FLOAT ON...
A functional sculpture inspired by waste cluttering our waters.
Fall 2023 - 40 hours - Individual
Steel & Recycled Pool Lane Lines
Exhibited in Gallery 100 Mirabella, Tempe, AZ
Brief:
Prompted with designing and creating a sculpture that interacts with the human body utilizing steel, via MIG welding, I was drawn to furniture as a practicing product designer.
Aware that past designers are partly responsible for linear product lifetimes, and hence, global warming, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, etc., I set out to turn our trash into reusable resources.
Malmsten Inc., a racing lane line company in Tempe, Arizona, was partnered with for this project.
Having multiple old lane lines equating to 500+ individual floats, and not wanting to contribute to single use plastics, the company gratefully handed the otherwise trash over to the school.
312 high density polyethylene rings & 35.58 ft. of PVC coated stainless steel wire were utilized in this chair.
While recyclable, these require a plethora of processes to make an usable material again. Often more $, labor & emissions is required than it is worth at times.
Yet, by using the form & function of the current state of materials, these extra costs are incredibly lessened, if not forgone.
A forgiving hammock of lined rings emulates the user floating on water.
The softly curved frame was inspired by waves and allows for a broad range of user's to enjoy a rest.
Constraints:
With standard shop tools available including rollers, drills, plasma cutters & welders, my imagination was limited by what I can make with thin steel sheet and tubing. A tube roller, drill press & MIG welder were utilized.
Through the Process
With little time, a few concepts were conceived and narrowed down based on feasibility with shop tools & timeline.
