June

I recently bought a car to get from A to B. It is a Mitsubishi Diamante 30M. It is almost black, with a luxury interior and a 199kw engine. It is not the car I would want to buy, however it fitted into my price range, and everything works, so it appeared to be a logical choice.

The big draw-back is that it is a huge car and it is not fuel efficient, though it does have a high technology engine and a 5 speed automatic, so it tries to be as efficient as possible. The possitives outweigh the negatives, like the 17 inch wheels, sunroof, 7 speaker CD stereo, traction control, wood grain trim, and that it has the most powerfull of all the Diamante engines. It should be a good car to get me going places.

June

I wanted to display this month a sample of the buildings that I have cut out and assembled from paper. The orange buildings are from the Pop-up book series that I produced in 2007, and the grey toned buildings are from the build your own New York and build your own Chicargo websites. This is a fun and involving exercise when I have down time to create miniature buildings from printed paper, and it is also very cheap.

May

This month I decided to include a hanging light fitting that I constructed from spare parts almost 5 years ago. It is matched with a table lamp that sits upon the refurbished dining table in the previous post.

The painted finish is a beige pearl, with silver and white highlights that appears to attract flies in summer. The soft, frosted glass shades allow for a diffused light that reflects from the ceiling into the room. The bulbs are Eco-bulbs with a maximum wattage of 18 watts and they easily fit into this hanging light fitting as the glass shades are wide enough for larger bulbs.

April

A project that I have been working on for the past 3 years. This is a fireside chair, finished in worn beige paint, with cream canvas upholstery.

Originally this was a mess, with previous restoration and recovering attempts creating more problems by previous owners. So when I was presented with this chair by my sister, I tried to avoid wasting time on reupholstering it. But now, after stripping the chair back to the frame, I rebuilt it and used new feature foam instead of the spring base and full foamed back. The canvas gives the chair an informal nature and has feature stitching to match the leather lounge suite that it sits next to.

April

This simple, antiquated dining set was given an updated new look. For the past 15 years the old Oak dining table has been in storage awaited the top to be reconstructed. In March I rebuilt the top, and refinished it in a hard wearing and much more contemporary white pearl semi-gloss finish. There are accent beige strips in legs to highlight the colum style carving and provide a transition into the colour of the chairs, which are a stronger beige colour.

The chairs are more of a worn beige finish to provide a false aged look similar to that of chairs available at faux antique stores in Auckland. They have been transformed from the 1980, dark brown finish and are now more lighter looking in appearance to hide the physical weight of each chair. They upholstery is a shiny cream/beige polyester fabric that reflects light like the semi-gloss finish of the table.

The inspiration came from Marie Antoinette and Louis 16 furniture, with the pale painted colours of latter period Petit Triannon chairs and tables showing what can be done with more ornate, old style forms.

April

This is a continuation of the "Retro, Almost 80s, Arts and Crafts, Contemporary" themed furniture. The transition from CAD to realised 3D was easy due to the simple nature of this furniture, like the ottoman.

The hard-edged ubilquitous box frame works well with the hall table/sofa table function of this piece of furniture. The feature chrome legs are cut at a 45 degree angle to provide stability and adjustability, while implying a continuation up through the void space in the sides to the top chrome supports. The basic materials used are easy to convert, with the chrome tubing being recycled from other defunct furniture, and the pine wood can be recut or used again for something new.

March

I have now finished the ottoman, with the newly painted black finished wood. However, I am thinking about new upholstery, as this colour no longer is appealing. The current trends for white or pale colours and bold patterns have changed my opinion in regards to colours.

The black frame blends with other interior items, such as my 'new' black metal dining table, that utilise minimal resources to produce a strong and supportive frame.

February

Wharfedale Diamond 9.

I bought a speaker package in February as the first step in the upgrading of my audio equipment. The speakers are multi award winning, with high-quality sound, and finished in Cherry veneer.

Diamond 9.1 (multi award winning)
Diamond 9.5 (a great pair of floor standing speakers)
Diamond 9 CS (great middle range centre speaker)
Diamond 9 SW150 (2 award winning subwoofers for great bass)

The kevlar and silk dome speakers produce a natural sound that recreate all the small sounds in movie sound tracks, while not over emphasising the vocal tracks or bass tones. I now have 2 subwoofers that fill the room with bass that is both natural and loud. I have become addicted to buying more of these speakers, so I now hunt through websites and stores for more great bargan Wharfedale Diamonds.

November

This is a photo of the Ottoman that I completed. The drawing of the object in a CAD programme helped visualise the end result. The joints are mortise and tennon, and I thought that they would be easier to create than the reality of the situation. However I am happy with the level of effort that I put into it, and it is a good quality ottoman that will last a long time.

November

In the past few days I have been learning to use a new computer aided design program that I down loaded from the internet. It is Google Sketchup, and it is a simple, and easy to use tool that can allow me to visually create a design before it becomes 3D.

