JW 001 Wall Display ‘Making’ by Jeremy Walton 26th April 2009. Kl 12:00

Jeremy Walton and SoupaNatural have teamed up to create a special Sunday afternoon event, a ‘Making’.

Come along for Sunday soup and celebrate the process of making.

In groups there will be time for socialising over a pair of scissors and you should each manage to take home one completed unit of the JW 001 Wall Display by Jeremy Walton.

Ticket availability is limited and can be bought at www.DesignYouMake.com or at SoupaNatural, Guldbergsgade 7A, 2200 København N, +45 32 13 17 35.

Ticket price is Kr 150 and Includes:
Øko Kaffe eller The, Søndag Suppe, Øko Saft og JW 001 pdf E-craftbook.
Come with 9 clean Tetra Rex milk cartons and a pair of scissors.
Making commences at 12:00 and will take a couple of joyous hours.

An open event at SoupaNatural by Jeremy Walton, Thursday the 26th of March 2009

The Jungle will be at: SoupaNatural.Guldbergsgade 7a. near Skt. Hans torv, opposite Rust. Making commences from 9am and aims to be finished and hung up before 6pm.

I shall be making Neo Tramp Art, a lampshade following the soul and ideology of the 19th Century Tramp Art phenomenon. Using commonly found and readily available tools and materials, combined with self invented techniques, I shall be making design creations that rejoice commitment more than perfection.

The original Tramps lived, worked and moved between what they called Jungles. The making of Neo Tramp Art shall take place in a soup bar, which will act as the Jungle for the day.

In true Tramp Art fashion the technique and making of the lampshade is for sharing.

People visiting the jungle on the day will be welcome to help in the making of the shade and learn how they can make their own Neo Tramp Art. The final results and Ecraftbook will be available at www.designyoumake.com soon.

Some unsubstantiated misconceptions about original Tramp Art by Jeremy Walton.

Adding to the gossip and hearsay, where misconceptions become truths.

Tramp Art of the 19th century is an American phenomenon, but the techniques are said to originate from Germany and Scandinavia, introduced in the early 1860s by wandering apprentices (Wanderbuersons). While examples of their work can be found in America, I have yet to find any examples originating from Denmark. Not even a single knife notch.

Come on Denmark, I know that they have been overlooked or even deleted from Danish history, amidst the perfect hum of industry. Plucked out like weeds from amongst the clean roots of so called taste.

You can try all you like to pass the buck on to Germany or Norway, but these were folk of the wandering kind and they could not have travelled between Norway and Germany without spending some amount of time in between. (I have neither found reference to them in Germany or any part of Scandinavia, as of yet)

To disown these so called folk artists is a loss. These Tramps and Hobos have similarities with modern day designers and crafts people. They were trained Tinsmiths, Carpenters and Blacksmiths etc. They worked between different clients. Hobos sought commercial work more so than Tramps. Tramps would see any paid work as a means to finance their own personal creations. Tramps creations were of functional use, such as chairs, tables, boxes.

Tramps being of the wandering kind were the net surfers of their day. Living in camps, known as Jungles, they would share and pass on news and thoughts. They would discuss politics, society and who has built the most impressive box. These people I would describe as being like trees, with their roots in passed on traditions and skills, a solid trunk of originality and independence continuously taking on new layers and lastly, the top bushy part, reaching out into many different facets of society, communicating and intertwining with others and absorbing. They were model designers a long time before the distraction of industry.

These Trampers are possibly the Great Great Grandfathers of sustainable design. They focused on objects of function and utility, developed new techniques, used available resources to good effect (most commonly being the reuse of wooden cigar boxes) and broke with tradition to create their own unique and individual designs.

Who knows in 200 years time America may choose to overlook the episode and principals of Raymond Lowery and delete that from the history hard disc.

“That? Here! No, we have never done anything like That! Not here”. Says the librarian.

Maybe it is true, maybe Denmark can’t lay any claim to these Great Great Grandfathers of design. It could be a German and most probably a Norwegian that developed the penknife carving technique while they were on the boat travelling to America. Yet, is that not an even better example of design ingenuity, which should not only be filed under folk art, but given a place in design history.

What is more, these two tramps on the boat came up with the ingenious marketing ploy of selling their technique as being all the rage in Germany and Scandinavia. It has taken over 200 years for that truth to be questioned.

I am loving these tramps even more.

Notes from workshop.

We shall consider separately:

• The designer’s intellectual creativity, (designers value)
• The actual object (objects value)
• The creative act of making this object. (value to the people)

Involved in this will be exploration of materials, techniques, development through models and full size testing. Many of the typical challenges and considerations involved in designing for manufacture will be faced, but with a twist. The objects wont be created by manufacturers.

It will be far from concept-based design, but a very down to earth real scenario. Resulting in design intellect that can be distributed direct to people in digital form.

Brief. Find new ways to appreciate materials and craftsmanship that may be seen as inferior to that currently used in the furniture industry. Be open to the value of objects and pass this enthusiasm on to the customers. Express your appreciation through the object and others will see and understand it and then appreciate the value of it. Design a piece of furniture that can be distributed in digital form.
The customer will make the furniture based on the design knowledge, the downloaded design.

