bespoke-objekt

As I mentioned before, school has started and I am busy with a new course in Architecture that I am teaching and my usual 3D Concepts course and Industrial Processes. This semester in my Industrial Processes course I am having my students keep track of their inspiration, research, and progress throughout the course by way of a blog. They each will be keeping their own blog which we will later use in conjunction with a future website. I've put together another blog that will follow the progress of our journey through the course called bespoke-objekt. Our semester objective is as follows:

"As metalsmiths we work in and around the spaces defined as art, design, and craft. As makers our role in society shifts between these defining categories and this allows us to create new forms and places where we may connect with ones public. In a world that is based upon mass production and consumption, the need for the unique and individualized is essential. The one-off or bespoke object and bespoke experience becomes an outlet for the frustrations of conformity and likeness. As makers and metalsmiths, we seek to create new ideas and objects that define who we are as individuals and what role we play in contemporary society. This course is an investigation into the bespoke object and the transformation of thought, material, process and product."

And the history behind it:

"In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Industrial Revolution created the age of mass production. Factories could churn out relatively uniform products in staggering quantities, replacing one-off, handmade pieces of work. The Gutenberg press transformed book duplication, the assembly line forever changed manufacturing, and the steam engine dramatically increased fuel efficiency. Standardization and scale ruled the turn of the century. With the birth of mass markets, tailored-to-fit was replaced by ready-to-wear consequently loosing the sense of personalization and craftsmanship that was once found in design.

Times have changed-corporations are tailoring mass produced items into bespoke products and services. Now more then ever there is a greater emphasis on the individual. Beyond just being able to choose among options, people want unprecedented control over the features, functions, and details of a product.

Advances in technology like social networking and Internet-based commerce offer greater choices. This new level of mass customization threatens the fundamental notions of standardization found in the factory model. This represents an amazing opportunity, as well as a formidable challenge. In this course we will explore the shift in thinking, designing, making, using, marketing, and consuming."