This is a picture of what I am currently creating, an ottoman made from pine wood, with an orange upholstered top and chrome metal castors. It is a basic design, but it allows me to work on developing my skills with tools. I have utilised mortise and tennon joints for the construction of the base, hopefully making it strong enough for the weight of two people. It is a good project to fill in time now before the end of the year, when I can think about new projects for 2009.

October

This month I have continued renovating the house, with the photo showing the latest area to be completed. The walls have been painted to a high standard, and the windows have been restored to their original condition. The table is the work of another person, but I restored it and repainted it in a white wash finish.

The two chairs are part of a continued restoration of over 30 chairs. These two have rimu seat bases as opposed to the upholstered seats of another 24 chairs. They are not yet finished. The small table is comprised of two chair bases and a recycled rimu top. The rimu came from a dismantled storage unit. The terracotta planters are the result of a minimal effort in reconstructing the broken pieces with masonary silicon, while the abandoned plants have grown substantially since I replanted them. More soon.

August

These patchwork cushions are part of an exploration into a variety of issues. The pattern on the english pure cotton reminds me of an immitation woodgrain finish. It was too large for an upholstery project, so I have broken it down, just like a sheet of veneer. I have collected scraps to assemble together, while foregoing the grain matching that could form an interesting pattern.

The idea of recycling is more prevalent in my design projects now, as I can include many pre-manufactured elements in one form, and not make more items that can be unnecessary. This can also save on costs and time, and it makes me feel better that I am not adding more items to the growing mountain of waste that is growing in New Zealand.

The strong lines that usually appear in my personal designs are represented in these cushions as segmented elements of a series of lines. They could imply the dynamic speed lines that are not visually present in other similar designs, such as the lightweight tables of last year. What I am more concerned with recently is finding a series of connecting elements and ideas, so I can produce a defined aesthetic that forms my signature style.

July

This month I have been considering the re-using of old discarded objects in new contexts. I have found that if I focused on one or two colours, in the sourcing of objects, then the task would be easy and not overwhelming. So I refurbished old cafe chairs with orange pleather, found in an emporium. I have given a metal storage case for an electric drill a new life as a storage case for drawing and light tools. In a similar way I have used old kitchen storage containers from OP shops as storage for small transient items, like medications. Lastly I have recycled old discarded fabric into cushion covers, more as an exercise in upholstery than decor items.

April

52 Chairs

This month I bought 52 chairs from an internet site. Currently I am finalising plans to use these chairs. I have made a tower from 16 chairs that have minor broken faults to the frames. This tower relates back to the tower of tables that I made back in 2006, and to the theme of multiples in my productions last year.

They are a formal contrast to my angular aerodynamic aesthetics that I used last year, but in other ways the design of the chairs works well. The spartan frame implies a light-weight quality, with minimal steel necessary for the function of the chairs. But the black, heavy steel contrasts to the light weight nature of the tables I have produced. I will work on redesigning elements of the chairs.

I bought the chairs partly for one purpose, that is for my own use. But I only need up to 18. Another 6 have gone to my parents, and the rest I do not know. I may need to design a table for sale with these left-over chairs.

Labyrinth

The Unitec graduates show 2007 was better than the year before. The designers collective that I am a part of, Suite 6, put on the best display of all pathways. We worked together as a group to put on a display that was talked about for weeks after the show. The Suite 6 catalogue was put together by hand and was worth the effort.

November

This photo shows the coffee table in a natural waxed finish. It weighs only 6 kilograms, yet is strong enough for myself to lie down on it, and I weigh in at 75 kilograms. The photo does not show the complex and beautiful integrated chassis that is the support for the table. Being constructed in the formation of the Union Jack, and from light-weight plywood, it supports all areas of the table surface and the legs.

The tables are available in the waxed finish with a selection of grain patterns to choose from. The featured table has a birds eye pine grain that is rare and beautiful. Other wood grains include a flame look or common multicolour pine. The grains can be enhanced by a limited selection of stains, from white to black, or they can be subdued by a painting process available in any colour.

November

Featured in this photo is the dining table set from my latest range of tables that i have developed. The range is inspired by jetliners and retro prototype cars from the 1970s. They are constructed to be of a minimum weight, yet the tables are strong enough to support myself when i sit on them. The tables are available in a selection of finishes and can be made to any size.

October

This month I will show a preview of my work that was included in a recent photo shoot. It is for the soon to be published catalogue of the Graduate show at Unitec. These are not the final images in the catalogue, or the photos of the furniture that will be appearing in the show. But they are a teaser for what will be comming.

September

The exhibition was a big success. The book that I created, that featured in last month's post, was well received. For September, I will be working with plywood in creating tables that are a synthesis of various elements. These elements include aerodynamics, 70s automobile prototypes, jetliners and architecture. So it can be said that I am creating hybird furniture and objects.

August

The Pop-up books were a fun and time consuming experience. I have produced a large book for a travelling exhibition that will soon be at Kfm in K road in Auckland. It will be joined by more in this series, as I am going to extend that project into a new project i am currently starting. I will be developing furniture based on these books.

Ideas and forming and i will be posting more images shortly.

Carl