Aidan Welsh

My design addresses the relationship between the human made environment and the natural. The sides are often in opposition to one another; when one diminishes, the other grows. My design embodies meaning around this topic. The meaning my product intends to spread explores the unison needed for each form of environment to work cohesively to ensure a thriving world. My design, envisioned to be a decorative pot plant will demonstrate how human made materials can benefit the natural world and provide beauty when in unison.

Concrete is my chosen material. Concrete is the backbone to the industrialised world and seems fitting and intrinsic to my design. Not only is the aesthetic of concrete very appealing, but the symbolic meaning of concrete to embody the human world is exceptionally high.

Other considerations for the primary material were plaster and clay. However these materials didn’t boast the same values, symbolic and structural, as concrete.

I began creating my first design iteration by creating the mould that will hold the concrete. I created a 10cm x 10cm base out of a firm foam board and 4 sides to correspond with the base to create an open cube. I lined each of the cracks of the mould with electrical tape to ensure no leaks within the mould. I poured a thin layer of cement into the mould to create a base layer for my iteration. Simultaneously to this, I found an old rectangular cardboard box and poured some cement into the box. I would use this box to create a hole in the middle of the iteration. I used concrete in the box to provide the box structural support while the cement was pored around it. When the base layer had dried, I placed the box in the middle of the base and poured more cement around the outside of the box. Once dried I removed the mould and then attempted to removed the box. However, the box did not come loose and was instead firmly secured in the concrete. Pouring concrete into the box had allowed the surrounding concrete to firmly set around a solid object (the concrete) within the box which caused it to become stuck. When further trying to remove the box, the first iteration unfortunately broke.

For my second iteration I repeated the same process but made a few changes to the process in which I create the hole within the design. I created another mould with a 10cm x 10cm base and created the base layer. Once the base layer was dry, I used a recycled circular bottle to place in the centre of the base. I filled the bottle with hot water to expand the bottle so the concrete sets around the bottle before it shrinks as it cools. I also applied a thin coating of Vaseline around the the bottle as another precaution to ensure the bottle comes loose with ease once the concrete has set. I poured the concrete around the bottle and waited for it to set. Once the concrete had set, I removed the bottle successfully. The result was reassuring as it proved my process was successful, but I was not entirely happy with the shape of the design.

Iteration 3

For my third iteration I planned to mimic the second iteration except with changes made to the size. I created the base as 7cm x 7cm and created accompanying sides for the base. By making the base size smaller, I was able to make the height of the design larger. Creating an exact height is difficult due to the expanding nature of concrete when it dries. I created the base layer and once it was set, placed the bottle with hot water and a coat of Vaseline in the centre of the base. I poured the cement around the bottle and waited for it to set. When I removed the mould and the bottle, I noticed cracks within the cement. These cracks split the design in half. In addition to this, the base layer did not secure to the second layer. Possible reasons to this could be that I allowed the base layer to set too much and so it did not attach to the second layer of concrete. Possible reasons to the the cracks within the design could be I did not allow it enough time to set or I added too much water to the cement mix. These are all aspects to fix in future iterations. The aesthetic of the design however was how I desired and I will look to create the same in the further iterations. Unfortunately however due my limited materials, I was not able to make the next iteration.