Special Carriers: Wine Glass
Introduction to Project 2
*only corrugated cardboard!!!*
role of carrier: to hold something in place & extend beyond just utility; rituals (pretend like I am taking this object and the carrier to a dinner party gift exchange event; gift wrapping)
*NOT decorating or making labels; NO color*
Important:
-interaction between the object and the package
-practical in size, assembly, and carrying methods
-no need to worry about mass production
-Elizabeth Sander’s concept of useful, useable, and desirable
-always think: “Is the carrier fun to interact with the object?”
To start…
1. explore structural & aesthetic forms of corrugated cardboard
2. generate various ideas that address TRANSPORTATION & GIFT PACKAGE
3. sketch models, make prototype (prototype: handmade model of products before manufacturers make them)
9/26/18:
As I finished making my three different types of models for my package, I realized that my ideas were constantly changing as I was making it. There’s numerous reasons for this, but sometimes it was because the idea in my head simply didn’t work out or I felt like some adjustments would make it better. Although the process was challenging and frustrating at times, it was fun to see how my ideas would constantly be changed and shifted to something else. When I was planning and making my first package, I tried to make the most basic box form and a package that I would usually see at stores. I actually went to Ikea and explored a variety of packages for stemware. When I was there, I bought a pack of six wine glasses and four individual bigger ones just in case I decide to use a bigger wine glass. I bought the six pack for its package design because it contains an element where a portion of the wine glass is shown through a cutout. The design of the cutout seemed sophisticated because it uses two different sides of the rectangular prism: the front and the side. This seemed efficient because a consumer can see the content and size of the object without having to open the box. I tried adding this element of a “sneak peek” feature in my first package.
My second package takes on the shape of an hourglass. I wanted to imply the concept of how time passes so quickly when people are drinking and having fun, especially at dinner parties. I don’t think the actual result of making the hourglass shape with the cardboard is very effective, but it was a nice attempt because I got to start breaking away from the general cube/rectangular prism shape.
My third draft of a wine glass package is personally my favorite and best one that I made. I believe that it takes more aesthetic aspects and I could include more of the “sneak peek” feature that I wanted to include. For this one, I didn’t use tape or glue at all and constructed it with my initial strategy of connecting the pieces when I made my 3 in. x 3 in. cube. It worked out better this time because I made the tabs a bit smaller so that the piece to fit would be tighter. When I was making this one, I felt like I was making my own 3D puzzle and building it up to fit a wine glass between it. I still need to figure out a way to make a handle and an opening/closing function so I can actually assemble and disassemble it.
10/2/18 Notes:
-Analysis Synthesis Evaluation
-Bernice McCarthy
-concept of simultaneous comparison
-Frank Gehry edges: I was fascinated by Frank Gehry’s pieces because his corrugated cardboard chair was made out of the same equal pieces that were stacked upon one another to create a 3D model of a chair. Although it was just layers of cardboard, it looked pretty durable. As I saw his chair model, I thought of trying out a model that is the same as Gehry’s method.
After today’s discussion, I developed a list of what I need to do in order to improve the way I think during my next model for my carrier. To begin with, I need to research on some history about the wine glass bottles in order to develop a story and meaning of the object and its package. I also realized that I need to constantly think about the theme of a dinner party so the design of my package reflects the setting. Another important discussion that came up that I didn’t realize was the three types of fragility with the wine glass: fragility in the stem, stand, and cup. Also, developing a list of everyone’s criteria/emphasis while making their packaging was helpful because I realized that there are so many things to consider; this project is harder than I thought because it’s not just a simple packaging product that needs to fit a wine glass bottle inside.
10/4 Class Notes & Things to do
-form handle & experiment with opening/closing → but does it also need a handle?
-architecture vs. aesthetic
-packaging for 4 wine glasses vs. 2 wine glasses
-LET OBJECT BE THE DECORATION!
-add more visual cues → without my object shown in the package, will the package reflect a wine glass bottle?
After the initial three models that I made, I realized that none of them will work because there’s no opening or closing or a handle and is technically not a package. I struggled with finding ideas that would make the wine glass show from the package and make the wine glass very secure.
Moving on from the initial beginning step models, I tried a package model that would be more realistically used. In the pictures shown below, I tried to make a package (for just one wine glass for now) to see different ways I could make the wine glass secure yet shown. I also tried new attempts with tabs and found that it is hard to secure tabs for an object that has a bit of weight. I only used three dimensions to cut and fold the cardboard piece: 3 inches, 4 inches, and 7 inches. However, I realized that I need to consider the 0.125 inch thickness of the cardboard.I even tried making a package with one longest strip of the side of my cardboard for two wine glasses but it was too short. Now I am at the point where I know how to make one glass work, but I need to figure out a way to either make four individual ones and connect them in some way or incorporate it into one large piece.
I personally liked the idea shown below because with one action of taking out the flap, the each “section” of the cut cardboard opens and allows the wine glass to be removed from the package. It is easy and efficient.
Using the same concept as the one above (using one long strip for one wine glass each), I realized that I can use one large and long piece of the cardboard to make a bigger version of the model and just cut some pieces into each flap so that the consumer can open each wine glass one by one. I tried to first make and visualize it out of paper to see if my idea would make sense.
After trying with paper that the model could work, I tried to make it out of cardboard. Making it wasn’t hard because all I had to do was multiply the width dimension (3 inches) by 4 because there will be four wine glasses that would fit into the package. I found that the placing of my tabs will be very important and that a handle will be too weak and seem unnecessary for the package. I really like how you can open one wine glass at a time and that you can see the object through the side of the package. Although, I am a bit worried about the overall rectangular shape of the package because it is too basic and I feel like the package itself doesn’t reflect the object very well.
Eventually, I decided not to add a handle and have the package to be held so that it will be more secure instead of it being dependent on a weak handle. In order to break away from the symmetrical and basic shape of the rectangles, I tried to make my package more sophisticaed by having the flap at an angle instead of straight down. This reduced the rectangular shape into something more abstract. Eventually, the pictures shown below show my final piece. As you can see, the concept is the same from the singular wine glass that I made. The only difference is that it is connected by the base for four wine glasses. This packaging is effective because there is only one way to open and close, the wine glass is secure, and the packaging can be adjusted very easily if the number of wine glasses increase or decrease.
In my opinion, this project was so challenging in many different ways. First, I was never used to or good at geometry and visually drawing what I see in my head, especially 3D forms or real-life materials such as this project. Therefore, there were a lot more times where I just sat and tried with paper or cardboard scraps instead of trying to draw or sketch it out first. However, by making this project, I was sort of forced to draw and sketch because many components got complicated if I didn’t draw it out: tabs, measurements, figuring out ways to connect one side to another, etc. Also, due to the bipolar weather conditions and never experiencing this type of cold weather so early, I got very sick which limited my craftsmanship abilities as I made the project. I had trouble thinking of making a package for the wine glass. I feel like I was trying to make just a stand for the wine glasses instead of a package. Therefore, I found myself falling behind compared to the class because I had to spend extra time finding a way to make an opening/closing as well as whether I needed a handle or not, and how to even connect the cardboard pieces together through tabs. Tabs were the toughest, because one mistake in cutting out the wrong side of the cardboard made it so frustrating. I also found that when I put my package together without my object, the package would hold but the weight of the wine glasses made the cardboard flimsy and unable to secure the shape. I definitely could have improved a bit more on craftsmanship but I tried my best and used more of the time on developing ways to create the form. Although it was so frustrating, challenging, and hard to understand and make this project, I learned how to cope with overcoming my weaknesses and have fun with the project!
