Final Projects

It’s been 4 years since I graduated with a degree in Industrial Design from the Holon Institute of Technology (HIT), but I still clearly remember the moment before I presented my final project as if it was just yesterday ( I’ve told you shortly about my project before here).I can’t even begin to describe the level of anxiety I was experiencing at that moment. I felt breathless. As if my legs will fail me any second and I will collapse. Or I will open my mouth to speak and no voice would come out. But nevertheless, I did not fall and I managed to speak clearly and after 15 minutes it was all over. Not only the project, which lasted over 6 months, but 4 years of studies in which I slept too little and was given feedback and criticism too often.  But at the same time these were 4 amazing years, which turned me into the designer that I am today. I make it a point to pay a yearly visit to the final HIT graduates’ exhibition, to get inspiration from their creativity, to envy the graduates who are still part of this experience and also to feel grateful that all this is behind me. This year I had a special reason to visit, as Lior, one of my sales associates, was amongst the graduates. I have chosen to introduce Lior’s project, as well as 2 other projects that got my attention.

Lior designed a game kit for kids ages 7 & up, which helps develop imagination, enhances creativity and at the same time educates towards recycling and sustainability. The kit is actually a workshop with tools which kids uses to plan, create and assemble robot doll figures made of paper that they have recycled themselves. The tool includes a glue jar and shaker for making paper mache, 3 mold trays to create body parts and connectors which allow assembly of a wide array of robotic creatures. Even though I am no longer considered the target audience for this kit, I would gladly spend a few hours playing with it.

I loved this project so much, until for a moment I thought that maybe no one would notice if I took one of these light fixtures for myself. Remember the pop-up books? The ones where you pull a tab and the paper becomes a 3-D object? Chen designed a series of night lamps inspired by these books. She explains: “In this project my aim was to bring back the excitement, the surprise and the naivety of the pop-up world into our daily lives”. Chen designed a few night lights which are operated by pulling or shifting a tab, which creates movement that turns the light on. The figures created by the light complement the objects, such as a deer’s antlers or a peacock’s tail of feathers. This is so bewildering that you feel as if for a moment you have seen magic.

The light fixtures are made of plastic surfaces and the formative inspiration was taken from the origami world.