We entered the first (it will run next year) beer chair competition. We even went to the event. There were lots of people, I think that the Lee Woodman studio people were a bit surprised at the number of entries, though a lot of them knew each other – in the design industry perhaps? We saw one of the Co-op’s neighbors there – he is jeweler. There was a lot of happy chatter. It did not take long for the crowd to thin after the curtains were opened at the studio and the crowd started to defect to look at the chairs. That’s why we were there. Of course for us the $ would make a difference but our total interest was in how others had tackled this challenge. We poured over the techniques other’s used to stick bits of metal together. The winner’s chair was out standing. The tiny castors and the metal stand…..
The thing that strck me was that there were lots of adults, and a few kids, PLAYING. What would we need a beer can chair for – nothing! But did we learn stuff… did we ever. Necessary stuff – well who knows, I now have in my head some of the nature of the metal of a beer can and how I could possibly use it. Was my creativity, imagination muscle utalised? oh yeah.
That is my Len Lie chair from Resene. The name makes me smile – I love Len Lye, the pink designy beer can made me giggle – to go with the decor? But now I kinda want to make the chair. The back and the seat are the same, you could sit any way and it rocks… I’d have to know more about the nature of metal to make the rockers to take your weight and rock, maybe be springy. oo Physics.
This is what I want for kids and their projects:
- joy
- learning
- creativity
- imagination
- cross pollination
- being part of a group having fun
- projects that lead to other projects
This is not how the technology curriculum is taught at school – there is always a utility to the project, a consumer. This is how creative people work – a bit of this, a bit of imagination, and lots of play.
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