Uncategorized

So we are back in the thick of it again. The first couple of days have been spent getting (re)acquainted with the place. Today we (3D Dept) have shared our previous work with each other and Scott went over the how he expects the studio to be run, project details,.

I am looking forward to getting going again. I have a few projects to finish up from last semester and a couple of new ones to start. Plus we will begin a project with Herman Miller in a couple of weeks! Plus reading, plus lectures, ++++!

With the new school year comes a new studio:

I can’t wait to see the wacky stuff that people submit. Way to go, Blu Dot!

Visit the Blu Dot Swap Meet

I recently purchased wool felt from Fitz Felt. Their selection is great and the quality is amazing.

On Oct. 2nd, the annual Raft Regatta for the first year students at Cranbrook took place. The theme this year was Gaga Regatta (i.e. Lady Gaga themed rafts, outfits, etc). Departments are paired up and race around an ‘island’ (more like a mound). Winners then race each other to determine the winner. A stipulation to note for this year: in order to win, a hamburger must be visibly attached to one of the students in each boat. The hamburger must be consumed before the lap is deemed complete. Good times. My department came in second and was not exactly Gaga-esque. Non the less, they did us proud.

A hand drawn and asymmetrical aesthetic for new tableware collection ‘Ovale’ by the Bouroullecs for Alessi. Here is the PDF that I received in the mail today.
erb_alessi_ovalecollection

Getting an Etsy store set up is fairly easy. I looked at how others had set theirs up, paying attention to graphics and descriptions. I created a mock-up in Photoshop to see what a store with a few of my offerings might look like. Here is a screen shot of the actual store:

Naming your store can be tricky because it needs to be memorable enough so that people can get back to it. Instead of going with MatthewPlumsteadDesign to be consistent with my website, I went with MacPDesign because it is easy to remember. I thought it might be good to keep these entities separate anyway, because I would be offering a small sub-set of what I actually make and I wouldn’t want to become the ‘modern birdfeeder guy’. Of course, I should have made a small website just for these types of items if I really wanted to keep them separate.

Continue reading…

Ever since a friend introduced me to Ponoko a while ago, I have wanted to work on a project that would make use of their laser cutting service. They offer an array of materials to cut as well. I wanted to make something that didn’t consist of many parts (kind of a thing with me). I had been looking out a window in the house where we are living and visualizing a bird house or feeder out there. I looked around on the web for modern looking birdhouses without finding too many. Most were pricey to boot. That encouraged me to pursue designing one with the vague notion of possibly selling it through Etsy eventually. Using packaging as  inspiration, I began to draw some forms that could be made by heat-bending acrylic (which Ponoko offers in various thicknesses and colors).

Initially I came up with something that looked like this:

I decided to change the design to add a bit more protection from the elements. The great thing about creating this in Solidworks is that I can treat the part like sheet metal with bent flanges. Then I can flatten it and export a perfect pattern to be used for laser cutting.

Once I converted the pattern to an Illustrator EPS (the preferred format for Ponoko), I sent the file off to be cut. The turn-around for this job was over 3 weeks. I know that is fast for this sort of service, but of course I wish it were faster (even when I upgraded my account at one point, it was still 2 weeks or so). What I got back was this:

To make it more economical, I put 2 parts on a single sheet. Not entirely sure just how well the acrylic would bend, I made one part with long perforations and the other with scoring marks to guide a straight edge when bending. I made a mold out of pieces of MDF using a CNC router to bend the plastic around. Even with this planning, both parts failed. The part with the scoring was too hard to accurately bend along each edge. The shorter flanges looked horrible. The other part was much easier to bend. Unfortunately the perforations were too long causing the flanges to warp slightly. The next version would have perforations but they would need to be smaller and cover the entire edge evenly. Bending then should be a cinch.

This proved to be the case as the next images will show.

Feeling confident about the process, I began to make adjustments to the original design and create a few more variations. This would also mean needing to make additional molds. For accuracy’s sake, the pieces for the molds needed to be cut using a CNC router using digital files that were derived from the main files. The pieces that I would make look like this:

With an order in at Ponoko, I decide to investigate setting up shop at Etsy. More in part 2.

I am a furniture/product designer attending graduate school at Cranbrook Academy of Art. Prior to this, I received my BFA in Furniture Design from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Afterward I spent 6 months interning with the design team at Blu Dot Design and Manufacturing. I am interested in creating products that pay tribute to modernism but look forward to how people use and may benefit from furniture and objects that are designed for their current place in time. Form to me is as important as function. My focus currently is to be able to produce products that make life easier for people at home and work as well as making these respective environments more beautiful. After graduate school, who knows where my focus might be…

CV

The purpose of this website is to have a place to share the development and creation of my work. I feel compelled to share a bit of the process in addition to the final products.

The main point of the blog is to document my time in graduate school and the resultant work. My current goal is to have a small collection of furniture to exhibit at the Salone Satellite at the 2012 Milan Furniture Fair. There is no guarantee that I will get in, but that is the goal. Comments about any of this is always appreciated!