UNIVERSIDADE DE LISBOA FACULDADE DE BELAS-ARTES USAGE OF KITCHEN APPLIANCES FOR MANUFACTURING PRODUCTS IN KITCHEN ENVIRONMENT It is possible to produce utilitarian products in the kitchen? Vanda Gábrišová Dissertação Mestrado em Design de Equipamento Especialização em Design de Producto 2014 UNIVERSIDADE DE LISBOA FACULDADE DE BELAS-ARTES USAGE OF KITCHEN APPLIANCES FOR MANUFACTURING PRODUCTS IN KITCHEN ENVIRONMENT It is possible to produce utilitarian products in the kitchen? Vanda Gábrišová Dissertação orientada pela Prof. Doutora Ana Thudichum Vasconcelos Mestrado em Design de Equipamento Especialização em Design de Produto 2014 Content ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii RESUMO iv ABSTRACT v 1. INTRODUCTION 6 1.1 Definition of the theme 7 1.2 Objectives of the investigation – vision 8 1.3 Structure of the work 9 1.4 Methodology 10 2. THEORETICAL PART 11 2.1 Product design 12 2.1.1 Definition of Design 12 2.2 Design and DIY 18 2.2.1 Definition of DIY 18 2.2.2 DIY Motivations and Influences 25 2.2.3 Design and DIY 27 2.3 Areas of the investigation 30 2.3.1 Kitchen 30 2.3.1.1 Kitchen history and appliances evolution 37 2.3.1.2 Questionnaire 40 2. 4 Case studies 42 2.4.1 Materials study 42 2.4.1.1 Autarchy 42 2.4.1.2 Decafé 44 2.4.2 Projects in the kitchen 46 2.4.2.1 David Steiner – In house 2012 46 2.4.2.2 Andrew Simpson – Junk Press 2014 48 2.4.2.3 Emily Crane – Cultivated Culture 2010 49 3. PRACTICAL PART 51 3.1 Description of the project 52 3.1.1 Phases of the project 53 3.1.1.1 Experimentation 54 3.1.1.2 Samples 55 3.1.1.3 Final mixtures 56 3.1.1.4 Final products 63 3.1.1.5 Instructions – how to do it 66 3.1.2 Product 71 4. CONCLUSION 72 ANNEXES 76 LIST OF FIGURES 79 BIBLIOGRAPHY 85 Usage of kitchen appliances for manufacturing products in kitchen environment Vanda Gábrišová Acknowledgments I would like to express my greatest gratitude to the people who have helped throughout my master study and supported me while working on my dissertation. First of all I would like to thank all Master´s professors. Especially, my supervisors Professor Ana Thudichum Vasconcelos and Professor André Gouveia who during my studies gave me encouragement, showed me different views on design and helped me understand what kind of designer I would like to be. I would like to thank also all my colleagues and friends I met in Lisbon; Nuno for his generosity, Diogo for his humor, Diego for his enthusiasm, João for help, Ana for her kindness, Regina for her openness and Salomé for her sensitivity. These people became my closest family during my stay in Lisbon. Especially I want to thank Manuel who became my best friend I could always rely on. I want to thank my family for their support during my studies and also my colleagues of 3070 company for understanding while finishing my thesis. I want to also thank my best girlfriends Bronka, (cid:0)ubica and Majka for giving me courage every time I started to lose it. Special thanks to Marek, my Manawee for his support, help and love. Thank you from all my heart. iii Usage of kitchen appliances for manufacturing products in kitchen environment Vanda Gábrišová Resumo Como consequência da produção em massa, o Design tem sofrido perdas na sua essência – a preocupação pelo consumidor e das suas necessidades. Vivemos rodeados de produtos e um elevado número deles causam-nos insatisfação pela sua baixa qualidade, erros ergonómicos, uso de materiais nocivos ou mesmo até pela falta de inovação. Hoje, na era da tecnologia liderada pelo mercado, os designers são induzidos a produzir mais produtos dentro de um curto espaço de tempo, sem deterem, muitas vezes, de briefings e pesquisas conclusivas. É por isso urgente repensar os processos actuais de design e mergulhar nas responsabilidades perante a Natureza e o futuro, que se traduz na redução da produção de objectos e na melhoria da sua qualidade. O Design permite à sociedade experimentar novas soluções, e estas devem ser sustentáveis. O artesanato, a autoprodução e o conceito de DIY (Faça Você Mesmo) são comportamentos populares que podemos observar nos consumidores actuais. Outrora, a sobrevivência dos nossos antepassados estava directamente relacionada com a habilidade de reparar e reutilizar materiais e ferramentas, assim como criar e modificar os produtos que possuíam, através das suas próprias mãos. Hoje, mesmo não sendo tão necessárias como outrora para a sobrevivência do indivíduo, as mesmas actividades continuam presentes em todos nós. Como? O paradigma social e económico actual, força a população a experimentar e alterar os utensílios à sua volta. Esta insatisfação é causada pela produção em massa. Desta forma, as pessoas querem ter uma presença mais activa no acto de pensar e produzir. Assim, em ordem de dar as orientações referidas, a presente dissertação instruí os consumidores a seguir e a participar na construção de produtos sustentáveis e no seu ambiente natural- a cozinha, um espaço disponível a todos. Palavras-chave: Design, Sustentabilidade, DIY, Cozinha, Instruções, Orientações iv Usage of kitchen appliances for manufacturing products in kitchen environment Vanda Gábrišová Abstract Design thanks to mass production loses its central role – care about