Design in Action Presentation.

On Monday interiors students of Duncan of Jordanstone got together with jewellery students and textile students for a work in progress discussion. We were all put into mixed groups and each had five minutes to talk about our chosen subject and what we are planning to do this year. It was really interesting seeing what students in other courses were up to and being able to hear some of the ideas from people in my class as we’re all sometimes too busy to chat about our projects.

For this presentation I created a collage of images and text that describe my chosen subject fish & chips.

At the top of the collage is an image of me at work in the take away on a Wednesday night. Connected to this are my "usual suspects" the customers who come in at the same time every week. These images then turn into sketches as these characters will lead me in my research, after all customers are at the heart of a business. I've also included some facts about fish and chips. The map at the bottom right shows all the chip shops in Dundee. The map of the U.K. in the centre shows where it all began. Apparently fish & chip shops were started in London by Jewish immigrant Joseph Malin in 1860 as Italians were passing through they saw the idea and took it up to Scotland where they opened shops. Although there are a few different stories this one connects with me as my family is partly Italian. The map also show different regional variations of chip shop food for example in Northern Ireland 'Pasties' are popular and in Scotland you can buy the famous deep fried Mars bar. 

I  made a model to sum up my subject. I wanted the model to show the celebration of fish & chips. When I thought about celebration I couldn’t seem to get balloons out of my head so this had to be incorporated. I attached these balloons to gold fish & chips. The gold fish & chips were to represent celebration- the fish & chips are the ultimate reward. It also reminded me of the Olympics this year and how everyone gathered together and was proud to be British celebrating our country. I did want to make a plaster model of the fish & chips to spray paint gold but in such a short space of time (I only had a couple of days) I was told this wasn’t possible so I just spray painted some real fish & chips. I might get in touch with someone at the uni to see about making the model more permanent as I might need it at a later date. I also got my lovely sister to model as seen in the picture below. 

What's next...? More research, conducting interviews, sketching and trying to build on my ideas....

4th Year: Getting Back into the Swing!

Third week back at uni and the days are flying by! After a few introductory lectures we got back down to business and have started working on our final year project.

Over the summer we were given the task to decide on what subject we wanted to choose for our final year project. I initially thought I would continue on from my third year projects and do something similar, focusing on children and playful design perhaps re-designing a primary school. Although this did interest me I felt I wasn’t excited enough by it to spend my last chance at uni working on this.

I have finally settled on an idea and although it may change slightly in the coming weeks for now I have decided that I am going to re-design a fish and chip shop. Fish and chips is something I know very well as my parents have a shop that I work in often. During the summer I was working there almost every day and could clearly see the problems that this business faces. Although the British public still love fish and chips they’re not as enthusiastic about it as they once were. As many fast food restaurants have changed with the times fish and chip shops have remained the same and are seen as dull and boring. Also more and more people are becoming concerned about health issues such as heart disease and obesity so wanting to avoid foods they see as unhealthy. I feel that fish and chips are a part of British culture and I think it would be sad for it to die out. So my aim for this year is to figure out how to save fish and chips and find out what its future will be.

I’m still not exactly sure what it is I will create at the end of the year but I do know I want to have a strong message behind it, incorporate branding into it in some way so I can learn more about the subject, and do an interior design…oh and have fun of course! 

p.s. I'm also keeping a board on Pinterest with some interesting stuff I find that is relevant to my project if you want to check it out! https://pinterest.com/soniaangus/fast-food/

Recycling Centre Treasures.

I’m a huge fan of the 60s style furniture and 60s furniture that has been re-vamped. Recently I’ve been looking at images online and designs of different types of old furniture being re-loved and given a modern twist.

I really want to do this particularly with a chair. I’m going to keep visiting the recycling centre until I find the right one to take home.

Here are a few designs I like and will be taking inspiration from:

Zoe Murphy.

Zoe Murphy is a British designer making her mark on used furniture. She’s updating “retro with retro” you can read more about her in an interview on WeHeart.co.uk. I love the way the original is merged with the new and not spoiled. The new and old work well and compliment each other making it seem as though it has always been that way. The detail inside the drawers is also fab!

Charlotte Love.

These chairs are maybe my favourite they look so simple to re-create and are really beautiful. Charlotte Love an interior stylist (amongst other things) has styled this pretty, pastel coloured photo shoot and included these chairs.

101 Woonideeen.

This table and chair was featured in an issue of Dutch magazine '101 Woonideeen'. The table top design has been made using a Spirograph. You can find out how to make it yourself here. I really like the sharp shots of neon on the side of the table leg and rim of the table top, it makes the piece really playful and fun without being over powering.