Introduction
The object I chose to analyze is a bookcase named Twist me! (2013) from a Slovakian design company Mejd Studio (www.mejdstudio.com). This piece was achieved through cooperation with a Swiss furniture company Vitra (www.vitra.com) during a summer workshop named Lost & found.
The design studio Mejd consist of 2 designers, Štefan Nosko and Katarína Beličková.
- Nosko was born in 1986, started his design studies already in the secondary school, continued by studies in Academy of Fine arts and Design in Bratislava with product design course, finishing bachelor's and master's degree, now following with doctorate, and going to participating in a few exchange programs during studies. He has also taken part of some design events mainly in Slovakia.
- Beličková was born in 1984 and also started her design studies in secondary school. She continued in Technical University of Zvolen, but changed to Academy of Fine arts and Design in Bratislava in a year, where she has bachelor's and master's degree. During the studies she has gone through internships in different areas. She has also participated in design related events mainly in Slovakia and Czech.
The company situates in Bratislava and is mainly aimed at product design. They aim for creating objects which in addition to functional and aesthetic sites offer some kind of added value in terms of ideas, stories and links to other fields of social life and lives of people in general.
The goal of the workshop Lost & Found was to create a hybrid object of 2 different objects. The participants were supposed to work with traditional folklore items, on the other hand use Vitra's new, but already discarded office furniture. The project in question combined bookbinding plough and metal sheet office rack. In the final piece, in it's side walls there are placed aluminium bearings joint with a wooden nut from the press. By turning the nut, the inner "walls" are brought into motion and this way they can be positioned against one another, creating space for any number of books.
Analysis
- Level I - formal-aesthetic language.
The bookcase is not very big, only having one shelf for books. The main part of the bookcase is in the shape of a horizontal cuboid open to the side. The material for the sides, top and back area is metal, which s painted matte white. The bottom seems to be of wood, or MDF board, also white. The sides of the metal part are perforated with small circular pattern, which lets smooth light get into the bookcase from the sides. The bookcase has 4 legs, which are not on the corner of the case, and not vertical, but spread out from the center of the case. The legs appear wooden, coloured matte white aswell, and the shape is not tubular, but seems to be hexagonal.
Of course, the most attention catching part is the wooden screw, contrasting with it's natural look, while the rest is covered in matte lightness. The screw element has two identical sides, mirroring from the imaginable central vertical line. The screw consist of the threaded rod, nut with elongated sides for easy handling, and the central plates against what the books will rest. The whole screw is wooden, with used look accentuated by small holes seeming to be caused by natural activity. The size of the screw is rather surprising compared to the rest of the bookcase, which is rather small.
- Level II - the sign/ indication functions.
When I first saw the piece of furniture, not knowing the background story, my first impression was that it's a huge nutcracker. For using the bookshelf, the user is expected to put the wanted amount of books in the center, between two wooden plates, and then turn the handles of the nuts on both sides to approximate the plates until they will hold up the books. This pressing action reminds of screwed nutcracker or even a torture bench. The bookcase does not have any door to hide what's in it, leaving and impression that when the object in the center gets squeezed, we cannot look away, cannot hide it, cannot ignore what's happening. The books in the center leave us with tension, because there seems to be forces fighting all the time and we want to know if the cracker will break, or the books will be squeezed empty of knowledge.
The piece is certainly meant for indoors use, as bare wooden parts won't be resistant to weather conditions. I see that because of the shape of the legs, the bookcase stands on tips of hexagonal pencils. Another characteristic is that the screw will stick out more and more as books will be added, so the user may decide to just showcase the currently important writings. I can see the bookcase being used as a bedside table, due to it's size; the height of the top seems to be suitable for a nightlight and a few necessities.
- Level III - symbolic level.
The name of the piece, Twist me!, is very strongly connected with the way it's supposed to be used - twisted. The exclamation mark is turning the invitation of trying it out almost into a command. Such reference can make us wonder how much we are influenced by the way we are addressed, and if some things we think we're doing willingly are actually our own will, or rather the need to please and fit into the situation (partly referring to Milgram experiment on obedience to authority figures).
While analyzing the piece, I started to see as if the screw is squeezing books together, it's also squeezing knowledge together. And with that act, this bookcase reminds of a persons head, because in brain, also an amazing amount of knowledge is squeezed together in a small area. Specially if the person who has the bookcase exhibits writings he has read and finds important, the knowledge from the books are squeezed into that persons head.
