The concept of a shelf is fairly self explanatory and that’s part of the reason it is my chosen framework. Even though the shelf has an incredibly wide user range and can vastly differ in size and shape, most people would explain a shelf fairly similarly. I use it as my project framework because it is easily recognized, pure in its shape and has a familiar role in society. The shelf makes a good blank canvas.

I try to build out of curiosity and aesthetic sensibility. I like the experience of building to be as fluent as possible. Meaning that I don’t want to plan too much prior to building. I value a one to one exploration of form, materials function, and dis-function. Further I love to play with the humorous, social and political connotations I’m free to use as a designer.

Normally I would start a project with thinking and sketching out on paper. For this project I’m drawing as a reflective method by investigating my finished shelves. A form of documentation like the one Charles Darwin did, only with crude drawings and lower scientific expectations. By sketching the shelves on paper I force myself to look, think and draw conclusions from my process. Each shelf gets a couple of drawings with short explanatory texts. These are annotated drawings with details that matter for the particular shelf, such as chosen materials, building methods or where an idea might originate from.