Would it be possible for product design beyond the commodity-machine to do the opposite, that is, to reveal, to render legible the labour conditions of the design within the materiality of the objects themselves? OpenStructures, through its reliance on open standards and distributed modularity, is highly illustrative due to the strong correlation it presents between its physical features and the organisation of its development. As reminded in the previous chapter, beneath their shiny appearance, commodities mask the social relations in their creation. This project and its offsprings/spinoffs constitute the main case studies of this chapter, primarily due to their unfamiliar appearances, but essentially because of their unconventional designing process. Can this object provide insight into how home appliances may be composed and assembled in an alternative globalisation?Īll three objects are designed by Jesse Howard, in collaboration with Thomas Lommée, and all share a common logic and are part of the larger OpenStructures project in which Lommée and his collaborators are engaged.
Against the inevitability of the standard plastic kettle for the mass market, it hypothetically activates a multiplicity of alternatives that are adaptable to the local economy. It has multiple iterations that are a result of different processes of production – the version destined for single-unit limited production has parts that are either self-produced or bought at a local retail, whereas a 100- or 1000-unit production scenario mixes local production with internationally supplied components. Instead, the OS WaterBoiler is a research project on the material flows that create assemblages of parts and components. Neither is it a special edition reissue of a Bauhaus design, nor a postmodern monument made for the Italian brand Alessi, targeting the tastes and budgets of those looking for more than the ordinary plastic kettle.
The OS WaterBoiler is not your usual plastic moulded case kettle that could once be bought dirt-cheap from the nearest big-box retail store, before breaking down or melting away, never to be repaired nor recycled. By extension, it hints at how mundane, household items would be designed and produced in an alternate universe, perhaps one in which exchange relations are absent. As part of the OpenStructures project however, it stands as evidence of the alternative value circuits that some designers already inhabit. Without context, it would appear to be a one-off, quirky, idiosyncratic designer object a provocative piece illustrating DIY that is destined for exhibitions, and never to be used, let alone to enter production. This short description of an Improvised Vacuum modestly indicates that it is built around a plastic thermos – one may think of bricolage, creative reuse or “IKEA hacks”, and proof that users can be smarter than designers by repurposing their products in entirely unexpected ways.
An assemblage of laser-cut, CNC-milled or 3D-printed pieces, together with some standard industrial components and a recuperated motor. A red plastic cylinder bracketed in a wooden frame on skate wheels, attached by a hose to a brush with matching red bristles.