Multiple with a Soul

My approach in this project was to think about the way people interact with the mass manufactured products in their lives, and to then think about how we would allow the designed items around them to alter the way we live. In an age when people in the workforce, especially office workers, eat and drink at their desks seldom leaving it during an eight hour period, I thought it was important to start with the Great British tea break.

'Rolling Mug' was my way of forcing an individual to take a break and enjoy their tea. As the mug incorporates a half sphere base it placed importance on not leaving it idle until all the tea was drunk, forcing one hand at least away from the keyboard and encouraging the user to take a well earned break.

After spending time in working environments, I appreciate there was a strict culture of ownership placed upon personal workspaces and objects such as stationary, but especially the humble mug. It seemed like an individual's cup or mug was something that needed to be defended, the last bastion of self.

Systems to defend cups from hostile users became the focus of my project. 'CupCuff' attempted to prevent the removal of a cup altogether. Providing the owner remembered to cuff the cup to something solid, it would always be there when they returned.

In response to 'CupCuff’s' aggressive and explicit defence system, my product development lead me to the ‘MyCup’ system. 'MyCup' could be disabled by simply the removing a key from the lock, a much more civilised and agreeable form of defence. The lock covered a small hole in the base of the cup, that without the key would be open, leaving the ‘hostile’ with a cup they could not use.

After spending time working with ceramist Rob Wheeler, the ‘HeartCup’ was spawned. The locking system from ‘MyCup’ was replaced by a removable heart shaped plug, giving the user the same peace of mind, but using an increasingly less aggressive visual language. The ‘HeartCup’ was the conclusion of Multiple with a soul for me, during this time I attempted to allow people to become confident of the ownership of products, no matter how many others there were in existence. Designing products that encourage ownership is an idea that has resonated throughout my work since, my thinking being that if people are proud to own, they will be too proud to discard.