For this assignment, we were to create a cabinet for three different vessels that were each designed by a first year student. We were to then take the identity of all three of these vessels and make them into a single design idea, which would be shown in our cabinet. My first year students had to create vessels for: a journal, a keurig coffee maker, and a coffee mug.First, we met with all three of our first year students to learn about their project and to look at what they had come up with as a vessel. Lauren Parnell was assigned a journal, in which she created a shell like form that was organic looking and that had cuts in the shell to represent time through shadows. Hannah Herald was assigned a keurig coffee maker, and created a very structural, symmetrical object that could contain the coffee maker, as well as the coffee inserts and coffee mugs. Teraesa Douglas was assigned a coffee mug, in which she created a puzzle piece-like shell that fit the shape of the mug.
After looking at all of the first year’s designs, I thought about the identity of each. One was organic and flowing, one was very structural, and one was a combination of the two. I went through many design ideas for the cabinet that incorporated all of these elements, but decided on wanting to make something that was multifunctional, as well as a vessel.
My cabinet is a 2’ x 4 ½’ x 4’ cut-out rectangle that has a 3 ½’ x 2’ open area between the wall and the front of the cabinet. It is meant to hang 2 ½’ above the ground, so the user can either set the keurig coffee maker or coffee mug on the open space, or write in their journal. This allows the person to either sit or stand when they are using the items contained inside the cabinet. Also, there would be a plug either built into the cabinet, or on the wall right next to it so the person could plug in their keurig coffee maker while it is sitting in the open space.
The cabinet is framed out of wood, and each face is either made of weathered wood, frosted glass, or metal. There are three sections to the cabinet: the top section contains the journal, the middle one contains the keurig, and the bottom one contains the coffee mug. The face of the top section is made out of wood, the middle one is made out of frosted glass, and the bottom one is made out of metal. I did this so the top one would be the most private because it contains the journal. The face is made out of wood so it would blend in with the frame, and it is the highest section so it would be the hardest to reach. The keurig, which is contained in the middle section with the frosted glass, isn’t a very private object so you can partially see through the face. The coffee mug’s face is made out of metal, because the vessel is very structural, which most closely correlates with metal.
The handles on the face of the cabinet represent each of the objects contained within. The top section has a small cut-out, to make the journal even more secretive and harder to reach. The handles on the middle and bottom section both represent elements in the vessels that the first years designed.
As stated earlier, each face of the cabinet is framed in wood, but is either frosted glass, metal, or weathered wood. I did this so different elements contained within could be seen if you stood at different angles around the cabinet. This creates interest, as well as a slight exposure to what the purpose of the cabinet is.
