A new book and a new project

I have now made it through one week of classes. On Thursday I had my first studio class, and it seems like a good semester is ahead of me. As part of the class that I chose, we were able to pick a project direction as long as it fell into the category of "Making Meaning." For me, Making Meaning and "industrial design" should be the same thing. If something that I design has no meaning and intention, then it just isn't very successful.

Folding and collapsible objects have been an interest of mine for a while now. As a child, the discovery of the Hoberman sphere at the local toy store was a life changing moment of pure awe. It combined my interest in geometry with a new technological twist. The study of leaf and map folding soon followed.

Making something flat 3d, and making something 3d flat- this is something that is both challenging and useful.

I was hoping to focus on the umbrella,  the simple and effective folding device which I have been looking at all summer. Yet today, when I picked up a copy of the book "Collapsible" by Per Mollerup, I was able to see all of the folding objects in my life. The umbrella is on the cover, the archetype of collapsibility.

I wonder if there is a reason to redesign something that is already so well thought out and developed.