LYDIA TEE VA 3.

3 DESIGN ASSIGNMENT: A FORMAL ANALYSIS

Angel
2008 Gry Holmskov W 450 mm x H 470 mm 6mm-8mm steel rod

This is a work by Danish industrial designer Gry Holmskov entitled Angel. It is a stool that was designed in 2008, measuring 45cm wide by 47cm high. It is made of 6-8mm steel rods and manufactured in Denmark. This stool has a half domed shaped base with a similar smaller halved dish as the seat.

This stool is unlike the conventional stools. In place of four legs on its base, the stools base is shaped as a dome split in half. The seat is like half a plate set atop this dome shaped base. The diameter of the base of the stool is approximately the same size as the seat. This structure is mainly made up of incomplete circular spaces, and this creates an impression that it is unstable. However, it also imples how it is to be used, that is, that the users weight balances against the rest of the stool. This allows the viewer to feel that the chair is well balanced even though the base is only half of

the entire circumference. This structure is made of steel rods which create the frame, the only support of the stool. In this case, the frame is the stool itself.

The metal rods create multiple lines that start at the base of the dome and converge towards the top where the seat is and the lines continue to fan outwards to shape the shallow seat. The lines move in one continuous flow from the bottom rim of the stool to the fanned out structure of the seat. The lines are very cleanly cut, and allows the viewers to see the stool in one unbroken view as well. The lines created by the metal rods along the dome shape can be described to be like that of a birdcage. Although this piece is made of metal rods that would typically look rough and heavy, this piece shows us otherwise. The whole frame looks very light-weighted , achieved through the smooth texture on the metal rods as well as the negative spaces created between the gaps of the metal rods.

The Angel stools, from various angles, look like angel figures. The base is the dresses and the seat are like the wings on the angel. Further more, the shadows casted by the stool (above picture) on a particular angle cast the image of the front view of the angel.

The Angel stools are manufactured in various colours: black, white, red, yellow, and light turquoise. These hues are bright and vivid, but not overwhelming towards the viewer. The colours are immediately recognisable to the viewer, and this allows the viewers to not be too overwhelmed or aliented by unfamiliar colours used on the stool.

The result of the above mentioned characteristics is a beautiful modern piece that is pleasing to the viewers eyes, and defys the conventional design of a stool.