Main Project Plans and Inspirations

My formative years are in the late 90’s and early 2000’s and my group of friends and I were inspired by the punk/grunge/skateboarding scenes. We were a small group of kids in a small town in rural Colorado, and our exposure to anything other than farming and ranching was what we saw on television, or through the music we listened to. The internet was in its infancy, so it played a much less important role, but was still a part of what influenced how we saw the world. Physical media dominated what we listened to and saw, which meant that most of the information I received was often filtered through mainstream media outlets or the passionate voices of musicians and artists. Because access to outside influences was limited, the things we did encounter—a music video, a magazine article, a skate video—would have had a disproportionately large impact, and further fueled our desire to connect with something different from the rural life we were accustomed to. From this I had developed a personal style that fell somewhere in between a skateboarding aesthetic and punk’s emphasis on self-expression.

Over the years, my style has evolved from the punk/grunge aesthetic of my youth, and has become somewhat more conservative. My clothes aren’t as baggy and I definitely stay far away from skateboards. As I’ve grown, my understanding of “aesthetic” has expanded beyond clothing. I now recognize that it encompasses all aspects of my environment, from my home to my transportation. So, with that in mind, I would say that my aesthetic is more Scandinavian minimalist with a hint of mid-century modern. I enjoy the clean lines, simplicity, and functionality of Scandinavian minimalist design combined with the warmth and personality of mid-century modern. 

For my main project, I think that I am going to go out of my comfort zone and make something that is more of a brutalist aesthetic. I plan to design a small concrete fountain in the form of a pyramid with four “fins” that would have integrated channels for the water to flow down. The base of the pyramid would be a basin for the water to collect. A small pump would move the water to the apex of the pyramid where it would split into the four channels on the fins and flow down to the basin. The pyramid shape and concrete would be perfect for my chosen aesthetic of brutalism. The interplay of the pyramid’s geometric form, the water’s dynamic flow, and the raw concrete material will culminate in a piece that is both visually striking and functionally sound, pushing my creative boundaries and resulting in a tangible expression of brutalist design principles.

*Portions of the post were authored with the help of Google Gemini.

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