Sitting on a loved one? Figuratively, of course.

      So my second assignment for my Design 102 class this semester is to design a chair out of cardboard that somehow exemplifies my relationship with someone. Interesting, right? I just keep thinking about how this would sound to someone who didn't understand the assignment. Something along the lines of:

          Stranger: "Hello, there. What are you doing?"
          Me: "Oh, hi! I'm thinking of people who would make a good chair."
          Stranger: "..."
          Me: "No-- I'm not making people INTO chairs literally! Wait, don't run away! It's CONCEPTUAL!"

      I can easily imagine someone getting the wrong idea. But, back to the assignment. Thinking about portraying a relationship, or a person for that matter, through an inanimate object was very interesting to me. It forces you to really analyze what that person and your relationship is like, but broader and deeper then I have ever considered before.
      I was actually quite interested in what I had come up with during my brainstorming process. For example, I was surprised that I drew my brother as a throne-- but when I thought about it, it actually made a lot of sense because I put him up on a pedestal in my mind and he is such a model for me to live by. And a chair about my mother I drew as a see-saw, which made sense because we can both be quite moody.
      But, as usual, I am having trouble deciding on which particular person to narrow this assignment down to. I am an extremely indecisive individual, which tends to be a problem. However, I think I have settled on my grandfather. I feel like there is enough to go off of here and make a solid final product. My relationship with my papa as a chair I picture as being big enough to seat two, comfortable, sturdy/supportive, old-fashioned, and reliable/grounded. But I feel that the material (cardboard), while having the benefit of being fairly inexpensive, can be limiting as far as design. Especially considering that this chair, being for a design class, has to FUNCTION and support human weight. In my mind, however, cardboard is such a flimsy material. I guess I'll just have to work with it, experiment, and find out what works.
Until next time!