On the mind of… Designworks’ Laura Ford.

‘On the mind of…’ is a series of posts curated by STW’s talented and diverse staff (and a few friends). Today’s post is from Laura Ford, a Design Researcher in the Auckland office of design and branding agency Designworks. Her role involves auditing markets, gathering insights to be fed into strategy projects, and scouring for trends. You’ll be able to discern her industrial and spatial design training and love of fashion in this intriguing list of what’s on her mind.

Current fascinations.

• Wayfinding. The more time I spend online the more I value tangible experiences of information.  How a shop, library or the newspaper allows us to find our way through subjects offers an organic, often-serendipitous passage to new thinking.  I find it a good way to unlock a new topic, especially one that overcomes our initially limited modern-day vocabularies.
• Fabric. Unlike the tyranny of the blank page the seductive nature of an uncut fabric offers a nice mid-point from which to embark on creating.  Grounded in a practical sense, fabric offer a set of constraints for creating things, namely weight and drape and elasticity within which to challenge and invent.
• Tailoring. I often find myself peering inside clothing or turning them inside out, to see what order they were assembled in.  I love the fact that so many items display their making process in such plain sight, just on the other side of the fabric.

My top 10.

1. A house that yearns to be a tent.

The Wall House by Frohn&Rojas uses fabrics as a predominate part of its outer structure and is one of my all time favourites. I love how it challenges the normal structures of walling – a very sensitive and modular approach to materials and form.

2. All about tea!

All About Tea is a slick little piece of packaging and branding by Moving Brands in London.  Ultra minimal and very easy on the eyes it showcases a new approach to luxury. With a beautifully subtle mark that references the holes in a tea strainer – mild-mannered and magnificent.

3. Olive Oyl shines as a Ratatat groupie.

Normally I’m not too fussed on the big fashion houses like Prada, but this January the 2011 campaign really captivated me.  Set to a track by Ratatat, the stripes and the models all dressed like Olive Oyl from Popeye the Sailorman are really graphic and in highly contrasting colours.

4. Method’s Humanifesto keeps them weird.

Method, who make very design-centred cleaning products, have a really inventive internal culture and really top products to match.  They even have a policy whereby everyone rotates onto being on the reception desk (which is themed!) during the year to keep everyone connected with the customer. We have been pouring over their book, The Method Method, written by co-founders Adam Lowry and Eric Ryan. Watch Adam speak about how they do things.

5. The creative gap: becoming better than most.

Animator Nick Campbell talks about how the internet has changed the value of creating things. There are now so many people out there that are capable – anyone can learn how to do anything.  What are the ramifications of this creative inflation?  Nick suggests that you have to start learning the hard stuff and hone your taste.  This talk is quite long but a must-watch for budding creative types.

6. Knitted niceties from Shaun Samson.

Unpicking the seams: Shaun Samson AW11: a great Style Salvage Knitwear feature.  These are from Samson’s Autumn Winter Collection 2011.  A great approach to creating texture and cabling – created with needle punch felting.

7. Mad props to these poster pin ups.

Created by Radio a group of illustrators hailing from South Africa, they really capture the detail of AMC’s Madmen – one of my favourite shows.  They have a really abstract and gravelly quality – it’s as if you are looking at them through a murky haze of Lucky Strike smoke (how’s that for branded experience).

8. Peeping into the secret lives of Koreans.

An exhibition exposing the darker side of life in Korea.  An intriguing take on voyeurism as a mode to reveal intimate and dark details of private life by Aberrant Architecture.

9. Stopping the gaps.

I remember a furniture design tutor of mine once telling me that if there is a gap to be found people will find a way to cram something into it.  Although he was talking about holes in public furniture, he wasn’t wrong and this great little pothole project by Juliana Santacruz Herrera on the Streets of Paris shows her doing just that.  Though I have seen similar ideas done with potholes and paint on Auckland’s Karangahape Road I do find her work quite delightful.  Especially as it seems that the fabric could stop the crack from opening up or equally be emerging out of them – like a knitted lava flow.

10. Bedding down.

Spindle bed as seen on The Brick House. This bed has something very appealing about it’s detailing, even comforting, common in lots of antique wooden pieces.  Especially ones that have been knocked around a wee bit – they always seem to be full of the drama of being dinged in house moves and being polished with Victorian vigour.

Other links of note.

• NOWNESS, the luxury blog and showcase backed by the LVMH brand.  I think that it’s a strong position for LVMH to take by creating this stream of content in a time when the notion of luxury is very much on shifting ground.
• In keeping with my obsession with behind the scenes processes I also find Style Salvage a very good guide to how objects (clothing mostly) are made.
• Alain de Botton’s Status Anxiety.  I found it really fascinating the way that seeking status motivates us.  There are so many sectors of what makes us ambitious and be we burgeoning entrepreneurs or wafting bohemian types, we are still being shaped by projecting a certain persona.  I think it is really important to be aware of what ambitious creatures we all are underneath.
• Creative Mornings have just begun here in Auckland. Modelled on the graphic designer and blogger Tina Roth-Eisenberg’s series of talks, which began in San Francisco, creatives talk about their work and perspectives.

This guest post is by Laura Ford, Design Researcher in the Auckland office of design and branding agency Designworks. Their Twitter, @designworking, is a beautifully curated source of art, craft, design and trends. Their YouTube channel showcases some of their gorgeous and considered work. Are you interested in curating an ‘On the mind of…’ post? Get in touch. Email | Tweet us @STWnextness.