A tea bag today, a better future tomorrow

Original T-Bag Designs is a socially responsible company that creates sustainable jobs and empowers members of the Imizamo Yethu community, in Hout Bay, to turn discarded tea bags from around the world into beautiful works of art.

Original T-Bag Designs recycles used tea bags - that are dried, emptied, ironed and painted - into 'functional art'. These small works of art are applied to stationary, timber items and even fabric. My favourites were the T-Bag Handle Bag and the Canvas Picture.

The handbag is made out of recycled fabric (fabric taken from discarded fabric sample books) that is decorated with a handcrafted tea bag in a plastic pocket. 

I love the handle detail. The plastic handles contain recycled tea leaves and tea bags. 

The stretched canvas picture has 16 hand-painted recycled tea bags.

One cup of tea has indeed provided previously-disadvantaged people in the Imizamo Yethu community with hope for a better future.

Prototyping!

At last! A prototype of my product design! It required a cardboard box (bigger than myself I might add), cable ties and lots of effort!

Here's a bit of my prototyping process...

It started off with a big cardboard box that I could fit into, I'm not kidding...

I had a template printed that I could stick onto the cardboard box in order for me to know along which lines I must fold. My faithful assistant, Winston, is in the background.

The cardboard box after it has been unfolded. 

I then stuck the template onto the cardboard box and folded along the lines and it ended up looking something like this :) 

This is only a cardboard prototype of the product (stool/beanbag) and Kirsten and her team at Tommy's Upholsterers are currently in the process of manufacturing the product. I'm very much excited to see the end-product! :) 

I heart libraries :)

This past weekend, I payed a visit to the Central Library in Cape Town. This beautiful library was once the Voluntary Drill Hall designed by James Tennant of the Royal Engineers. This Drill Hall was erected in 1884 and designed to serve the volunteer forces of the Western Division as headquarters as well as an indoor venue for instruction and for drilling in bad weather.

The Central Library with its beautiful steel roof trusses is 56 years old and have a book collection that includes all 11 languages. During my visit there I noticed that this is no quiet library. With more than 70 000 people that visit this user-friendly library every month, it is a place where people meet, take out books, study, do homework or research or even engage in activities and workshops. The Central Library is the largest library in and around Cape Town and is the social hub of the inner city! :)

Who let the dogs out?

We are currently in the process of developing three products that would add value to our proposal. My proposal entails an educational resource centre for primary school learners and therefore I explored children's furniture. From my explorations it seems that children are particularly fond of animal-shaped furniture. Upon exploring, I stumbled upon this collection...

Tom Bendkovski, an industrial designer of Tomski Design, created a series of furniture for his final project at the Holon Institute of Technology (in Israel). Bendkovski called the collection 'Hosting Hounds'. This collection incorporates the visual and behavioural characteristics of man's best friend. The dog-inspired furniture consists of a chair, a coffee table and a stool each with their own canine personalities.

Meet Kashi and Karl :) 

 Kashi is a stool with a cushion held on with a dog collar.

 And Karl is a coffee table...

but Karl has been a bad boy as he appears to be holding his head down. 

You won't be able to keep your hands of this pillow!

'The starting point of designing 'HUHU' is for encouraging people to get emotional compensation by using the object. Many people have their unconscious/fidgeting behaviour including chewing nails, shaking legs so on. 'HUHU' try to help people to be relaxed by pulling out strings from the inner surface of the cushion to play with them. The end result of unconscious behaviour make 'HUHU' beautiful. The name and metaphor 'HUHU' comes from the moment of people deep breathing when they relax' - Saehee Her (designer).

Colour me in!

It's National Colour Week from 1-7 September 2013! As part of the National Colour Week, Plascon has introduced their Colour Forecast for 2014. One of my favourite colour palettes is Urban Tribe. This colour palette echoes the increasing sentiment of national pride. :)

 

'Colour expresses a sense of place. It shows not just where we are, but who we are.'