the humans and fulfill their needs. There are tons of products everywhere around us but huge number of them is unsatisfying because of their low quality, incorrect ergonomics, harmful materials or just lack of innovation. Designers in this age of technology driven by market must quickly design more and more products many times without proper brief and research. It is urgent to rethink these processes behind and sink into responsibility to the nature and to the future, what means reduction of product quantity and improvement of their quality. Design enables society to experiment with new solutions and these new solutions must be sustainable. Crafting, self-production and DIY are popular consumer behaviors nowadays. In past times human survival lied on the ability to repair and reuse tools and materials or create and modify products with own hands. These activities are still present even they are not necessary for human survival anymore. How this happened? Social and economic situation forces people to modify and experiment with the things around them. It is caused by dissatisfaction with current situation caused by mass production. People want to play a larger role in designing and producing. In order to give guidelines to design and produce utilitarian low-technology products, this dissertation gives instructions for consumers to follow and make their own sustainable products in their natural environment – kitchen, a space available for everybody. Keywords: Design, Sustainability, DIY, Kitchen, Instructions, Guidelines v Usage of kitchen appliances for manufacturing products in kitchen environment Vanda Gábrišová 1. Introduction 6 Usage of kitchen appliances for manufacturing products in kitchen environment Vanda Gábrišová 1. 1 Definition of the theme The following theoretical and practical dissertation was developed as final document of Master study of Product Design on the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisbon on the theme Usage of kitchen appliances for manufacturing products in kitchen environment. It is important to show the intention and describe the process of choosing the theme. At first is defining main areas (figure 1). Main field of author´s interest is constellation of design field, education field and craft field. Between each of these fields tries to find related branches in which he is interested in. Design approaches will be focused mainly on low-tech design and eco design in contrast to mass production. Local production and sustainability has strong impact on craft and even on DIY nowadays. The core of educational part was built on social responsibility, design methods and design thinking tools described by brainstorming, system maps, questionnaire, quick prototyping and research in theoretical but mainly in practical part. Figure 1- Three areas of interest. This work intends to explain how kitchen environment as traditional space for food preparation, equipped with different tools and appliances can become design factory (figure 3) while using same resources pointing towards material experiments in it. The theoretical knowledge is built on research dedicated to three parts: Product design and approaches to it, DIY and its motivations, and to the area of investigation – in this case Kitchen as Laboratory. 7 Usage of kitchen appliances for manufacturing products in kitchen environment Vanda Gábrišová 1.2 Objectives of the investigation – vision Main question of this dissertation is: Is it possible produce utilitarian products in the kitchen? Where author is trying to find out if there is possibility to change the kitchen environment into design factory with following conditions (figure 2): • sustainability • contrast to the mass production • self- production • recycling • use only kitchen tools and appliances • easy to produce • playful • available for everybody • co-creative • educative Figure 2 – Condition of kitchen experiment. 8 Usage of kitchen appliances for manufacturing products in kitchen environment Vanda Gábrišová The challenge of the theoretical part of this dissertation is: • define product design and point out sustainable approaches to it • focus on the relationship between design and DIY • prove based on historical research that kitchen as human environment is transforming into social space • research throughout latest sustainable material experiments and their application on design The challenge of the practical part of this dissertation is: • prove that products can be built in the kitchen with kitchen appliances and utensils • offer instructions to create products in the kitchen for common people • experiment with materials and develop new ones • outline further steps The vision is: • show people that they can spend time in the kitchen and create products • show people that kitchen waste can be transformed into something valuable Figure 3 – Project of the dissertation. 1.3 The structure of the work This dissertation is organized into four parts. First, called Introduction is divided in five chapters which describe definition of the theme, objectives of the investigation, structure of the work, methodology and motivation. Second, Theoretical part introduces the word design, its definition in 9