This profile focuses on some of Graeme’s extracurricular projects outside of IDEO in which he worked with designers Anthony Dunne, Fiona Raby and James Auger. These projects are currently at MOMA in an exhibition called Design and the Elastic Mind.

Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby’s project is called Technological Dreams Series: no 1, Robots, and it “explores mankind’s future interaction with robots. The designers look at robots as needy, moody characters with their own distinct personalities and quirks, thinking that devices of the future might not be designed for specific tasks but instead might be given jobs based on behaviors and qualities that emerge over time.” (quoted from MOMA press release)

The project by James Auger is called Smell +. “Smell is the one sense where control is lost, each intake of breath sends loaded air molecules over the receptors in the nose and in turn potentially gutteral, uncensored information to the brain. At the same time our bodies are emitting, loading the air around us and effecting others in ways we are only now starting to understand. This project explores the human experiential potential of the sense of smell.” (quoted from Smell + website www.smellplus.co.uk )

Hearing about this work prompted me to invite Graeme to respond to the modo user community on a few questions about the future of design and specifically the role of software in design going forward.

First, some more specific background on Graeme’s collaborators.

Anthony Dunne is the Head of Design Interactions Department at the Royal College of Art, London (the department was established in 1989). His program is a multi-disciplinary look at design focusing on how people relate to products and how this affects the design process. He encourages his students to look at unexpected implications of the design process and to debate potential impacts openly.

Fiona Raby, another Graeme collaborator, is a partner in the design practice Dunne & Raby and a tutor on the Design Interactions course at the Royal College of Art.

James Auger, the third collaborator with Graeme in these projects, is a tutor/research fellow in the Design Interactions Department at the Royal College of Art. James also collaborates with Jimmy Loizeau, who is a freelance consultant. They hope that “through building conceptual products and creating new scenarios and services they hope to instigate a broader analysis of what it means to exist in a technology rich environment and its cultural implications for the present and the near future.” (quoted from James Auger’s and Jimmy Loizeau’s website www.auger-loizeau.com )

With these background introductions out of the way, let’s proceed to the interview. (Note to readers: there is mild nudity on the second page of this article.)

Lux: Welcome Graeme and thanks for agreeing to be interviewed. So tell us, how did you get involved in these projects?

GF: I got to know Anthony Dunne, Fiona Raby and James Auger when I was studying for my MA in Design Products in 2002 at the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London. During my time at the RCA I helped a few people out with visualization and rapid prototyping techniques, so I guess the reputation stuck that I could model, solve problems and visualize ideas. I like the challenge of trying new things and bringing ideas to life, it’s these experimental projects that make you really learn software inside out. Anthony and Fiona approached me last year to do some 3D modeling for their project ‘Technological Dreams Series: no 1, Robots’. James’s request for assistance on his project Smell + followed later that year.

As a smaller production facility and in some cases… acting as a single artist, achieving inspiring photorealistic 3D in a way that is economically competitive has been near impossible. My experience in using modo and seeing the stunning quality photorealism has changed that in my mind. For once, I have discovered a software tool that can be used to achieve studio quality results without the prohibitive equipment expenses and overhead of a steep learning curve. Of course the onset of multi-core computers and massive speed increases has helped make this more viable from a hardware standpoint. But truly revolutionary advancements are usually achieved by a combination of software and hardware. I think Luxology is filling the software niche rather nicely.

Lux: What were you trying to accomplish and what role did modo have in this exhibit?

GF: I was familiar with Anthony and Fiona’s past work and knew that this new project was going to require some unusual and intriguing forms and a lot of tweaking. Anthony and Fiona wanted to design the concept while I was generating the form so rather than go with a surface modeler I decided to use modo (201 at this time). I was only just starting to get into modo and wanted to test it out on a live project (which always carries some risk).

modo is very direct and it’s visual which means onlookers can judge the form and shape without having to require a render. Anthony and Fiona needed to sit with me to make real time alterations as the designs were modeled up. This was something which I thought might have been a problem, but modo is quick enough to tweak and push forms so minor adjustments are not a re-building exercise. When modeling James’s Smell+ concepts I chose Modo as I couldn’t think of any other software that I could model these forms quickly. These forms are quite organic and twist to fit the body. In modo it only took me about an afternoon to get the initial forms modeled up and then a couple of hours more consulting with James to refine the final shapes.

Lux: Certainly CAD has had a huge impact on the process by which we design and manufacture the products that surround us. When I say that, I can’t help but think of machined metal parts that go into airplanes and traditional products like kitchen appliances. How might the products that we as humans manufacture (or dare I say “grow”) going to be different?

GF: Machines can produce consistent quality and finishes, quicker and more efficient than humans ever will. By using CAD/CAM and rapid prototyping techniques in the design process we can explore concepts quicker, essentially allowing more development in the same space of time, that”s more design behind the concept which inevitably leads the way to better products.

CAD has been around for a while now and is getting quite advanced. Rapid prototyping is starting to come down in price now and is being used more widely. Most colleges have access to their own rapid prototyping/CNC facilities which is allowing younger students to learn and experiment with this technology and re-write the rules of how things can be made. With rapid prototyping you can design from the inside out and create some amazing forms which require no molds.

New areas such as Rapid manufacture (the process of getting Rapid prototyping machines to make finished parts quicker and cheaper than current production methods) are beginning to enter the market place. Rapid manufacture is still in its infancy but has the potential to change they way we make products forever. Contour Crafting is a layered fabrication technology developed by Dr. Behrokh Khoshnevis of the University of Southern California. This technology is allowing the creation of complex architecture using rapid manufacturing techniques. www.contourcrafting.org

.MGX by Materialize are actually producing final production lighting designs with rapid prototyping as the manufacturing tool. This has allowed some incredible forms that simply would not be possible to make with molding technologies. www.materialise.be/materialise/view/en/114832-.MGX+Design+products.html