The year 2014 will mark 100 years since AIGA was founded.
At the first meeting each person had to bring their own chair. Inspired by this anecdote, and the chair’s overall significance as an object of design, AIGA is asking chapters to participate in a project called AIGA 100 Chair by nominating a designer (or designers) to customize the skin of a chair designed by Real Good Chairs and donated by Blu Dot. The chairs will be exhibited in January in New York City and then returned to the respective chapters to be auctioned off with funds going to support the chapter.
To kickstart the project, AIGA invited Marian Bantjes, Laurie DeMartino and Charles Anderson, Aaron Draplin, Jessica Hische, Ellen Lupton, Mike Perry and Rick Valicenti to participate (see image above).
We’ve come up with a concept that will enable EVERYBODY in the Santa Barbara AIGA Chapter to participate. In fact, it’s success relies on everybody’s contribution.
The concept’s working title is ‘Creative Uses for a Chair’ and it’s based on the Alternative Uses Test developed by JP Guildford in 1967 which stretches your creativity by giving you two minutes to think of as many uses as possible for an everyday object, in our case a chair.
Here’s a sample brainstorm for “paper clip” uses:
1. Hold papers together
2. Cufflinks
3. Earrings
4. Imitation mini-trombone
5. Thing you use to push that emergency restart button on your router
6. Keeping headphones from getting tangled up
7. Bookmark
To participate:
1. Go to the Google spreadsheet we’ve set up here.
2. Scan through the entries to make sure your idea hasn’t already been expressed by someone else.
3. Submit your idea.
All entries including your name and/or Twitter handle will then be used to create a visual tapestry of ideas to be applied to the chair. The deadline for submission is Friday, 29th of November. But remember, you want to get your idea in sooner rather than later, as it will become more and more difficult to come up with something original.
Let’s show AIGA and the world how very creative we are in Santa Barbara and put a smile on a few faces at the same time!
