Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Pins and Fish

To see the context for these design ideas, go to the post "Observation Challenge."  Here are the final two design ideas from the challenge.


Pinboard
I don't know how you'd replicate this idea unless a department store goes out of business somewhere near you, but these days that may be more likely than not. When a department store folded in downtown Oakland, I was there the day they sold off all the furnishings and scored this sign frame stand for about a buck. It's original purpose was to stand on a counter top and announce items or sales and the like. You could switch out the message by sliding the cardboard sign out of the top of the frame. I covered the cardboard with cloth and use it as a pin storage display stand.



Floating Fish:
This was the trickiest thing to spot in the original challenge because you could only see one of these reflected in the dresser mirror. Years ago I read a factoid that said the only reason fish die when they're out of water is because gravity presses their gills closed. I immediately thought about fish in a gravity-free environment happily floating around. Imagine a pet goldfish swimming swishing its little tail to navigate around the space station. Later, a curator from the Monterey Bay Aquarium told me my original factoid was wrong, but who cares? Facts are often just a bummer. I recreated my vision of fish in space by making light papiér-mâche fish that swim about in the breezes of my bedroom.







Bonus Idea:
A Chinese paper umbrella ($5-$10 in Chinatown) with its handle cut short has been turned upside down and employed as a ceiling lampshade.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts with Thumbnails