The two projects here are prototypes for a chair and a garment. They share similar levels of mass-production, customisation and authorship, along with environmentally friendly materials. The Felt Plug Chair, uses bent plywood and industrial felt. Formwork to bend plywood allows the structural parts to be mass-produced. Holes are drilled into the back and seat area in a grid into which are set 1”x 1” felt plugs. The felt is sized so that the pressure of a person sitting allows each plug to adjust independently. The garment also uses industrial felt. When authorship is ascribed to clothing, we see it in the form of a designer’s name or company tag sewn on the inside. Our questioning of this convention is the starting point. The pattern of a thumbprint, which contains a unique identity through its lines, is enlarged to become the pattern for a dress. When constructed, the pattern of the dress begins with the identity of the designer. Identity, the ‘name tag’, is integral to the garment. Researching related disciplines allow us to free up the conventions that exist within our traditional design disciplines and to seek alternative views. In doing so, we have developed a discourse on design that does not isolate disciplines, but rather inter-references them within the context of two main parameters: a given set of environmentally friendly materials and familiar objects to be altered according to a new set of ideas. Flyspace opens up discussions that affect both the way that design is taught, the ways in which design professions collaborate and, along the way, we have all become big fans of industrial felt! g
FLYSPACE: Michelle Bayer Eric Benson Garrett Seaman Lois Weinthal Katherine Wooley at the University of Texas at Austin, exploring the space of interiors through peripheral disciplines. This project was supported by a research grant from the Uni- versity of Texas at Austin. Lois Weinthal teaches archi- tecture and interior design
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