Object Design and Fabrication - Nadia

This is my finalized project for milestone project 1. To create the HD render of my "Toilet Art" Mashup I used Rhino as the modelling software. Getting to add texture and materials to my objects really helped my project to further convey what it is meant to.  Here it is:

Working in Meshmixer was a great way to finalize the shape of my object. I was able to remake the water to be higher quality and see the design as a whole in a much higher quality image. It was great to be able to nail down one idea from the 10 last week. The 1 on 1 critique was a great way to see everyone else's design and receive feedback on which of my designs to move forward with, and how to improve them. I got a lot of feedback, but in the end, I had to make up my own mind. Out of my top three designs (toilet art, new technology, and walking on clouds), I had at least two people vote for each of them. When I was thinking about the feedback I received, I thought about how each one could be improved. Ironically I went with a change that was not mentioned by any of my peers. I decided to refine the toilet art mesh by adding a paintbrush as the lever. This further reinforced the original ideas I had for the design. Despite me not taking any of my peer's recommendation directly...

Remix culture is becoming more and more a part of everyone's life. At one point it was reserved for music and film. Now, with the creation of the 3D printer, objects are also getting blended together and new things are created. Sometimes these objects do not have a reason for being together, other than getting people to think about those things in a new way. Sometimes the objects put together can reinforce ideas about society, or have other deeper meaning, that the viewer of the object is meant to understand. I found that this side of remix culture is very interesting and tried to add extra layers of meaning to the objects I was blending together. "Art?" This object started with the toilet, which I thought of being one of the ugliest objects, at least in terms of what it's for. Then flowers are associated with beauty, so I appreciated the opposition. Then I added a paint palette. Now all together these objects are meant to represent how beauty in art means ...

After watching the documentary Objectified by Gary Hustwit, I was left thinking about why some objects become important to us, and how industrial products can still have that effect even when they are made for millions of other people to enjoy as well. The designer Hella Jongerius spoke about some of her goals as a designer. A goal that stood out to me was that she wanted "to give individual character to something produced industrially." Then she showed a couch she and her studio were working on. It was orange with buttons placed all over it. I liked how this couch was so unique and as an object, it seemed to be able to tell its own story. This got me thinking about how I could do a take on this idea of a couch with individual elements, while also making it modern and functional. I thought about what makes a couch functional, and comfortable. I decided to add rounded armrests, which are always better when laying lengthwise, and I made each seat concave with a separate concav...