Studio in the workshop
Designing through prototyping
The process of prototyping is never based on finished executive drawings - all elements of the object are in process of checking, approving, changing and adapting to achieve the best solutions possible. The material itself can suggest the direction a design should take - much more so than a detailed drawing. The eye will pick up wrong proportions or a too-bright wood grain and the hand will sense uneven edges. Through this way, our senses will not be deceived by even the most skillfully prepared details. Ideas based on the use of a particular material need to be tested, even in imperfect conditions- so that throughout the process- the material becomes a helpful whisperer that suggests which direction the initial thought should follow. We believe that prototyping is the slow process of dressing an abstract idea in the fabric of reality.
Matching realities
Thought in matter
There are thousands of things between a thought and a word we can speak. Even if we can save more and more data in the digital reality, the material one seems to defragment at the same time. That contradiction creates new, unknown conditions, forcing us to create new methods for cognition.
The collaboration of Artur de Menezes, Objects With Narratives and Studio Zmir shows that a shared sensitivity can overcome the geographical distance. Three different backgrounds from three different countries can through trust and mutual understanding, bring a simple idea into reality.
We are all designers who share the opinion that a simple yet good idea requires the best workmanship and choice of material to tell the narrative without the use of words.
Expression of the nature
The road from the soil to the object
Lucius Burckhardt's idea that a landscape can only be enjoyed if you also know about it, seems a radical but accurate approach for the current times. Man has been transforming and destroying the landscape for many years, following his own short-sighted interests. In our view, any permanent human action he undertakes in the landscape requires a recognition of the place, and not just for complete enjoyment, but for the creation of a wise sentence based on the alphabet with which the place speaks of itself. The higher the value of a landscape, the more difficult its alphabet becomes to recognize.
The form designed by Artur de Menezes unveils darker grains that are visible on the base of the table which is a message from the ground about what happened to the tree while it was growing. It shows that the tree was affected with a change of groundwater level. The roots connected with these fibers lose their connection to the effective supplies of needed substances. The knowledge about those facts is easy to acquire but hard to implement in the process of designing - it can happen through prototyping.