Final Major Project

For this particular project my brief was to bring a touch of contemporary design to a culture festival in Turkey, 'Mevlana.'

For my starting point I looked at existing pavilions which I had researched in my previous Event Project, more so pavilions which reflected on the sinuous lines of the whirling dervishes in the festival. This research allowed me to come across an artist named Yunwoo Choi who uses rolled up paper and distorts paper into other shapes to create these big installation sculptures. I thought this was clever and wanted to take this approach in my work, and thought it was possible that my final product would be made out of paper completely. To experiment this I rolled up A4 pieces of paper and with a glue gun stuck them all together in a circle. I found the light coming out of the holes through the paper was really successful, therefore I decided to research further into furniture made from paper. Looking back now, I feel I should have researched something different as well to broaden my ideas and make my project background stronger. Probably should have spent more time on research rather than going straight into the idea, maybe then I could have prevented some of the complications that occurred later.

Model inspired from artist

Yunwoo Choi

I wanted to try new techniques of making forms from paper so then I started manipulating paper, rolling them up and joining them in triangles to make up a miniature chair. I thought this model was also successful, helped me decide which technique I felt was better for my project.

Model exploring paper techniques

Having done that I then drew up a sketch of a possible design idea for my final piece. I then rolled up paper glued them together in a rectangle and cut a curve through the middle using a saw. I was pleased with the end result and decided to go ahead with this idea for my final piece. I feel I should have experimented on a larger scale before starting on the final piece, as I didn't think about the complications that would occur on a larger scale that didn't necessarily occur on the smaller scale.

Small model of final piece

During the making process many difficulties occurred which was a result of not having tested the materials I was using further and not having planned out the tools I was using. I rolled up newspaper and stored away a few to test on. The band saw gave me the cleanest cut however unfortunately I could not use it for my final piece. Therefore I had to find an alternative. I used a japanese saw and this gave me the flexibility I needed, it's cut wasn't as clean as the band saw but it was a massive improvement from the rip saw I had used before it. If I had used my time right I think I could have found the time to use the band saw which would have made my product look more aesthetically pleasing.

After the testing was done, I stuck all the rolls of newspaper with PVA in a rectangular shape like I had done with my smaller model. and waited for it to dry. Then I drew out the curve and used the saw to cut it, painted the tops red as to draw out on the whirling dervishes and covered the product in PVA glue as a finish. The outcome of my final piece I think came out really well considering the fact that I had planned for it to be cut by the band saw but unfortunately had to go for the alternative. That is one thing I would do differently which is use the band saw.

Final Piece