New Core77 Column: How I Design Stuff –
I don’t have a lick of formal training in furniture or industrial design (my only design schooling was in graphic design). And yet, after reading the book “The Old Way of Seeing” by Jonathan Hale in the 1990s, I decided to give it a go.
Please consider the above paragraph to be a “surgeon general’s warning” for the next paragraph.
You can now read how I design furniture and other objects in my latest column for Core77. My process starts with becoming organized and disciplined about the visual world and how I experience it and preserve it – my image library is the backbone of my designs. Then I move on to sketches, models and prototypes. And I take different approaches depending on whether I’m building a platform or a box (the two major forms of furniture).
I don’t consider my process unique. But I do hope that explaining it might give you some tools to try out on your own designs, just like “The Old Way of Seeing” did for me.
As always, my column is free to read at Core77.
— Christopher Schwarz
Here are links to my other Core77 columns, which cover the problems faced by people who design and make things.
The (Mostly Forgotten) Power of Vernacular Design
Should You Publish Your Prices?
Be Honest About Your Inspiration – or Else
Anarchism & Design
The Exploitation of Wood
