Randomly Orgainsed

'Home is where I ship my library'

I have always used rigidly enforced organisational techniques in my approach to academic work. Recently this predisposition has crossed over into my practical work. I began looking at storage units as a method of organisation and have taken it to a ridiculous extreme. I wanted to question our relationship with storage furniture; the simultaneous request for innovative design and low cost. ‘Home is where I ship my Library’ is a bespoke unit, designed around the objects contained within. The ease with which the Western world is able to travel is reflected in this work, built to be moveable with the aesthetic of a crate.

To begin to visually describe the juxtaposition between the mass produced and bespoke furniture materials become a key device. The use of materials such as MDF and plywood without disguising them with the uses of veneers creates the aesthetic of a cheap mass produced unit. The design of the unit was heavily influenced by the wardrobe collections of IKEA. The ‘bespoke’ element of ‘Home is where I ship my library’ is seen through the quality of the build; each element of the unit has been hand crafted around a pre-determined item.

Charles and Ray Eames explored the relationship between innovations and mass produced flat pack furniture with the storage units they built in the 1950’s. Creating a number of aesthetic variables to allow each storage unit to be somewhat unique. This system is currently used on a large scale by kitchen designers such as MFI.

The need for home related storage innovation is becoming so prominent that within a month the BBC Breakfast show has run with two stories of new innovations to evolve our housing problems. On may the 9th it was reported that IKEA flat pack homes will be introduced to the UK in Gateshead. On the 8th June the BBC reported that the Festival for Extreme Building has launched the Micro Compact Home; an eight foot square centre-piece designed by Richard Horden. The report can be viewed in Video's on this site.

From the title of this work it is clear that travel and home re-location are key elements of the work. The notion of storing an entire room, specifically a privileged space, was very important. As a child I lived in a number of different countries and cities within those countries, this advantaged ‘nomadic’ past is something I feel in inextricably linked with this work. As a member of the European Community, Britons experience the ease of relocation as a result of economic agreements within the EC. ‘Home is where I ship my library’ is intended to be a moveable work and orbits a central pole in the Degree show. This movement is represented further by tire marks on the floor of the exhibition. The work is innately personal due to the arbitrary choice of personal objects chosen to be presented within the work.