I decided to join a networking event at The Cooper Hewitt called” Places+ Things: Object from Detroit. The lesson this event talked about was the story objects, tell whether it’s small, big, new, or even a building. We engaged with objects to gain a deeper understand use critical thinking to observe the objects along with their purpose. We had guest speakers such as Greg VerrasG, Design Director of Watches at Shinola, and Michelle Potter also from Shinola.
We first did an exercise to find an object or think of an object that has a story we like/relate to or thinking of ones we see every day. I decided to present a gold ring with Egyptian hieroglyphs given to me by my grandfather. I choose this item it reminded me of him and the stories he told me about his travels. The story behind my ring was the travels of my grandfather. Everyone had a story behind third choices as well. We started talking about different objects presented by the host.
We started with an American beauty iron, made in CA, 1945. The story behind it was making household life easier with this product. We analyzed the wood, the timer, the purpose of its design. This story of this item is all the time and energy this saved to household work back then and how much things have changed since it was first created.
The next object is The station agent watch by Shinola. We talked about the company’s image built behind the concept of this watch. Beautiful, luxurious, and different catches the eye of the crowd. We analyzed the packaging behind this idea to meet with the brand’s history.
During this event, I slowly understood why people design them the way they do, whats impact that’s connected to the brand, what’s the story behind it is. This makes me think that I’ve thought too linear lately and I need to be more flexible when it comes to project.
