Nowadays, we can buy devices and machines of any kind and for almost any purpose, function or deficiency. However, or maybe because of this, many makers have devoted themselves to developing their own inventions. Their personal machines, tools and other unique devices allow us to escape the prescriptions of the industry and mass prodcution. Crosslab Rotterdam ‘Re: inventions’ presented projects that reveal the mariage between design, engineering and inventing.
The integration between internet and physical objects has inspired agency 'The Incredible Machine' to develop new products: ‘TickToc’ is a reinterpretation of an analogue clock, one that shows your personal Google agenda. ‘CamJam’ is a skateboard environment that registers your moves through RFID and a camera, to be published online.
As his graduation project, our designer Mickael Boulay (Design Academy, 2012) developed an apparatus for diabetes patients. He specifically designed this meter in order to reduce stress with diabetics while measuring their blood. Rational data, like numbers, have been replaced with intuition and tactility; a natural communication with this interface.
Artist Dennis de Bel (WdKA/PZI Media Design) comments in his work upon design consumption. His reinterpretations of familiar products have lead to unexpected, surprising objects like the ‘Vacumonium’, integrating a vacuum cleaner and a harmonium or the ‘Sew-o-Phone’, a combination of a sewing machine and a record player. As a true uomo unversalis, Eibert Draisma, the moderator of this evening, unites the roles of designer, inventor and artist. Could this be a future scenario for designers?
