iDo Colombia: Week 1 at Fundación Niños de Los Andes

Did you know that your body is capable of getting used to many environments? including highly polluted ones? Yes! Finally my throat doesn’t hurt and my eyes don’t cry any more. I have assimilated Bogota’s pollution.

On Tuesday June 13th, I began to apply my design curriculum with the teenagers from the Children of the Andes Foundation. Although the first day was overwhelming and challenging, as of today, I have learned so much from the kids and am more than happy to have the opportunity of working with them.

Day 1: I introduced the kids to the world of design by presenting a visual gallery with designs made by Charles and Ray Eames, Eero Saarine, Le Corbusier, Carlos Montana, Custo Barcelona, Desigual and truly yours Isabel Perdomo. I also shared with them inspiring art by Van Gogh, Cezanne, Rodin, Botero and Guayasamin.

They thought about identification through art and design, as well as the different ways design affects their life and they affect design. At the end of the class they made road maps on how they identify themselves through design and exposed their ideas to the class.

Creating road maps in relation to Identification and Design

Day 2 & 3: I introduced them to the creative process by creating a visual gallery in which I showed my personal process to produce the Albero Lamp and the Gaudi Pen. They learned the words sketch and prototype.

After understanding the process of design, they began the sketching process in which they explored their inspirations and how they could transform them into musical instruments.

At the beginning of day 3, I showed them their constrains (exclusive materials they could use when making a musical instrument) that way they could start thinking as a designer (within constrains). In addition, I created a visual gallery with different instruments around the world that could serve as inspiration. On this day their sketches started taking a much more design oriented form. At the end of the day, we had a critique session in which each student exposed his inspiration and possible idea for his design.

Sketching and Critiquing work in order to design a musical instrument

Day 4: Today we began making the first prototype of what will be a musical instrument made with reclaimed plastic lids and leather. I showed them how to use the crop-a-dile, gave them materials to build their prototype and helped them to solve design problems.

We played music and enjoyed ourselves as we wandered around the world of design with our own hands. Today, was the most productive day and, to be honest, the most exciting. Indeed, they like to use their hands and their imagination. Some kids worked on their own, while others partnered with a close friend in order to explore and create.

Exploring, creating, working together, Designing!

Please feel free to comment and of course to follow this blog in order to receive updates of this exciting and inspiring project.

Warm regards,

Isabel

iDo Colombia – Segunda Parte

Pandereta with bells

Done and done with classes . Now my main focus is to continue the development of my graduate creative work. That is: iDo Colombia, Industrial Design Outreach for at risk teenagers in Bogota, Colombia.

In less than a month, I’ll be in Bogotá working with teenagers from Fundacion Niños de Los Andes (Children of the Andes Foundation) and delivering a seven week design curriculum that hopes to inspire them to reinvent their lives. Because iDo Colombia will be in Bogotá for such a short period, the materials used for the development of prototypes need to be easily accessible that way when iDo leaves, the teenagers from the foundation, guided by the social workers, can continue developing ideas and exploring design.

Thanks to the director of the foundation, I received samples of some of the materials they already have in-house. Some of these materials are various sizes of plastic lids and rolls of different colors and types of leather. The greatest challenge on using these materials is that for security reasons the kids cannot use any sharp tools such as scissors or x-acto knifes. This makes the alteration of the materials much more difficult. After searching for a safe tool that the kids could play and design with, I found the crop-a-dile, which elegantly opens holes on plastic, leather and paper without exposing any sharp parts.

Learning how to use the Crop-A-Dile

Here are some of my initial prototypes using this tool:

Attempting to make a mochila with plastic lids

Attempting to make a container

Attempting to make a mochila without sewing the leather

After receiving some feedback and ideas from the iDo team and my graduate advisors, I decided to focus on developing a noise maker that not only inspires the kids to be creative but also to share something in group. Here are some of the prototypes:

Pandereta with beads

Roll with beads

Pandereta with bells

These prototypes are nothing but an inspiration for the kids, and I know that the noise makers they develop are going to blow my mind … Our minds!

Stay tuned for the second week of June. I’ll be updating you with the development of iDo Colombia, all the way from Bogotá.

Studio 101 Designs

Who said that Facebook is a waste of time?

Through Facebook, I have kept in touch with people from whom I have learned either at work, school or life.

Two days ago, I saw a link update by Andrew Faust, my former Team Manager at Michelle Kaufmann Designs (MKD). I was excited to read in his link about a new Bay Area Design firm Studio 101 Designs.

“Studio 101 Designs holds the view that the places we live should be useful and functional, beautiful, and durable. These are principles laid out by Vitruvius 2,000 years ago which have guided architects ever since.”

Studio 101 Designs is formed by former MKD Director of  Architecture Scott Landry (President), and former MKD Project Managers Andrew Faust (Project Architect) and James Kean (Design Lead/ Project Manager).

Scott Landry, Andrew Faust, James Kean

According to Studio 101 Designs, they “choose to focus on making buildings that not only aspire to the Vitruvian ideal, but also minimize consumption of resources, time, and energy, both during and after construction … to design efficient, simple spaces that accommodate multiple uses wherever possible, using materials, methods, and forms that minimize life cycle cost.”

Studio 101 offers designs in both prefabricated modular architecture as well as custom site-built homes. Their experience includes years working and maintaining a relationship with Michelle Kaufmann and preserving partnerships with factories such as Blazer Industries.

Their philosophy is: “do more with less.”

Looking forward to seeing more of their work in the upcoming years and seeing more simple, sustainable, well thought out designs out there.