Poor Clares, York | Photograph © Interaction Research Studio, Goldsmiths

This week the work of the Interaction Research Studio featured on the BBC’s World Service Program ‘Digital Planet’.

“A community of nuns in the north of England is using a digital dot matrix display that gives a news feed of global events and updates of the emotions and feelings of bloggers around the world. For the last 18 months the Poor Clares nuns from St. Joseph’s in York have been using the device designed by Goldsmiths, University of London to guide their prayers. Bill Gaver from Goldsmiths explains how.”

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BBC Digital Planet

André Knörig, who is working with the Interaction Research Studio on the ERC funded project ‘Legible Landscapes’ and who works for IxDS (Interaction Design Studios in Berlin) and coordinates the Fritzing project, brought in the experimental sensor modules we’ve been developing together.

André Knörig | Photograph © Interaction Research Studio, Goldsmiths

Fritzing is a really useful project that enables designers working on electronics to make the step up from prototyping, using breadboards for example, to producing PCB’s. It’s something that could be beneficial to introduce to students who are interested in employing electronics in their work, using Processing and Arduino for example.

Experimental Sensors | Photograph © Interaction Research Studio, Goldsmiths

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http://www.ixds.de/
http://fritzing.org

Last week the Interaction Research Studio deployed the Photostroller at a care home for the elderly in York.

The Photostroller is an image slideshow device that allows you to drift through photographs from the internet. Much like daydreaming, the slideshow wanders through streams of images – some related and some more random.

©Interaction Research Studio, Goldsmiths

The team took a lot of care in designing the Photostroller for the appropriate level of interaction with the residents. A tuner was designed to enable the residents to tune the slideshow with a dial and slider designed for hands with limited mobility. A moment of wonder for us was seeing a 99 year old arthritic resident handling the controller with relative ease.

©Interaction Research Studio, Goldsmiths

Who knows what they will make of it as time goes by but for the moment the residents seems very happy with it.

Design Real at the Serpentine Gallery

26th Nov – 7th Feb

I haven’t been yet but this exhibition promises to be good – catch it now before it finishes on the Feb 7th. The exhibition has been curated by Konstantin Grcic and focuses on mass-produced objects designed in the last decade.

The Serpentine are also running a Design Real seminar series discussing themes relating to the exhibition, the next one on Thursday 21st January will be by Alex Rich, who was a collaborator on the exhibition design, and Tim Parsons.

Jo Godwin, BAEd Design & Technology graduate 2009, was awarded the Technical Textiles first prize in the Drapers’ Company/Industrial Trust competition. Jo entered the Higher Education category during the summer when she submitted her detailed study of Quantum Tunnelling  Compound (QTC) and it’s application within textiles.  The ceremony took place at the Drapers’ Hall on Tuesday 10 November an institutional award was made to Goldsmiths and received on behalf of the department by Prof. Kay Stables. Well done Jo, brilliant stuff!

Info on the event: http://www.industrialtrust.org.uk/

Info on QTC: http://www.peratech.com/

Patchwork Table - private commission

I am very pleased to announce that we have a new member of staff in the department – David Cameron who is the newest member of the Interaction Research Studio. David is one half of the design duo &made with Toby Hadden. After graduating from Goldsmiths they set up their studio in 2005 which quickly became internationally recognised.

In 2006 &made was endorsed by Terrance Conran in the Times newspaper as the ‘Best of the British’ as well as exhibiting at several iconic exhibitions including ‘Ingenious Therapies: Great Brits’ at the Design Museum / British Council and ‘Design for the Elastic Mind‘ at the Museum of Modern Art.

To see more of their work visit the &made website.

Greta : Furniture for Liberty

Sophie Calle - Whitechapel Gallery

I went to the Sophie Calle exhibition Talking to Strangers at the Whitechapel Gallery yesterday. The exhibition showcases the translated work from a piece called Prenez soin de vous (Take Care of Yourself). When the artist received a break-up e-mail from an ex-partner ending with “take care of yourself” she set about asking 107 female professionals; from criminologists to fiction writers to interpret his words. It is a good example of how through many translations and iterations you can find new meaning. It is certainly worth a visit.

Read more about the exhibition from the Whitechapel Gallery.

This is the new Department of Design homepage. If you have any suggestions for images to add to the slideshow please email n.jarvis[AT]gold.ac.uk.