Objectified Response

Objectified Response

    As our first project commenced we were assigned to watch the documentary, 'Objectified' by Gary Hutswit and respond by creating a 3D object inspired by the film. Watching this documentary, I was enthralled by each designer and their approach to designing objects made for the every day use in a commercial setting. However, the designer who stood out to me the most was Karim Rashid as he believes in design that is a physical interpretation of the digital age we are currently in. I was inspired by the speaker he described he had as a child which was a white claritone speaker with round speakers that had an almost human qualities to it. He described how it felt like a womb to him and immediately I thought of this design. 

    This is the speaker I designed inspired by Rashid's childhood speaker. I wanted to play with the idea of the speaker as a womb, and thought about what a uterus looks like. I thought to myself, wouldn't it be neat if the speakers almost looked like ovaries? Yes. So, I designed this speaker with a built in record player and knobs to change the volume with round speakers that provide surround sound. I started with the bottom cylinder shape and then placed the base, and then attached the bars to hold the speakers on the edge. I then inserted the record player into the top as well as the knobs to change the sound, and finally added the case on top. 

    I also wanted to play around with the idea that Rashid brought up about our objects sometimes having human qualities, and a likeness to them that makes individuals feel more fond of their possessions. When making the round speakers I started out with stars as the embellishment, however decided it didn't fit the theme I was going for. Then I thought a bit more about the human qualities of objects that Karim described and made rings around the speakers that looked like eyelids. When I did this, it brought the human qualities into the speaker and made me like it ten times more. The middle represents the nose and the stand on the bottom represents the mouth. Enjoy this chill dude.

 

    I added a case that opens to protect the record player from dust and adds another feature to the speaker as a whole. 

    As a piece inspired by Karim, I wanted to embody the technological age we are in however with a little twist of the record player instead of a screen. I felt this achieves my goal of making the object feel more personable, as records are very intimate when you set up the record to play your music of choice. This allows the owner to interact with the object and touch it more, which makes the owner feel more attached to the object.