Art Nouveau Evaluation

Art Nouveau Chair

When I first received the assignment brief my thoughts were that it’s going to be tricky considering the many aspect we had to look into whilst making a chairs such as the measurements, ergonomics and the theme Art Nouveau. I first found out what it was about whilst looking at images from the internet I found out it consisted of stylised flowers, leaves, roots. I decided to look for Art Nouveau pattern especially looking at the flowers/curvy shapes and particularly the flower pattern which was a heart shape containing two daffodils combined together. In my mind I knew I wanted my chair to have a heart shape but I also thought I wouldn’t be able to make a complicated chair with too many tricky bits that I will have to cut out.

 

When I started making my chair it was hard to cut out the heart shapes especially to make sure I cut through the thick cardboard and not make my lines look rigid. After I cut one side of the heart I then traced it again on cardboard so it would look identical and cut it out. I then used a glue gun to fix the two pieces together I found this to be tricky because I had to be aware of where I was putting the glue. I then decided the heart needed support so I cut two strips of cardboard and glued it on to the back of the heart. I decided to use modrock because since it wasn’t my first time using it I knew it was a strong material to work with. I cut different strips of modrock dipped them into warm water one by one; took the excess water out making sure it wasn’t too soggy, then applied it to the heart. I knew I had to make this strong so I added two layers of modrock.

 

Next I made the seat this consisted of two piece of thick cardboard which I cut into rectangles and glued together I then wanted a rim around it so I cut two long pieces with fitted the width of the rectangle and two short pieces with fitted the length of the rectangle. I glued them onto the seat, in my mind I knew since the top part of my chair was heavy the seat has to be equally as heavy so I applied the mudrock in the same way as I did to the heart, combining the two strips supporting the heart to the seat. I decided to take my chair home so I could finish making the legs and modrocking it, then painting my chair. When it came to what colour I wanted to paint my chair I had a lot of colour ideas first I was thinking of doing my chair dark green/light green but then I thought most people will do this so I decided to paint my chair a dark pink with shades of pink. The next day I changed my mind again and decided to paint it a dark purple with a lighter purple on the heart to make it stand out. I was pleased with the way it looked but I felt the whole process of making my chair was rushed, if I took time making my chair then I know for sure I could have came up with a better design.