christoffer ohlander product design portfolio
DESCRIPTION
ÂTRANSCRIPT
P R O D U C T D E S I G N P O R T F O L I O
Education
Work
Software Skillset
Awards
Contact
2012-2015 Industrial Design, Konstfack2014-2015 Man and Well Being, Design Academy Eindhoven (exchange student)
2011-2012 - Product Design, Linnaeus University
2007-2008 - The art schools’ evening course in drawing and painting, Folkuniversitetet
2009-2010 - Colour, Form and Craftsmanship, Nyckelviksskolan
2006 - English 30hp, Stockholm University
2007-2008 - Architectural Modeller, ART Teknik. Full time job.
2012-2015 - Student Representative, Board of educational development at Konstfack Industrial Design.
Rhinoceros 3D
2014 IF Design Talents - Hansgrohe Price
+46737329531
2010-2011 - Threedimensional Form - Woodworking, Nyckelviksskolan
2007 - Architectural course, Stockholms Fria Arkitekturskola
2012 - Architectural Modeller, AM Modeller. Project employment.
Olshammarsgatan 54, 124 76 Bandhagen, Stockholm, Sweden
2008-2009 - Art History, 23,5hp, Stockholm University
(Design Related)
2014 - Prototype Maker, Clas Vallin Arkitekter. Project employment.
Adobe Indesign, Illustrator, Photoshop
2015 Design students selected by FORMEX2015 Ulla-Fröberg-Cramér stipend fund for exceptional degree works
Keyshot
Hello!
About me
As a designer I’m especially interested in making products that are closer to the human heart. Wether it be hardcore industrial - or poetic conceptual design, I always try to infuse a human quality into my work.
During my years in different design schools, I have developed a strong skillset, especially in CAD-modelling and physical prototyping, which I often use to complement each other and drive my formgiving process forward.
Born 1986, raised and living in Stockholm. Besides my interest in design, I climb and bicycle a lot. Generally I like to enjoy the pulse of this city together with a big group of friends.
I believe good design is always the result of successful teamwork. In my process I like to involve and engage as many people as possible, even if it’s been individual school projects. I believe that the power of design comes from a collective effort where combinations of individual skills and mindsets create new mindblowing blends.
Sincerely,
Christoffer Ohlander
BATHTUB - WASH BASIN - SHOWER
HOUDINI
W I N N E R O F
HOUDINI
A low-tech bathroom product dealing with changes in the increasingly confined urban environment: Houdini provides an uncomplicated way to get the experience of a fully equipped bathroom where space is lacking.
Using the bathroom should be a joyful and relax-ing experience, even if you are really crammed in. Houdini is all about the experience - the cleanli-ness of white enamel, the tactile feeling and de-lightful wooden smell of cedar, always having your toiletries close at hand.
Houdini is also about trying to reduce water and material consumption. The use of only one water source for three bathroom functions could possibly reduce plumbing and piping when building new homes. Also the proportions of both the bathtub and wash basin are small, to reduce the amount of water used. It is practical, while not reducing the pleasurable experience.
The moments we get to spend alone and shut off from the world are a crucial part of our well-being in the fast-paced reality we live in today. Knowing this, Houdini provides the user with the true re-laxation and stress-relief that experiencing water can be!
PROJECT THEME
KEY SKILLS
- Individual project- Experience design- Compact living- Activating senses
- Sketching- CAD- Clay modelling- Rendering
DESIGN PROCESS
My initial ideas revolve around bathing in small bathrooms, as Swedish building legislation is looking towards allowing smaller bath-rooms. The idea of combining a bathtub with a sink and shower comes out as the strongest and becomes the main theme throughout the project.
IDEATION
After making a rough size calculation for a seat-bathtub, I start sketching on two concepts - one with a removable silicone or rubber top and one with a small sink hanging over the bathtub on a rail. I have no real idea about what the form should express at this stage, so I decide to explore this in making models.