Also view the other colour palettes: Plascon 2014 Colour Forecast

90 days left of B.Tech...tick-tock, tick-tock

The Time Machine Clock by the Portugal-based designer, Daniel Duarte, is an abstract clock with layered bars that rotate as time passes. The geometric patterns constantly shift and change as the time ticks away. The yellow-tipped bar represents the hour, while the orange-tipped bar signifies the minutes.

Time is ticking as we only have 90 days left of B.Tech!

Who still remembers Moomin?

Moomin is most certainly one of my fondest childhood memories!

Artek, an iconic Finnish brand, has introduced the much-loved Moomin characters on the Alvar Aalto-designed Table 90B, Stool 60 and Stool E60 as well as on the Children's Stool NE60 and Children's Chair N65.

I feel like a kid again! :)

Treatise in a nutshell

Second semester is in full swing and my B.Tech journey is past the halfway mark! 

Here is an abstract of my treatise...

A story of hope

I met with the founders of The Hope Jones Foundation today! This foundation is a P.E.-based NGO that aims to enable and empower children with physical and mental disabilities.    

The Hope Jones Foundation is also looking into making use of disused shipping containers as libraries, similar to my B.Tech project, that would be situated at special needs schools. 

Read about their other projects as well the story of Hope Jones at http://www.thehopejonesfoundation.co.za/

Glass discs shelving

Nendo, a Japanese design studio, designed a timber shelf system with circular glass discs that serve as doors. The design of the transparent glass discs have a beautiful handmade quality about them and have been inspired by 'the historical practice of cutting sheet glass from glass discs'. 

These discs can be moved when one uses the finger-sized 'handles' by means of slots in the shelve. The glass also has bubbles and depressions in the surface that help distort the objects you place on the shelves behind them.  

Anyone for a cuppa herbs?

Truth, together with the digital agency Native, has developed the new 'Seeds of Truth' project. This project entails serving coffee in limited-edition biodegradable coffee cups. These coffee cups have a protecting ring implanted with seeds. When your done enjoying that cup of coffee, you simply scrunch this protector ring, drop it in the cup and add soil, water and love and 'voila!', you have your own herb garden :)

In Afrikaans one would say: "'n Koppie boeretroos so na aan my hart!"

Yes, it's that time again...portfolio!

Portfolio time...a time when 8 hours of sleep is something of the past, friends and family become strangers and emotions run high!

Design concept

I have been developing a concept for my proposed design...here is an extract from my treatise :)

'The educational resource centre aims to grow a reading culture by creating a place where primary school learners’ can develop their knowledge and skills. The knowledge and skills obtained by learners will enable them to grow positive self-esteems and to feel free to dream their own dreams. Enriching the education of numerous learners will all ultimately aid in growing a nation. The keyword that sprouts from all this is the word ‘grow’.

A tree portrays the grow-process beautifully in nature. Therefore, the heart of the design concept is the tree. Trees are essential to the existence of human beings, just as libraries and books are essential to the education of young learners.

A tree starts off with one small seed. The ‘mobile pods’ that travel to different schools function as the seeds. At whatever school they are planted; they help to develop and grow learners’ knowledge and skills. The ‘mobile pods’ will also implant a culture of reading within primary schools.

A tree is anchored firmly in the ground by means of its roots. The main function of the educational resource centre is to equip learners with library material so that they can build a foundation for their future education. The learners’ roots also narrate the story of their culture and where they come from.

Generally, people gather at trees. They provide shade as well as shelter. The educational resource centre will also be a place where primary school learners gather to develop, grow and share knowledge and skills. Knowledge is usually shared and passed on from generation to generation. These generations are often depicted in family trees. The sharing of knowledge and skills also creates opportunities for interaction between learners from different primary schools. Since the tree is a natural element, it ties in very well with the sustainable design approach. Just as trees produce beautiful fruits and flowers, the educational resource centre will grow educated learners with positive self-esteems.'  

Africa Week

I had no idea that it's Africa Week from the 21st to the 25th of May. Stumbled upon this postcard while I was purchasing my daily fix of caffeine at university. Try and see how well you know Africa :)