Group 22
01:01

We’re diving into the exciting world of furniture design, aiming to create a dynamic modular system tailored for the vibrant “SHOP” gallery in Preston. With prototyping as our guiding principle, we’re gearing up to bring our designs to life in full-scale 1:1 models. Beyond just furniture, our project is about cultivating a space where artists can unleash their creativity, pushing boundaries in their exhibitions. Simultaneously, we’re dedicated to ensuring users feel not only comfortable but also inspired as they explore the gallery’s ever-evolving atmosphere. Join our team and take part in this journey!

Download Final Report

Saul B / Gwyneth C / Akhshay George N / Shahd Fadhel Malalla Saleh Mohamed A / Alina I

Saul B
Hello! We are ‘1:1’

We are a team of master’s students from a range of different backgrounds, but all have an interest in multifunctional design.

From left to right:

Alina: I love designing furniture because I can bring my ideas to life and use them myself.

Gwyneth: I love designing tangible objects that can be used in multiple ways.

Shahd: I love the concept of a piece of multifunctional furniture that can adapt to different needs.

Akshay: I love details and enjoy any chance I get to do a mock-up.

Saul: I really enjoy modelmaking and using physical models to develop designs.
Posted 9 Mar 2024 11:28
Akhshay George N
Client and Site

The site is located on the corner of one of the oldest streets in Preston. Previously the offices for an iron foundry over the road from the late 1800s to 1960s, a charity shop took over the premises and became well known across Preston. Charity Shop Rwanda occupied the building until 2020, when SHOP was established, keeping the letters from the previous sign.

The building and studio are now a colourful, versatile place that adapts to each new user, reusing and reapplying materials throughout.

SHOP Preston is looking for a set of multifunctional display units/furniture to fit in their window that will suit all the events they cater for from exhibitions to workshops and pop-ups, able to adapt and evolve as their needs change. As part of this brief, we will be producing a 1:1 prototype of our design that we create over the two action weeks.
Posted 10 Mar 2024 22:04
Gwyneth C
Site Analysis

A site visit in the first part of the year really helped us familiarise ourselves with the space at SHOP, taking measurements and understanding how the building operates to make sure we can create usable multifunctional furniture that fits into the space.
Posted 10 Mar 2024 22:20
Shahd Fadhel Malalla Saleh Mohamed A
Refining the Brief

Meeting with Sally and Ecaterina at the site, we talked through some initial ideas of ours to develop the brief and define the outputs. We were able to see how they currently use the space as well as tell us of any challenges they have, or places they feel need improvement.
Posted 10 Mar 2024 22:24
Alina I
It was great to meet Sally and Ecaterina from SHOP Preston CIC, a small-scale community event space in the offices of the North West Design Collective (nwdc). Established to create an affordable venue for cultural and social activities, SHOP is constantly evolving and looking for new ways to provide functional spaces for a variety of users of the space, including painters, musicians, photographers, sculptors, workshops, pop-up shops and more, all within a two-week period.

We had a great chat about the project and aims, and look forward to working with them over the coming weeks!
Posted 10 Mar 2024 23:03
Saul B
1:20 Site Model

To help with the design process and understand how the space can be used, we've created a simple 1:20 model using measurements taken from our site visit earlier in the year.

As part of the action weeks, this model, along with its digital twin, will be used to iteratively test the multifunctional furniture we create before scaling up to a 1:1 prototype.
Posted 12 Mar 2024 15:59
Saul B
Day 1: Initial Concepts

It's been a great afternoon developing concepts and making paper models, investigating materials and form.
Posted 7 May 2024 13:08
Saul B
Day 1: Brief and Introductions

Great turnout for the first day of MSA Live, introducing the FDN, BA1 and BA2 students to the brief and discussing initial ideas for multi-use furniture.
Posted 8 May 2024 09:50
Saul B
Day 2: Guest Lecture

This morning we had a guest lecture from Angus, ex-student of the MSA who now works at Tim Denton, a local bespoke furniture design company. It was great to hear from Angus about the process and reasoning behind his work, and review our initial designs with him.
Posted 8 May 2024 14:48
Saul B
Day 2: Furniture 4 Reuse

This afternoon we explored the Furniture4Reuse space at UoM to investigate possible materials and components that may be used in our designs of multi-functional furniture, reusing existing tables and chairs in novel ways.
Posted 8 May 2024 15:01
Saul B
Day 3: Model Testing

This morning we've been creating 1:20 scale models of our designs, working up details and exploring arrangements. Great ideas from everyone in the team!
Posted 9 May 2024 14:08
Saul B
Day 3: Model Review

After spending the morning developing individual concepts, everyone presented their ideas to the group, giving feedback to each other's designs. From here we will be splitting into two groups to develop two designs to present to the collaborators.
Posted 10 May 2024 09:52
Saul B
Day 4: Presentation Preparation

This morning we worked in our groups to develop our designs into more detailed drawings and 3D models before discussing and presenting to the collaborators.
Posted 10 May 2024 13:56
Saul B
Day 4: Collaborator Meeting

This afternoon we presented our concepts and designs to the collaborators, Sally and Ecaterina from SHOP Preston, we had great feedback and look forward to developing a final design next week
Posted 10 May 2024 15:01
Saul B
Day 5: Full scale prototype

This morning we split into teams, working on assembly instructions for the final piece of furniture and creating templates to work from in the workshop this week.
Posted 13 May 2024 13:36
Saul B
Day 5: Instruction Manual

Following an illustrator workshop with Alina, everyone worked up some Ikea-style assembly visualisations of the final design for an instruction manual we are creating to go alongside the 1:1 prototype.
Posted 13 May 2024 16:50
Saul B
Day 6: Workshop Day

This morning we began producing the 1:1 prototype in the workshop.
Posted 14 May 2024 16:53
Saul B
Day 6: Workshop Day

After cutting most of the pieces out this morning, we began hand sanding and refining the pieces to ensure that they fit correctly, test assembling the exhibition stand.
Posted 14 May 2024 16:54
Saul B
Day 6: Workshop Day

As well as producing a 1:1 prototype, today we created a 1:20 model of the final design, experimenting with colour.
Posted 14 May 2024 16:58
Saul B
Day 7: More Models!

Today we made more models to add to our suite, and test assembled the 1:1 stool, here are the 1:20 on the 1:5 on the 1:1.
Posted 15 May 2024 16:38
Saul B
Day 7: Test assembly

With every piece of the prototype now cut and sanded, we assembled the stool, bench and exhibition stand to test tolerances and improvements we can make over the final two days.
Posted 15 May 2024 16:42
Saul B
Day 8: Final touches

This morning the team worked on the cushion and fixings for the display stand, researching weaving patterns before settling on a checkerboard design.
Posted 16 May 2024 16:55
Saul B
Day 8: Studio photos

With the models completed, this afternoon we took studio photos of the final prototypes.
Posted 16 May 2024 16:56
Saul B
Day 9: Final Images

Today we're finalising the booklet and taking photos of our final prototypes, here's a sneak preview of the pieces...
Posted 17 May 2024 14:47
Saul B
Day 9: Stool Assembly

This gif shows the assembly process for our prototype stool.
Posted 17 May 2024 15:58
Saul B
Day 9: Team Photo

And that's a wrap for MSA Live 24! Well done to everyone for taking part :)
Posted 17 May 2024 16:01