I figured I would talk a little about designing projects for a moment, since that happens to be on my mind right now. By no means do I have it all figured out and I sometimes feel like an outside observer as I watch myself go through different phases of my woodworking growth. This week, I spent three days chasing a design that never panned out. Hand sketches, Sketchup, blood sweat and tears! I was struggling so hard to come up with something unique and something that would really challenge my skill-set, that I began to lose site of the ultimate purpose of the piece. I forgot about function. And if you don’t satisfy the intended function…..GAME OVER. So one might say I wasted three days. I choose to see it a bit differently. This was a good learning experience for me. Ultimately I learned a lesson in the dangers of over-designing and if there is such a thing, micromanaging my project. I put too much stress on my imagination, and not enough on my common sense. Once I remembered to focus on the purpose and the function, things started to fall into place again. Although the piece still isn’t ready for a first build, its in a much better position than it was. Designing is as much about creativity as it is about restraint. Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. And not every piece needs to drop jaws. Sometimes its enough that the piece just works, and looks good doing it.
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8 Responses to “Designing Myself Into A Corner”
Could you give us a bit more information about what the project was and some of the dead ends you pursued and the successful outcome you arrived at in the end. Thanks.
Marc,
You need practice woodworking like I do. Start with a clean slate, grab some very expensive wood, make a small box (when you really wanted to make a chair), and practice cussing in as many languages as possible.
Nice observations. how’s that old saying go? Penny-wise, pound-foolish. Something like that. I think it comes from being, for lack of a better term, anal-retentive and a perfectionist (speaking of myself). I often forget a fundamental when tricking out a detail. Like building a nice shelf with beading that is 1/4in too short for the case it goes in. Or how about a cutting out beautiful dovetails but removing the keep material instead of the waste. I could go on for days, but I will stop here to save myself more shame.
Definitely something to be said for form following function not vice-versa. Keep on trucking. PS, the walnut EC was a pretty nice project. I enjoyed watching the series over at FWW.
That’s a good observation and isn’t true of just woodworking or furniture design, etc.
Part of being a mature artist in any medium is knowing when a piece is finished, and even more so, recognizing when you’ve worked past that point and be willing to back up and re-examine the work, or even start over from the beginning. It’s a whole lot harder to do than it sounds. Sometimes that’s the ONLY way to determine when a work (design) is finished and sometimes it has to be done multiple times. But in the long run it’s always worth it.
Sounds to me like you have a really good handle on it. Good luck with the piece!
Marc, get out of the corner! …and post some pics of the rejected design :D
Well to tell you the truth, a lot of the rejected designs were in my head or just some scribblings on a piece of paper. Not much to post in that regard unfortunately.
Marc,
Interesting insight. IMHO, when you lose functionality, the project becomes sculpture, not furniture. That’s not to say sculpture does not have value in and of itself, but it is a completely different animal than furniture. Being what the lawyers refer to as a “useful object” is a necessary part of being an example of furnituremaking.
wow…. almost makes you seem…. what is it called….. human?
like said in previous posts, this is not an issue with woodworking projects, but with the human nature in general. we sometimes get fixed on something and it leads us on a curvy narrow road away from our main path. Happens! (to all of us sometimes in less, sometimes in more stressful moments) the beauty of it though, that unlike a robot that excels at repetitive work, we are able to turn around and get back on track.