexagons to be too small but I also have to worry about the total size of the pieces.


Here are few other images that have inspired me while simultaneously making me super envious:

Elisa Strozyk's Wooden Textiles found on www.yatzer.com

Charles Clary's paper sculptures also found on www.yatzer.com

Gorgeous!

Containers Part 1 (by Seema)

I Googled plastic lunch containers...And found this peculiar yet carefully crafted OWL lunch obento from the Blog Slash Food.

A Hint of Things To Come... (by Seema)

I am experimenting with an everyday household item; portable lunch/food containers. The containers we pack leftovers in. Saving parts of meals worth saving for another time. Taking parts of home and comfort to be enjoyed in other places. I like the idea of using common objects to create new shapes and structures.

I was happy to come across artist Régis Mayot from the Museum of Contemporary Craft website titled "Manufractured". I like Mayot's transformation of plastic containers into delicately sculpted skeletal incarnations of their former selves.

Another piece I like by Mayot. I also intend to incorporate the use of light into the installation that I will create with the portable lunch containers.

On colonizing and scale (by aleks)

I mentioned in a previous post that my ideas for this project are currently centering around scale; speculating on the possibility of colonies of unlikely scale. I came across the above image on Designboom described as "conceptual architectural project from the architects of terreform 1 led by dr. mitchell joachim. the project focuses on how cities can extend into the suburbs sustainably. "

This image by Julia Morstad found at INK+WIT seemed like nice contrast/companion to the first image.


I thought I would post this because I mentioned in our last meeting that I had entertained making some big origami when I came across Matt Johnson's work on Beautiful Decay. Kick ass giant origami.

ittekimasu / tadaima (by reiko)

いってきます "ittekimasu" = I’m going out and coming back
いってらっしゃい "itterasshai" = See you later
ただいま "tadaima" = I’m back (home)
おかえりなさい "okaerinasai" = Welcome back/home

For me, home is the ability to have a place to come back to. You leave but you always come back. Even better yet, you leave and have someone to come back to. Knowing that there is someone to come home to is what makes a place a home.

In Japanese, there are phrases used when you leave home and when you return home. “ittekimasu” when you leave home and “tadaima” when you return. The person who you leave responds by saying “itterasshai” when you leave and “okaerinasai” when you return. I find comfort in these phrases although I don't use them. I am interested in the daily routine of them, the etiquette and the ritual. These are phrases that don't belong to a particular physical space -- you can take them with you. This leads me to think of text messages and the portability of communication. If we are all connected, is our idea of home always with us through a hand-held device? Is my idea of having a place to come back to necessary?

I am interested in craft, patterns and paper. I'm intrigued by illusions and imitations. All of these thoughts have so far amalgamated to this:

Honeycomb patterns - The honeycomb is the nest of the bees and the place where honey is produced and stored. I'm attracted to the beautifully simple hexagon shape and as well the six-sided connectedness. It was interesting to learn that beehive honeycombs are in this shape because it makes efficient use of space and building material.

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Text messages and pixels - We are constantly looking at screens and communicating through text messages and emails. Pixels are usually unnoticeable but make up the images and text we see on screen...just like when I type this...and this...and ♥.

= Honeycomb Pixels

What if I created messages using pixels in a honeycomb pattern?

(to be continued)