By manipulating the bamboo keys on the inside of each box the user can alter the music listened to subtly. It was also about understanding materials and manufacturing processes.

This mp3 player was inspired from a piece of piano music by Michael Nyman for the movie the piano. It is about being able to control your music but in subtle poetic ways – much like a musician playing the piano.

Employing and understanding current Rapid Prototyping technologies ensured that the potential of that particular process was explored in the fullest sense, testing tolerances and limits. Understanding the cost of these materials and process are also vitally important, not just the monetary value, but the impact on the environment, people and society.

These thoughts of affection manifest themselves as seeds of colour which grow in size depending on the duration, change shape and direction of the motion and vary in intensity from the pressure of the fingers. Allowing us to cherish the relationships we have and not feel isolated by the pace of our frantic world.

By allowing individuals to have input, their thoughts, ideas, time and energy into an object; it should gain value over something that was simply bought over the counter.

The myKEA furniture system enables people to be involved in the fabrication process of beautiful functional furniture, taking the interaction with our furniture beyond assembly. The system uses an interactive web site that allows people to size their furniture, and arrange it with objects they already own, and preview a 3-dimensional virtual model of the potential end result. This information can then be printed along with a listing of all the materials needed to make the piece of furniture, and instructions on how to assemble it.

The individual would visit their local myKEA outlet to purchase the processed ‘smart’ wood needed along with the CNC (Computer Numeric Controlled) portable router which position so that it can locate itself relative to the wood piece by reading the pattern imprinted on the ‘smart’ wood. The router can accurately cut the parts needed for the individual’s piece of furniture based on the digital data from the myKEA website when they first created it virtually, essentially ‘printing’ the furniture pattern in wood. The joints are of a special design, allowing the furniture express its modular nature.

These parts would then be assembled by the individual according to the printed instructions with the special clips also purchased from local myKEA outlets.

This cellphone was designed for surfers, runners and other people who enjoy being active but still need to stay in contact. Designing a cellphone which would fit in with these activities that we all love and need led to exploring ways that it could be attached to the body so that it could be easily accessed without being a hindrance.

Exploration into its form and the way it would be used through ergonomic testing, modeling and sketching was vital in the resolution.

It was modeled in clay, then cibatool from which moulds were made in plaster and silicon – to emulate the manufacturing process. The vacuum formed plastic shells were painted and then co-molded with the silicon loop and resin wrist band.

Spaces for the buttons and screen were laser cut. The buttons were rapid prototyped, and the screen vacuum formed from acrylic.

The seating profile of a person is etched into rubber seat allowing the person sitting to stretch into the position most comfortable for them.

Stretch explores unconventional materials in furniture, utilizing a butanol rubber which has incredible memory and strength. This allows the surface of the chair to return to its flat stretched shape.

Numerous ergonomics tests helped to inform the final shape of the cuts for maximum comfort for a wide range of people.

Vesi is an exploration in porcelain: by bubbling and engaging with it in a new way, extending existing technologies. This is a lamp which is sensitive to the changes in your life, recording all these special moments in a very personal and intimate way through the crumbling bubbled outer.

This way it is not only a lamp, but it becomes your unique lamp as the surface falls away over time changing the quality of light released. Samples of the extensive experimentation were the underlying strength of this project. Porcelain slip was bubbled and fired, repeated again and again with different ingredients, in different forms and moulds, and tested under different light sources until the desired qualities were achieved.

“The Adventures of Blobby” is an interactive game which explores a new kind of game-play aimed primarily at children. This fun little problem solver is level based and explored a new take on controlling the game through the keyboard. This game was created as a group project by Steven Lam, Kirsty Menhinick and myself as part of an Interactive Web Design Paper at Victoria University of Wellington.

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