From Crit to Pitch

The crit (the critique session within the art & design school environment) can be considered a highly vocational exercise. In the creative industry it can be translated to mean the pitch. In this context students are exposed to scrutiny from their peers or tutors as they formally evaluate their artwork or designs. In response to feedback they must develop their own voice, rationalise and communicate ideas clearly and defend their position – this happens all the time in professional practice. The ability to communicate ideas is one of the most important attributes that employers look for when recruiting a recent graduate.

Driver for design

"You must have an idea to drive a design. - Le Corbusier always had an idea; and so did Louis Kahn. - I agree with Ludwig Wittgenstein [who] said that ideas are like ladders: they get us to a platform, and when we arrive there, we kick the ladder away." Steven Holl, architect, interviewed in The Architectural Review, March 2013.

Making culture

The role of making in design is emphasised by Bruce Nussbaum, Professor at Parsons the New School for Design: "The making culture is key. You learn by making, you learn by doing, and I want to really pull us back toward that making culture, toward the materiality of tangibility, which I think has always been key to design."

Material inspiration

Louis Kahn, the architect, used to tell his students: if you are ever stuck for inspiration, ask your materials for advice. "You say to a brick, 'What do you want, brick?' And brick says to you, 'I like an arch.' And you say to brick, 'Look, I want one, too, but arches are expensive and I can use a concrete lintel.' And then you say: 'What do you think of that, brick?' Brick says: 'I like an arch.'"

3D Doodling

The advent of 3D printing introduced the convenience of quickly making designs a reality. Now the world's first 3D printing pen is being launched which allows for drawing three-dimensional structures in the air or on surfaces to create flat objects for stacking and connecting. The pen, named 3Doodler, uses ABS plastic, the same material found in many 3D printers. The quick-setting plastic solidifies in an instant, making it ready for handling.

Copying things: Good or Bad?

James Dyson, the British industrial designer, is struggling to stop other companies trying to sell their ripped-off copies of Dyson’s innovations. In a recent Court of Appeal case (2011), Dyson lost its claim against Vax, over the copying of its vacuum cleaners, despite having won the same case in France. "This was a senior patent judge suggesting copying things is a good thing. It’s a bad idea and if you think it increases competition you’re entirely wrong. If you uphold the law the plagiarists have to come up with new ideas", argues Dyson.

No ideas hidden

When Carl Andre, the American artist, found his way to sculpture exploring the "sensuous" nature of steel, he denied there was anything more to it. "I said, 'There are no ideas hidden under those plates! They're steel plates and nothing else!'" When he was told a pile of stones did not make a work of art, he pointed to Stonehenge. "I was always fighting the rise of conceptual art," Andre says. "There was Joseph Kosuth's statement, 'Art as idea as idea.' And I said an idea in the head is not a work of art. A work of art is out in the world, is a tangible reality." Andre adds: "My work doesn't come from ideas – my work comes from desires." From interview in The Guardian 23.01.2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2013/jan/23/carl-andre-turner-contemporary?INTCMP=SRCH