Model of the COVID-19 Coronavirus 2020
This model was designed by Alissa Eckert and Dan Higgins. This model is small, but it caught my attention. It was the first piece I noticed when I first went up to the second floor. It was displayed on the wall, with no nice look or color that would draw me in, but not enough to make me ignore it.COVID-19 is a heavy piece of history that has changed and influenced the way people live their lives. At the time, my first reaction to seeing this model was a bit of fear, with the pink unidentified object attached to the gray sphere. But when I read the introduction, I felt even more scared when I looked at the model. Especially the white dots on the gray sphere after a closer look. Maybe it’s because of the model, or maybe it’s because I’m one of those people who lived through this history. This work is the design that impressed me.
Savage chair
At first glance, I thought it was a beautiful, oddly shaped wooden chair. A chair that only looks like a chair from the front. I learned from the introduction that it was designed by Jay See Jung Oh in 2021. She used furniture items and agenda items and wrapped it manually with leather cord. Under the leather rope, there are clinker tricycles, water bottles, and so on. The final product is a self-portrait that she considers to be a reflection of her state of mind, experiences and circumstances. The work also discusses abundance and obsolescence, and how waste can be reshaped into valuable plastic work.
When I saw the initial to final process of the work, I felt amazed. A bunch of unrelated objects, through the continuous winding of leather rope eventually become chairs on the display table. It was interesting to see this chair and how it was formed. It reminded me of the countless items that are used and then discarded by people. But there are also people who are valuing these discarded items and thinking about how to lighten the burden, both for the environment and for people. For example, plastic pollution, and now people are starting to recycle plastic. Realizing and doing something about it is the beginning of progress.
Sculptura telephone from the design line series circa
In the museum, I was attracted by some designs that looked like toys. That is Industrial design and these designs represent technology in history. On the side, these bold designs represent not only the historical development of materials and production techniques, but also the development of electronics and interactive devices. I looked at these devices, both in shape and color, and they were catching my attention and fun. Especially the first one on the left in the second row, the yellow landline. At first glance I had visions of bananas, because in color and in the handle on the landline.
I was more interested in this design because I used to use a landline when I was a kid, but now I hardly have access to one. Because of the advancement of time and technology, cell phones are a much more convenient presence for most people. For me, a fixed device that can only be used to make phone calls is not as practical as a multi-functional mobile device. But when I see the landline, I will miss the happy days when I was a kid in front of the landline phone number to my friends.But I prefer the yellow round landline in the display case to the black rectangular type landline I remember from my childhood. I can’t imagine how happy I would have been to have a landline like this in my house when I was a kid. Both the shape and the yellow color bring joy to people just by looking at it.
