The relationship between designers and their target audience has traditionally been one of distance and command. We see what we like, we buy it and then we do as the designers want us to with their product. Now that's all changing. A new breed of designers are creating objects that ask us to interact with their creations.
South Korean-born designer Jeongwon Ji says she is, 'primarily interested in creating everyday objects that reflect her own analysis as well as observations on people, urban life, and social change'. A graduate of the Korean National University of Arts, Ji appears to have achieved this with her Spread Light, which puts the user at the heart of the action.
Our ability to manipulate lamps and dimmer switches might be well established but full-on human interaction with ceiling lights is something completely different. 'Light has a sense of movement by itself but in the case of artificial lighting,' Ji says, 'it is merely perceived as a source of illumination and ends up in fixed forms.' She challenges our expectations of this by asking, 'What if human actions can destroy these commonly perceived forms to recreate dynamic and organic movements of light?'
The answers are found within users, who, instead of being in the background of the design experience, now find themselves shifted to the front. You can now increase or decrease your need of light with just one touch. Erwin Zwiers' Claytable from his Leave Your Shape Behind collection is another way that we can get to grips with interactivity.
The squidgy surface of the table encourages us to touch and play with it. Although this is a mainly indoor product, Netherlands-based Zwiers reveals that his inspiration for it came from the outdoors. 'The beach is one of the few places where traces of humans and animals are left behind in the sand - which makes them visible,' he says. 'The Claytable is a form of translation for traces that are left behind. The surface of clay makes the Claytable attractive to play with and shape and therefore evolve,' he adds. For Zwiers the inspiration behind the interactive elements of his products was clear. 'Most of the products you see you are not allowed to touch, you may only look at them. But I like the interaction between the product and the user,' he says.
Interactive design and digital art go hand in electronic hand and nowhere is this more evident than with Troy Abbott's Yoko Cage. Installing an electronic bird in a cage seems like the last word in esoteric self-indulgence but, as he points out, it eliminates the need for cleaning, feeding and allergy risks. For many of us, it would be a step in a virtual world too far, but the Miami based-designer disagrees, saying, 'I am searching for a spiritual side to our digital world.'