Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Research shows the importance of a childhood home environment encouraging of creative and imaginative play. I designed a set of children's furniture that, in addition to being play toys, stimulates creativity, interactivity and understanding of design construction. When a child understands how furniture is assembled and is encouraged to be creative in play, he or she gains valuable learning experiences while having fun. Together, a child and adult can easily assemble all the pieces of furniture without any need for tools. Much like a puzzle, the child has fun assembling the furniture while, at the same time, learns valuable lessons of spatial relationships and structural stability. This also leads to an understanding of safety in play. The added element of a portable three-inch LED orb encourages interaction once all pieces are assembled. Abstract design elements were used to stimulate imagination during play. Using basic Gestalt design principles, the furniture series was constructed to not only be structural but to be beautiful in design. The curved abstract shapes encourage the child to take control and imagine the furniture as integral components of their play scene.

An exploration into the possibilities of surfaces as three dimensional forms through abstraction and movement. Through manipulation and the transition from two dimensional and three dimensional surfaces become adaptable for use as functional objects, furniture and spaces as they come together to create designed compositions based on scale, material, fabrication process and meaning. The following writing hopes to present a working statement of methodology for design across the three-dimensional design spectrum, from small objects, to furniture prototypes, to architectural and interior scale concepts.

<p>In V.S. Naipaul’s novel <em>A House for Mr. Biswas </em>furniture and possessions are consistently present and their path can be clearly traced, but they are rarely brought to the fore as the central image in the unfolding events of the novel. To borrow a metaphor from movies: the furniture is not the leading actor; the house is. The furniture has a supporting role in the story. This essay explores how the furniture and other possessions in <em>A House for Mr. Biswas </em>underline and illustrate various aspects and themes of the novel from the perspective of what the things in themselves project, what their role is and what they say about the character of Mr. Biswas and his life’s trajectory in the overall colonial context.</p>

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Delaware, 2006. / Principal faculty advisor: Brock W. Jobe, Winterthur Program in Early American Culture. Includes bibliographical references.

In V.S. Naipaul’s novel A House for Mr. Biswas furniture and possessions are consistently present and their path can be clearly traced, but they are rarely brought to the fore as the central image in the unfolding events of the novel. To borrow a metaphor from movies: the furniture is not the leading actor; the house is. The furniture has a supporting role in the story. This essay explores how the furniture and other possessions in A House for Mr. Biswas underline and illustrate various aspects and themes of the novel from the perspective of what the things in themselves project, what their role is and what they say about the character of Mr. Biswas and his life’s trajectory in the overall colonial context.

Introduction: Swedish furniture companies have been quite successful in many parts of the world recently, with IKEA being a famous example of that. Meanwhile, Vietnam has one of the fastest-growing economies in South East Asia. However, there has not been any Swedish furniture company established on the Vietnamese market so far. Therefore, it would be useful to see if the Vietnamese furniture consumers would appreciate Swedish furniture, in order to analyze whether Swedish furniture companies could have success in Vietnam as well. Purpose: To study (1) How Vietnamese furniture consumers perceive the typical product values of Swedish furniture and (2) Analyze the potential for establishing Swedish furniture companies on the Vietnamese market. Methodology: Interviews, survey and secondary data. Findings and Analysis: The findings show that Vietnamese furniture consumers would generally appreciate Swedish furniture product values. Although the consumers do not recognize Sweden or Scandinavia as a furniture country or region, their preferences shown in furniture characteristics imply a increasingly positive attitude towards typical Swedish furniture product values. Conclusion and Recommendations: Due to the appreciation of Swedish typical product values, the potential for establishing Swedish furniture companies could be regarded as considerable in terms of product values. It is thus recommended that Swedish furniture companies carry on with creating typical Swedish product values when they enter the Vietnamese market. Index words: Sweden, Vietnam, Furniture, Product Values, Consumer Perception

“Long long time ago, there was an old Bamboo Cutter man called Taketori-no-Okina. He cut bamboos from forests and used it for many different daily tools.” This is the first sentence from “Princess Kaguya”, Taketori-Monogatarior Kaguya-hime in Japanese. This is the tale of the Bamboo Cutter that was written in 9th or 10th century Japanese folktale. It is considered the oldest existing Japanese narrative. The story is about the life of a mysterious girl called Kaguya-hime, who was discovered as a baby inside a glowing bamboo plant by Taketori-no-Okina. According to the first sentence of this tale there is a very close relationship between human life and bamboo in Japan. TAKE, bamboo is one of the typical trees in Asia. I grew up in the countryside in Japan and my house was located just in front of a bamboo forest. I also have some experiences of using bamboos the same as in the tale, “Princess Kaguya”. When I walk in the bamboo forest, I have a very special feeling that is intricately related to my childhood background. Nowadays there are several problems about bamboo forest, but on the other hand bamboo itself is focused as an ecological and sustainable material. There is an interesting project involving bamboo forests that is going on near my hometown in Japan. This project is producing bamboo plywood and furniture made from this material.   For my Masters examination, I have designed furniture made of this bamboo plywood related to my background and my feelings towards the bamboo forest. / Master / InSpace 2009

I detta examensarbete har jag använt en designers formrepertoar och materialpalett och inspirerats av andra formgivares sätt uppdatera redan befintliga former. De produkter jag använt mig av är ett Parson bord och en lampfot. De material jag använd är kalkad ek, flock och rostfritt stål. Före, under och efter min formgivningsprocess har jag reflekterat över den mer övergripande frågan vad det är som gör något vackert, estetisk tilltalande. I arbetet har jag kommit fram till att det går att ta redan befintliga former och, genom designprocessen och valen man gör som designer, att göra de till sina egna.