L’avant project

Starck’s obsession with sustainablity was the mainstay of episode three of the ‘Design For Life’ series currently being broadcast on BBC 2. The brief was to ‘make any object which is ethical, ecological, demoratic, for daily use and non electronic’ and it was underlined by Madame Starck, Jasmine, that the students had but one week to present l’avant project…..the first draft……
…….so off they went, opportunity of a lifetime in one hand shot of tequilla in the other to bond and brainstorm and basically achieve not a lot during those first couple of days.
I find our northern girl Ilsa Parry a bit of a mystery. Self confident, ‘go it aloner’, independent lady she’s also a self confessed synesthete: a person who perceives involuntarily numbers, days of the week, people etc in colour. Ordinarily my eyes would be heavenbound at such an announcement however I am actually married to an associate synesthete who frequently remarks on the colours and hues of abstract symbols and articles. Interestingly enough Ilsa described fellow loner and quiet soul Robert Meredith as grey…….’ a blank canvas’, I didn’t get the impression it was a compliment.
Back to the drawing board or not as the case may be……the research supporting the projects was the most interesting part of the show. I admired Trevor Brinkman for sleeping rough in an attempt to empathise with the homeless and his aim to develop a concept which may be of some use to them. The fact that he decided to conduct his research the night before his pitch could however have also contributed to his downfall?
Jess Viana’s research was both fascinating and slightly grotesque. She chose to walk around the busy streets of Paris at night in a PVC catsuit as opposed to an overcoat with a view to measuring people’s reactions……just what was she expecting? Her idea was to create a self defence tool which was represented as an illuminated glove whose glare would potentially disable any potential assaulter. Her lack of technological knowledge was her failing but wouldn’t those fingernails have had her attacker’s eye out anyway?
Saved by his fellow contestants last week Mike Cloke was feeling the pressure but presented the best pitch with his idea for magnetised cutlery and tablewear.
Ultimately though the open brief was too paralysing and Starck wasn’t impressed. However whilst resisting the temptation to fire everyone he gave them one final chance but insisted that on the next task all the contestants work in solitary confinement.
His belief that teamwork normalises people and stultifies free thinking and creativity he maintained that they must work…work…work in isolation until the job is finished.
Under this regime perhaps grey Ilsa and Robert will finally shine through…..we’ll see.
Interestingly enough whilst writing this blog and listening again to my favourites ‘Radcliffe and Maconie’ on Radio 2 I heard them discussing the worst, most useless article ever invented. Amongst the suggestions were a solar powered cappucino frother, a pre threaded needle and a coin sorter but the winner was……a shower radio; funnily enough I thought these were all pretty cool, goes to show how much I know.