90% Uachdar

I write this in quite an anxious state – I am desperately excited to get back into the workshop tomorrow and put the finishing touches on Uachdar! But for now, there’s a moment to reflect on the week’s work.

The week started off on a high, as I spoke at Creative Dundee’s Make/Share. These events happen monthly, in Dundee’s cosy Beer Kitchen and are always a great inspiration. I greatly enjoyed speaking to the audience on the topic of “Working With Others”. Of course, I told stories of my making process around Uachdar and how designing the desk for Janet Stephen makes the project much more enjoyable than just simply designing a simple desk, that’d suit anyone (or no-one!). As well as this, I spoke a little of the joys of making zines with a community of strangers who become friends, through art and a shared love of something. I really enjoyed myself at the event, and it acted as yet another little boost in the run up to final hand ins.

I’ve also had an incredibly productive week with Uachdar. Admittedly, the beginning of the week brought about a small amount of frustration – it was suggested that I use MDF for the modular surfaces for the desk, as opposed to ash. These little set backs and tweaks in design are just a part of the design process though, and it’s actually worked out in my favour. The modular surfaces (light box, slate surface etc) are now made primarily from MDF. I managed to get all three surfaces constructed in a day, with only small details to be added to each. After reviewing my material swatch for Uachdar, I decided upon a light, subtle “Oxygen” blue paint finish for the MDF. Doing this not only brings a burst of colour to the desk, and more visual interest, but also acts as a signifier of interaction. Stagnant pieces are made from natural wood, and moving, interactive parts are made from painted MDF – a bit like Dyson have with their yellow and grey colour scheme. Following this decision, the lids of the storage sections on the desk will also be painted MDF.
After having constructed the surfaces, the hardest (or so I thought) part came along – electronics. Firstly I soldered together LED Strips within the light box base, and attached the metal spring contacts that I sourced last week. Drilling small holes in the base of the light box gave the two metal spring contacts a place to peep out of. These contacts will meet with two copper sheets on the main area of the desk, completing an electrical circuit from the mains power, and illuminating the light box. And it worked first time!
Sourcing a big enough piece of ash to cover the whole “base” of the top of my desk was proving very difficult, so instead, a sheet of birch plywood has been used, with ash pieces which sit on top. Using the plywood means that the desk is significantly lighter than it would be had I used solid ash for everything. I now have all the parts cut for the top of my desk – it really is just a case of glueing it all together now!

As I write this, the legs and shelf are clamped up and glueing, in the workshop. Tomorrow I will unclamp them and begin to work on finishing the surfaces, adding copper caps to the desk legs, and implementing the electronics before glueing everything together and adding storage lids on Tuesday. If this all works out, Uachdar will be ready to take home for a photoshoot in Janet’s studio on Wednesday, which we are both very excited about. I am also eager to make the most of next week’s promising weather, and take Uachdar into the hills to do a photoshoot there, which will focus on material choice and how it connects to the natural landscape. After all, utilising natural materials in our products and interiors is believed to lead to an ultimately greater sense of comfort and wellbeing.

Also this week, I’ve been busy working on Social Digital 18’s Degree Show Booklet, and thinking about the “interior” design of our Degree Show space in terms of paint and those little accents that make the experience of being in our exhibition space much much more enjoyable. It’s been a busy week, but I am enjoying just about every minute of it, and am so looking forward to showing Janet the finished desk on Wednesday.

Look out for photos and clips of video footage coming this week, and as always – take care.

– J