Monday, August 1, 2011

Brief



Sreelalitha K.K.
Product and Interface Design

Diploma Project Proposal 2011


Project Type: Client Based
Name Of the company: KRAFMODA

Areas of work: Product Design (Home Accessory Design
Address: Krafmoda ,Malaysia,Penang

Client Supervisor: Mr.Eekang(Design Director)

Telephone number:


Budgetary components: Research expenses and Final execution budget
About the designer:

I as an Intern have had the opportunity to work under Mr. Mukul Goyal, Product Designer in lifestyle industry. Through this I have got knowledge about metal casting and functional objects.
Company Profile

Krafmoda designs are perennial and embody beauty and brains- they have a pleasant personality while fulfilling their function with efficiency. At Krafmoda , they marry functional efficiency with aesthetics.The Design BriefThe project deals with Home accessories, aiming at making that new home more beautiful and efficient. The brief is to come up with design merging Indian handicrafts with contemporary art form. Explore the material to bring forth titillating new hybrids unseen elsewhere. Material to be explored is metal, (which could be stainless steel, brass) and other crafts of india.
Intent and NeedThe main idea is to come up with products for interiors with refreshing design to be produced in the form of metal. I also want to explore the best manufacturing technique to produce the product. Keeping in mind the forms that can be achieved using particular metal. Metal is a material which is largely used in handicraft sector for a very long time. There are people involved in making Aluminum art wares, Brass art ware, and Stainless steel.
Materials
Metals are used by the process of casting or molding. Sheets and wires of metals can easily be drawn due to the malleable and ductile quality and finds high application in the art and crafts.

Brass

Brass is a great metal to cast with as it can provide some really great looking results. The low melting point makes brass a really great material for metal casting since even the smaller home grown furnaces can be used. By adding and subtracting alloys from bronze one can successfully make hard or soft bronzes. Aluminum and tin are sometimes added to bronze to create a layer that is not corrosive and very durable. Of course, for the home foundry users, playing alchemist isn’t really an option or necessary and scrap brass is perfectly acceptable in many cases. Locating scrap pieces of brass should be sufficient enough for whatever project you have in mind. Due to brass’ gleam and yellow shine, many artists will use the alloy for sculptures, jewelry, and other decorative items.
Brass casting,

as the name suggests, involves the use of brass as the molten metal. Brass casting can be carried out by the way of sand casting only. Sand casting can be defined as a ‘cast part’ produced by formation of a mold from a mixture of sand and pouring the casting liquid (mostly molten metal) into mold. Then the air-cooling of the mold takes place. After the solidification of metal, the removal of mold takes place. The metal used here is brass. It is a known fact that brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. Hence, to be precise, the molten metal consists of two elements.Brass casting methodsGenerally there are three casting methods that prove to be suitable for brass casting. Metal casters may choose to experiment with different methods and should not allow themselves to be limited.Lost Wax casting is usually associated with bronze casting but can also be used for brass and for really any other metal. By using a wax model and covering it with a ceramic shell, artisans are able to inject the molten alloy which replaces the wax. Chipping away the shell will reveal the brass piece. Lost wax casting is used when a high attention to detail is needed. Artists or metal casters looking to create decorative brass pieces or sculptures will find that the lost wax casting technique will meet their needs far better than other techniques and methods.
Die casting

is yet another method used for brass casting. Die casting is normally used in commercial foundries since the initial start up cost is undesirable for the smaller home foundries. By using a reusable mold created from steel, the caster will be able to create scores of identical products. Die casting with brass should be used if the caster or artists is planning to make multiples of one product and can find a viable market for those pieces.
Sand casting

is probably the oldest type of casting and is still a popular method especially for small foundries. The brass is poured into sand molds and can create a unique look which may be preferred for the artisans. Sand casting tends to be the most economically sensible for small foundries.
Some ideas of what to make with brass include candle holders, musical instruments.
Stainless Steel
Stainless steels find use in a very wide variety of applications. Some typical examples are:
Consumer goods: Applications here include domestic kitchenware and tableware, kitchen sinks, laundry equipment and electrical and electronic appliances.
Food and beverage industry: Type 304 and, in more aggressive situations, Type 316 are widely used in this industry for food and beverage production (milk silos, cheese vats, beer and wine fermenters, fruit juice tanks and piping), storage (wine tanks, beer kegs), cooking (large commercial kitchens) and serving (display cabinets, bench tops). Stainless steel equipment is easy to clean (sanitize) and also preserves the purity of the food.


Sheet can be processed by processes like bending, roll forming, spinning, hydroforming, stretch forming, and deep drawing. Bulk forming processes for long products (e.g., bar stock) include cold heading and hot forging.
Ease of fabrication
Modern steel-making techniques mean that stainless can be cut, welded, formed, machined, and fabricated as readily as traditional steels.
Stoneware

Stoneware is a high temperature (1200-1350 degree centigrade) ceramic ware, which has very less porosity and is generally used for making tableware in Auroville (Tamilnadu) and Khurja (Uttar Pradesh).


Research Questions

1.The project requires deep understanding of the metal its properties and manufacturing techniques.

2. It is also important to know the firm and its requirements, the target audience that firm has in mind.Some questions that need to be considered are:
a.The current trend and liking of the target audience
b.The kind of detailing in the products in the Indian market , that can be combined with contemporary fresh ideas to give in value added products.
3. Craft techniques in making products.

4. How can the product be efficient and fun in terms of form?

5. How can it enhance interior/personal space of the home?

6. What is my niche target audience keeping in mind their lifestyle.


Approach /Process

1. Initial research in detail about the crafts and the products of particular metal and grade.(Materials they use, techniques, forms and shapes that is achieved)

2. Research on existing products and detailing given to the products.

3. Improvising the existing designs or creating new designs so that they createa different meaning when put in a different context.

4. Compiling the information and choosing the need for which the products canbe made or choosing the products that can be improvised for the better.

5. Modern ways of looking and designing and crafting.

6. The market for this kind of product will be to the urban world where craft skilland industrial requirement can be full filed.
Resources

1. Lifestyle product showrooms in Bangalore and in manufacturing units in South.

2. Gathering information from magazines (articles)

3. Gathering information and working with People/ craftsmen who create these products.

4. Buyers who buy this kind of products and why?

5. Understanding the nature of material and figuring out what can be done with two different material when combine together.

6. Learning more about space and culture.

7. People in the casting and metal market.

8.NGO’s in South(different crafts of India)


Target Audience
'Contemporary 'upper middle class people who are setting up their homes.



Persona

Nancy is modern woman of age 30, who is intelligent and thinking woman. Born and bought up with traditional lifestyle at the same time modern outlook . She is married to a doctor (Nuero Surgoen) and Mother of two kids. Nancy is an artist, works from home. She loves to travel places and appreciate the craftsmen ship of the place. She is at the verge of getting products for her new house. She invests money on wise products for house. She wants to set up her new house with objects for daily life that has contemporary art form and traditional craftsmen ship. Functional Objects with an interactive quality in it. Handmade craftsmanship over machine made products is what wants is. Objects and material that are interactive and soothing.Products that are handmade revives the individual space of the home. Nancy as a person love to showcase handmade products which unfolds values of its own.

Market

To be produced for Europe, America, South East Asia

Deliverables

Range of products based on the theme that fit in a modern space.

The range of products will be around context of tableware, personal home space .
Learning OutcomesLearn to use metal at its best.Feasible and best manufacturing technique to achieve the design.Surface finishes of the products.Blend aesthetics form and function.

Reference
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