Design is knowledge.

Do-it-yourself, homemade furniture has existed in different ways for some time and has come in and out of prominence and been presented in different forms of media.

• Web based instructions.
• TV programs about decorating, give visual suggestions of how to make furniture at home.
• Design manuals or books about how to make your own furniture. Nomadic furniture / by James Hennessey and Victor Papanek with many easy-to-follow diagrams, photographs and drawings by the authors.
• Magazines, tips and scale templates.
• Grandfathers shed.
• Passed on traditions.

Can furniture designers be freed of the actual physical object? Can the image of Do-it-yourself / Homemade furniture be improved, modernised, refreshed and made a desirable option?

Where is the value?

• Physical object?
• Digital download?

Comparison – The music industry, physical compact discs, download.
How has people’s respect of copyright changed within the music industry in relation to owning a cd or owning the artist work digitally.

You are doing the solution and creative thinking for your customer.

• What can you give to them?
• Why will they download your design?
• Do they need your design or can they work it out themselves just from copying the presented visual image?
• Is making something at home attractive if it is easy to do?

Craftsmanship is a state of mind.

Design to the abilities of the person making it, what level of skill is needed.
Skill level?

Who is your customer?
Regional, is it aimed at people anywhere in the world or only in Denmark.

Materials
Be open to appreciating materials in different ways. New, waste.
Think about suitable materials that can easily be obtained from hobby shops or hardware stores.
Can these materials be universally found in relation to whom you are aiming at?

Tools
What tools can you expect people to have and be able to use.
Do you decide before hand what tools your customer will have available?
Or do you allow your result to determine what tools the customer will need.
Tool level?

Technology
Designing something to be made by a laser cutter is no different to designing something to be made with a cutting knife.
Can you use the A4 printer as a production technology? Does it print instructions or templates or elements of the final object?
Can the printouts be used as tools to ease the making process?
Are there other technologies that can be used by the customer to enable them to create the object? What is accessible in the high street or in the yellow pages? F. Ex. Engraving, laser cutting…

Marketing.

Adding value to object.
Manufacturers promote how much pride they take in making the object and customers value this. Can the act of making the object be passed over to the customer and give the customer this pride in making the object.
It is not about saving money, it is not a cheap alternative. Having time is not easy. Time is more precious than money. A time valued society.

Facilities. Consider the sort of space restrictions your customer might face.
Transport. Your customer has to obtain the materials and transport them.

Work of the students from Krabbesholm Art school.

BAR CHAIR by RUNE NOËL.
MATERIALS: Wood, screws and glue.
TOOLS: Screwdriver, gluegun, hand saw. SKILL LEVEL: Amature.

DISCRIPTION: Coatstand that follows the princip of a tipi, and easy made.
MATERIALS: Wood Profile list, string.
TOOLS: saw
SKILL LEVEL: Super rookie

Guest Teachers: Claus Bjerre, Ditte Hammerstrøm and Jeremy Walton

(Hygge and Hyggeligt is Danish for – a special kind of cosy togetherness)

Design by Claus Bjerre, Ditte Hammerstrøm and Jeremy Walton. 2003.
The organisers of Glentavej Plads felt the ‘Bench is yours’ concept fitted their park project and commissioned the starting block to be placed in the park. The local residents built the bench further.

Built at Glentavejplads, Nørrebro, Copenhagen

Glentavejplads project. Bench III, 2003

The visual artists Marie Markman, Jesper Dyrehauge and Nis Rømer initiated the Glentavejplads project because of their interest in the design and functionality of public spaces. They have taken waste land and given it to the local people along with encouragement to take initiative.
About the project: In 2002 they stopped a 10 year rental contract of a private car dealer on the plot. Later had the old cars and junk removed in collaboration with people from the neighborhood, House for the Homeless and “Kvarterløft NV”. Exchange of ideas and debate with local residents then went on to implement the communal green space with the help of people from the area.

The Bench is yours, build further.

Bench three is a particularly charming bench, it is solid and direct in its approach to trying to be a bench. With less creative designers, but a variety of locals passing by and getting involved, has meant that it is not challenging the concept of a bench, but just trying to be one.

Built at Paustian in Copenhagen as part of the ‘Derfor’ exhibition. in association with danish Crafts and curated by Louise Campbell.

Starting with an archetypal chair form, waste and found wood is added on to the bench following the archetype of a basic chair, needing legs, seat and back. Any one can add to the bench with the waste wood. It is a democratic project that cannot be designed in advance. We create the base, there after it is up to the people that use the park to continue where the last person stopped. From initial experiments in scale models we have now started several benches in public spaces around the city and the experiment continues.

Louise Campbell – “Hvorfor? – Why have you made such a wild bench?.”

Culture Corporation – “Derfor! It is a democratic project that cannot be designed in advance. We create the base, there after it is up to the people that use the park to continue where the last person stopped.”

60% of bench II was constructed in the garden of our studio by friends. From here it was transported and reconstructed and continued at Paustian.

A Culture Corporation project by Claus Bjerre, Ditte Hammerstrøm and Jeremy Walton. A starting block is laid and people use waste wood to add to the bench where the last person left off.