As part
of Design Week 2011 short discussions and talks were presented in the Cruth
Currach in just off the Main Plaza in UL. On Thursday lunchtime 3/11, Jan Frohburg
presented a discussion on design.
The first speaker was John Logan. John began by posing us a question “What is
design? “. He then proceeded to to pull what looked like an oddly shaped rock
out of a box he had brought with him. He explained how his father had found
this rock in a drain in the 1950’s and how he eventually came to realise it was
an axe head, several thousand years old.
John grew up with this object lying around the house, sometimes used for
everyday things like a paperweight.
On a visit to Ghana later in his life, John
noticed an object strikingly similar to the one his father had found in the
50’s, being sold in a car boot sale. John was told these objects were used as
agricultural tools thousands of years ago. While these tools might seem
primitive to us, they were well designed for their time. Danish scientists
performed experiments with these tools and found that they could clear a
hectare of birch in a day. John then reminded us of the striking similarity
between these two objects, one made in Ireland thousands of years ago, and the
other in Ghana. This shows universality in human design and need.
John brought out other similarly shaped axe
heads and an even more primitive looking one. He then showed us the progression
the design of the axe head took throughout the ages right up to the modern day
axe. Technology John said “Is something that amplifies human existence “ John
finished his talk by talking about the universality of natural design as well
and how it influences humanity in artificial design. John took out an egg and then some stone
sculptures that a famous British sculptor known as “William Moore “did inspired
by the form of the egg.
Following John, Jan Frohberg's talk was focussed on the
Bauhaus and the famous cantilever chair designed by Marcel Breuer while John Logan sat in the chair Jan had
brought with him. Jan remarked on how a
“ tube of bent steel” bound by leather could provide such comfort. Jan also
explained how the large scale production of the chair was only made possible by
the Bauhaus’ move to Dessau, a progressive industrial town. Jan then went on to
point out that the Bauhaus was the first architectural design to take into
account its’ aerial view as Dessau had an airplane factory.
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| By Conor Campbell |