Another thing about the bookcase would be the screw, the size of it, and the questionableness of need to use it overall. The fact that the screw is there is like a fantasy, a dream, leaving the user into an Alice in Wonderland-like position. Why to use it? Next to that, the most characteristic part of the piece is the screw. The rest is blended with matte white, turning it into timeless lightness. The screw is obviously worn, and the small holes in the wood indicate the honorable age of the element. But after finding out that the project was a hybrid with a bookbinding plough, I believe the meaning of the product became a lot clearer and obvious.
Conclusion
As I had not previously paid attention to the aim of the project for that the piece was made, I had developed my own idea about the reasons behind the piece. Nonetheless, the bookcase will continue to be in my interest list as a very peculiar piece to enjoy.
The goal of the workshop Lost & Found was to create a hybrid object of 2 different objects. The participants were supposed to work with traditional folklore items, on the other hand use Vitra's new, but already discarded office furniture. The project in question combined bookbinding plough and metal sheet office rack. In the final piece, in it's side walls there are placed aluminium bearings joint with a wooden nut from the press. By turning the nut, the inner "walls" are brought into motion and this way they can be positioned against one another, creating space for any number of books.
Analysis
- Level I - formal-aesthetic language.
The bookcase is not very big, only having one shelf for books. The main part of the bookcase is in the shape of a horizontal cuboid open to the side. The material for the sides, top and back area is metal, which s painted matte white. The bottom seems to be of wood, or MDF board, also white. The sides of the metal part are perforated with small circular pattern, which lets smooth light get into the bookcase from the sides. The bookcase has 4 legs, which are not on the corner of the case, and not vertical, but spread out from the center of the case. The legs appear wooden, coloured matte white aswell, and the shape is not tubular, but seems to be hexagonal.
Of course, the most attention catching part is the wooden screw, contrasting with it's natural look, while the rest is covered in matte lightness. The screw element has two identical sides, mirroring from the imaginable central vertical line. The screw consist of the threaded rod, nut with elongated sides for easy handling, and the central plates against what the books will rest. The whole screw is wooden, with used look accentuated by small holes seeming to be caused by natural activity. The size of the screw is rather surprising compared to the rest of the bookcase, which is rather small.
- Level II - the sign/ indication functions.
When I first saw the piece of furniture, not knowing the background story, my first impression was that it's a huge nutcracker. For using the bookshelf, the user is expected to put the wanted amount of books in the center, between two wooden plates, and then turn the handles of the nuts on both sides to approximate the plates until they will hold up the books. This pressing action reminds of screwed nutcracker or even a torture bench. The bookcase does not have any door to hide what's in it, leaving and impression that when the object in the center gets squeezed, we cannot look away, cannot hide it, cannot ignore what's happening. The books in the center leave us with tension, because there seems to be forces fighting all the time and we want to know if the cracker will break, or the books will be squeezed empty of knowledge.
The piece is certainly meant for indoors use, as bare wooden parts won't be resistant to weather conditions. I see that because of the shape of the legs, the bookcase stands on tips of hexagonal pencils. Another characteristic is that the screw will stick out more and more as books will be added, so the user may decide to just showcase the currently important writings. I can see the bookcase being used as a bedside table, due to it's size; the height of the top seems to be suitable for a nightlight and a few necessities.
- Level III - symbolic level.
The name of the piece, Twist me!, is very strongly connected with the way it's supposed to be used - twisted. The exclamation mark is turning the invitation of trying it out almost into a command. Such reference can make us wonder how much we are influenced by the way we are addressed, and if some things we think we're doing willingly are actually our own will, or rather the need to please and fit into the situation (partly referring to Milgram experiment on obedience to authority figures).
While analyzing the piece, I started to see as if the screw is squeezing books together, it's also squeezing knowledge together. And with that act, this bookcase reminds of a persons head, because in brain, also an amazing amount of knowledge is squeezed together in a small area. Specially if the person who has the bookcase exhibits writings he has read and finds important, the knowledge from the books are squeezed into that persons head.
Another thing about the bookcase would be the screw, the size of it, and the questionableness of need to use it overall. The fact that the screw is there is like a fantasy, a dream, leaving the user into an Alice in Wonderland-like position. Why to use it? Next to that, the most characteristic part of the piece is the screw. The rest is blended with matte white, turning it into timeless lightness. The screw is obviously worn, and the small holes in the wood indicate the honorable age of the element. But after finding out that the project was a hybrid with a bookbinding plough, I believe the meaning of the product became a lot clearer and obvious.
Conclusion
As I had not previously paid attention to the aim of the project for that the piece was made, I had developed my own idea about the reasons behind the piece. Nonetheless, the bookcase will continue to be in my interest list as a very peculiar piece to enjoy.
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