One of the stand out entries at the Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair that took place last week in conjunction with Stockholm Design Week came from the students at Beckmans College of Design. “Never Mind the Object” is the result of an assignment that paired Visual Communications with Product Design students, who explored how furniture design is communicated. The resulting exhibition is a series of videos that challenge the relationship we have with objects and beg the question: why do we only appreciate them when they have a purpose?
Personally, I appreciate objects more when they don’t have a defined purpose. Think of all the items you surround yourself with on your desk, your nightstand, in your kitchen and your office that don’t solve a real problem. On my desk alone I have an old, ivory elephant charm, a dirty piece of wood block type, a necklace my grandfather used to wear and a rock from the beach I visit with my family every summer. Because these objects don’t have a purpose that goes beyond my personal connection to them, to me, they are more fully realized as objects, yet the glass I drink out of during the day or the pencil sharpener I use every fifteen minutes are more likely to escape my notice. But the videos the Beckmans College students made call attention to said drinking glass, as well as the solidity of a baseball bat and the everyday necessity of a light bulb.
Check out the other two (equally short) videos after the jump:
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