accessible design...

i attended a seminar on tuesday night past hosted by the interiors assocaition which focused on parts M and K of the building regs.

its good to keep abreast of these things and current legislations but what i thought was going to be a very dull and boring 2 hours was actually very interesting and i came away with a whole new train of thought on accessible design.

a few thoughts that stuck with me form the seminar are

• its not the building that is disabling its the environment thats disabling
• its not the building that has to be accessible, its the service that has to be accessible

there is however a bit of a conflict there between compliance nad best practice, however i got to thinking there arent enough of us designing for disabled users and creating a wow factor in that design, then again are the products out there for us as designers to create that wow factor...

while we as designers are constantly seeking solutions, design is constantly evolving, as is accessible design. i for one would like to see a big push in this area and feel that the wow factor is certainly accesible in this area of design...

everybody's at it...

a pet peeve of mine and more to come from me on this regarding celebs and their association with just about everything from perfumes and clothing to interiors...i mean what in all seriousness is it all about...i can understand celebrity endorsements and why not...if someone wanted to pay me to wear their jeans i think i'd be doing it...

but celebs and their interior or home furnishing ranges really annoys me but i saw something today that took the sting out of it....

The Perspective Chair is designed by Pharrell Williams in collaboration with furniture designer Domeau & Pérès. The Perspective chair will be shown in Paris at the prestigious Emmanuel Perrotin Galerie from October 21st 2008 until January 10th 2009. The chair isavailable in four colors and only 4 units of each will be sold. 

This is a piece of furniture is a limited edition, and if they’ll sell only 4 pieces just try to imagine the price. 

The inspiration behind the design of the Perspective Chair was the relationship between a man and a woman, and here is what Pharrell has to say about this : “I had often wondered what it’s like to truly be in love, not lust for once.. So I decided not to ask what it was like in someone else’s shoes or what it was like to sit in their seat.. 

I can almost imagine what is happening from the knees up - how rude!

I actually do like Pharells chair - I just got to wondering what inspired Kylies home range for Dunnes Stores....

nice guns...

with the release of quantam of solace i got to thinking about the ultimate lad pad and absolute must haves...with this bedside lamp she can say 'nice guns' and mean it....

Bedside Gun Lamp by Philippe Starck (www.icone.co.uk)

colour me richy...

Colour is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, yellow, blue and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light (distribution of light energy versus wavelength) interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors. Color categories and physical specifications of color are also associated with objects, materials, light sources, etc., based on their physical properties such as light absorption, reflection, or emission spectra.

bleugh.....thats the science part over...

i saw a fantastic article recently in an irish indepenent property plus supplement featuring a colleague of mine, danielle mac innes of fuse interiors. (www.fuseinteriors.ie). 

provided with a quote from oscar wilde and colour analogies from colour psychologist angela wright, danielle's insights into her use of colour highlighted how crucial it is to think about colour when designing your home, or indeed any space...

it brought me back to some careful studying and thinking i did when completing my graduate project at university, and how important i thought of colour and its uses in the spaces i was designing...if you havent read it, i highly recommend this reading;

itten, the elements of colour; published by chapman and hall...

as much as oscar wilde realised that mere colour can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways, itten also understood that the philosophys applied mean that we as designers must also understand and be conscious of its interests and requirements....

ittens writings provided me with the competence to qualify me with colour control for the rest of my life, i learned alot about colour mixture, on ways hues can be arranged to create harmonious order, (i've never forgotten that statement ), how colours and form relate to each other and create spatial effects.

i've always thought back to this man and his writings anytime i've had to think about colour, and the advice and conclusions i was lead to study have saved me from making clumsy mistakes where colour is concerned...

the business head on me...

i haven't really got one...

i've been a designer for 6 years, within my course at uni we had to study professinal practice but thats exactly what it was all about...professional practice and how to deal with professional aspects of being a designer, nothing to enlighten me as to how to set up a business, run a business, maintain a business...

and i guess in recent weeks alot of advice coming my way has been to set up my own thing and do my own thing, but where do i start and how do i start...

i was at workshop a few weeks ago where a colleague in the design industry said that he had been described as 'a business man first and a designer second'... is that my problem, i'm a designer first....it's all i know and its just the way i am

it lead to a very interesting discussion amongst a few of us trying to decide what comes first - design or profit? can you give 50% to each or will one always lead the other...?