Blog assignment 4: selected posts

from Duncan Matheson:

This illusionistic street art by Edgar Mueller is an amazing example of contemporary craft. The level of skill involved in producing such an outcome is obviously extremely high. Although Edgar has become highly recognized and world renowned for his work, it has taken a great number of hours practicing and refining his skill to get these amazing results. Originally Edgar’s work was small scale and mainly for self indulgence. The art cannot be ‘bought’, although some of his works have been used as a means of income they are still non permanent and not something that would be sold to a single person. For this reason the art that is produced becomes very inviting due to the interaction between craftsman (Edgar) and the people that enjoy his work; there is very little separation between the two.

from Annabel Hawkins:

Exhibited in 2008, the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef is an ambitious crafting venture by students at the Institute For Figuring in Los Angeles. The concept arose when it was realised that concerns of global warming and pollution were serious threats to the Great Barrier Reef off Australia. Completely naturally resourced, the crochet reef made entirely from wool and discarded plastic water bottles, took four years to make and ended up consisting of almost one thousand separately knitted pieces. This painstakingly delicate craft reflects an interesting change in the design and art world as global environmental, social and political issues are now leading the forefront of design conceptually, and hence we are beginning to see the return of craft in all aesthetic spheres of the industry. Described by the IFF as a “worldwide movement,” this reef illustrates the mobility and evolution of this handcrafted culture, which could reflect a pivotal turning point in the way we create.

from Kelsey Thomson:

This is a Steampunk styled coffee machine created by Benjamin Brown in 2007 as his NYU thesis project.  http://www.therealbenbrown.com/newsbrews/

This contemporary piece of craft represents a contemporary expression of craft, as it is in the Steampunk genre that has only been around for the last 20 years. Based on the Victorian age of Steam technology. Steampunk is subgenre of sci-fi/fantasy type design that uses old craft methods to create futuristic designs. Steampunk is all about the individual crafting an object out of materials they can source around them, usually brass, steel etc. It is linked closely to airships, submarines and other machinery that is associated with sci-fi stories. Individual, hand-made objects is a huge part of contemporary expressions of craft. This coffee machine has an interesting link between a modern day want (need in some cases) and modern day concept of a machine that produces coffee, and this hand crafted machine made from basic materials, in an old style. It is nothing like a mass produced factory machine. Each part of the steampunk coffee machine is hand crafter by one person, as opposed to the generic machine cookie cut coffee makers every pseudo-successful middle class citizen has on their sunbaked terracotta kitchen counter.  This coffee machine also has extraordinary other features:

“In the quest to produce dynamic data displays which present the absurdity of our situation on earth in a more appropriate manner the possibility of using taste as a means of data transmission presents itself. Due to the sensitive nature of taste receptors, it is theoretically possible to encode information into a form in which it could transmit information via taste. Because coffee is such an important part not only of the daily routine of millions of Westerners but also of the economies and societies of the third world countries in which it is grown, it provides an excellent medium for exploration of taste informatics and specifically beverage informatics.News Brews connects to internet news feeds and parses them to determine the relative frequency at which different coffee growing regions are mentioned. It then brews a cup of coffee from freshly ground whole beans which contains relative proportions of beans grown in the regions in that day’s news”. This is an excellent example of futuristic ideas mixed with careful hand crafted older methods.