Project Updates

Sorry for the silence on my blog. Fortunately I have a few things about which I can provide updates.

First, I've posted a series of new pictures on my Tumblr (Link), still highlighting masters of reductive deign. Posts include a jacket from Jil Sander's first collaboration with Uniqlo, Ellsworth Kelly's Chatham series, Chermayeff & Geismar's 1960 Chase bank logo (one of first abstract corporate logos at the time) and a jacquard scarf by Alexander Wang.

About logo design, Tom Geismar has said, "I have always been attracted to reductive design, trying to find the essence of an idea, and then finding an imaginative way to clearly express it." (Link)

Kelly's Chatham series, works composed of two adjacent painted canvases, is an admirable example of minimalism. Kelly reduces each painting to the essential elements of form and shape and examines not only the relation between the canvases and the wall upon which they rest but also the dynamism between subtle changes in proportion, repetition and variation.

Second, I have continued brainstorming for my backpack project. Though I feel that I am still in the exploratory stages of the process, I am focusing on a design that functions as a briefcase but can be worn like a backpack. The latest draft calls for a rectangular shape that has a zipper along the height and width of the bag. An asymmetrical flap (similar to that of a messenger bag) covers the portion of the zipper along its height. The asymmetry of the flap would allow the bag to be carried multiple ways purposefully. I will follow up with additional details and sketches to more clearly illustrate my thoughts.

Third and last, my sewing machine has arrived. Right now I am working on very remedial undertakings, such as window coverings for my apartment's room. I'll plan to next make basic items in preparation for making pants and ultimately my backpack.