BDS 102: May 2012

I found David Pye’s writing on design very interesting, espe- cially his perspective on creativity, design, and its relation to happiness. But one point he made seemed to be particularly relevant to this project. In his article he discussed the varying levels of potential to alter materials from their original state; how we have developed a multitude of ways to alter the shape of original materials, but even with all our developed technology, we still have very limited means of altering a material’s innate properties. I came across this idea in a very simple way while working with the wood and bandsaw; while I could map out and define exactly how I wanted the shape to turn out, the ir- regularity of the wood in certain places made it difficult to cre- ate exactly what I had in mind. By its very nature, the wood had harder spots in it that were more difficult to cut through and in turn, more difficult to control the resulting product. This initial difficulty then in turn involved using other means to shape the wood, such as sandpaper and a rotating sander, to cater to the properties of the wood which I couldn’t change or control.

Final Chair Project

Final Chair - Process Sketches

Duality + Relationship Essay

EW has been one of my best friends for about four years now. We met my sophomore year of high school through mutual friends; she went to high school with my best friends from grade school and I tagged along to her house for a surprise birthday party for one of them. We hadn’t really talked all that much, but for she thought it would be funny to sneak up behind me and hiss loudly in my ear to scare me…I freaked out and accidentally elbowed her in the face. Strange as it may sound, once we realized what had happened, we dissolved into uncontrollable laughter and from that day on, we’ve been best friends. She’s the kind of friend where we hear all the time that we’re the same person…we have similar giggly, goofy and outgoing personalities, so we always have a great time together. We both love singing, especially in the car with the windows down and a good CD on full volume. But in addition to all the silly, crazy, fun things, we also bond on a deeper level. We both value our faith above all else, and it’s been incredible to build a friendship with Christ as the foundation, especially being at different colleges for the past year and a half. We also led praise and worship music together for a youth group this summer, which brought us even closer. Because we strive to live for the same purpose and commit ourselves to a similar lifestyle, we can confide in each other and be open about the things we’re dealing with, as well as be totally honest about how the other is doing when we’re holding each other accountable. We have the best, most encouraging and thorough heart-to-heart conversations, whether we’re talking about good things or difficult situations, and I know that we’ve both grown a lot as a result of our friendship.