RCA – ‘MA Design & Interactions’

Hi all, its been a while since i last posted, i had been working hard on my finals and am now ready to start posting away about all things Art, Design and ‘Interactions’ particularly of that coming from over here in the UK.

Lets start my first post back with a discussion about the RCA (Royal College of Arts), and the shows that took place in London a couple of months ago. The RCA is renowned for producing some of the finest designers around the world and it continues to produce great quality of work and inspiring designers. The college offers a range of MA programs that are related solely to the arts and media based subjects. The college is located right in the heart of London, South Kensington. Known attractions in the area include the; Science Museum, Natural History Museum, V&A and Royal Albert Hall just name a few.

Southkensington

This leads us on to the recently established ‘Design interactions’ course that is offered. It is a relatively new course but has progressed and excelled pretty fast over its first couple of years. I had the opportunity to attend the end of year shows during the summer of 2009 and was extremely impressed by what had been achieved to date. The level and talent of work was extraordinary.

The work that is produced is usually alot more varied and experimental and can differ from other interaction courses that are offered in other countries around the world. Their were alot of new, exciting & innovative ideas that were attracting agencies and exhibitors from all over the world to make the effort to attend. I very much look forward to attending next years show to see what the future graduates have up their sleeves. The show definitely gave out an excellence to be valued upon that considers education from a Masters level and standard of work.

In relation to the show, i throughly enjoyed the toaster project by ‘Thomas Thwaites’ (www.thomasthwaites.com).

Toaster1

Basically a project about creating a working electric toaster from scratch using only the raw materials that get used to produce a toaster in an ordinary factory line. I found the idea quite amusing at first glance but after you read about the process he has taken, it becomes quite an interesting concept on how to produce an object that is sold for the smallest amount of money nowadays by using only your two humane hands.

Toaster2

He describes the idea as ‘Absurd’ and by far it truly is, but at the same time a wonderful craftsmanship because of its uniqueness for being wity to do it yourself.

Toaster3