I give the rubber concept a quite indus-trial expression, while the idea of the bathtub as a sitting creature gets in my head while trying to develop the second concept. I feel that the latter expression comes out as the most unique and fun idea, it has a kindness to it that could make the bathtub really loveable.
TWO CONCEPTS
DESIGN PROCESS
Going into CAD, I decide to try and adapt the idea of a lid to the creature-bathtub. At this time I feel that it would be the most practical solution. Somewhere around here I get lost in the technicalities of CAD-Modelling, and the result is that the top part don’t at all have the kind feeling of the bathtub.
FIRSTSUGGESTION
The expression of the lid and the bath-tub don’t work that well with each other. I decide to make a new top part, and go back to look at my initial sketches.
I reapply the idea of a small sink, and the simplicity of just lifting the whole
thing off when bathing or showering. I also find cedar to be a good water-resistant material that will contrib-ute to the experience of using the bathtub by both its tactility and its very unique strong wooden smell.
SIMPLIFYING
CEDAR WOOD
CONTAINERS FOR TOILETRIES
F U R N I T U R E R O L L A T O R
VIGOR
VIGOR
PROJECT THEME
KEY SKILLS
- Individual project- Empowering the elderly- Aid products- Furniture
- Woodworking/construction- Prototyping
The rollator has evolved into a very practical object, but along the way something essential was overlooked.A rollator is deeply intertwined in a persons life, sometimes for decades, and still all models look like brutally functional aid-products.
Vigor - the wooden rollator - is a crossover between furniture and aid. I have created an object that is hopefully seen not as a necessary evil, but as some-thing to empower a person, both in a practical and emotional way.
I have built a working prototype to understand its potential functions, creating knowledge for a sec-ond version that could be constructed in the indus-try. Vigor is collapsible, has a pullout drawer and the top can switch between a seat and a tray. It also weighs less than a standard rollator.
I believe a rollator should be an extention of life-quality and mobility to be used with pride. Vigor is a statement that challenges our perceptions of liv-ing life as a retired person.
DESIGN PROCESS
A mapping of rollators shows a common theme, where it has evolved into an object that signals functionality and durability. I look for inspiration in the furniture field with the hopes of creating some-thing more close to home, combined with the highly evolved functionality of todays rollators.
IDEATION
+
Rough sketching of outlines, thinking already of construction in wood and possibilities for joinery/collapsibility.
ROUGHSKETCHING
DESIGN PROCESS
Exploring possible layouts for wood construction. Trying out different han-dles and baskets. Measurements based on regular rollator models, since I fig-ure a lot of research has been done in this area.
Visualising extendable handles and visible wood joinery with focus on how to make the rollator look stable to the user. Also a possibility to collapse it and use it as a wall-hanged container for belongings.
PROTOTYPING
Taking the best parts from the 4 prior models to develop the final proposal. Handles get a focus on stability, the bas-ket has become a pull-out drawer and the general layout makes it possible to collapse. Also the seat can be flipped to become a tray.
REFINING
O S B C O L O U R I N G T E C H N I Q U E
R A I N B O W R D
W i t h E r i k a E m e r é n
a n d :
S e l e c t e d b y I l s e C r a w f o r d ( G u e s t o f H o n o r ) t o e x h i b i t w i t h h e r i n :
RAINBOWRD
PROJECT THEME
KEY SKILLS
- Wood surfaces- Industrial processes- Colour- Materiality
- Experimenting- Composition
I could never imagine that applying beeswax to a chipboard would lead me to a collaboration with one of the world’s largest OSB-manufacturers, but that’s indeed what happened.
The result of this project are possibilities for industrially producing a colour inlay OSB. The method raises the value of this cheap construction material, and makes it easier to clean, thereby it becomes more suitable for interiors and products.
I have collaborated with Nordbord in Genk, Belgium, and worked together with them in their factory, discovering how the industrial production of such a material could take place.
This is an ongoing project where me and Erika Emerén are trying to apply this material to both products and interiors.
DESIGN PROCESS
Making 36 wood surface samples on different themes.IDEATION
CO
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SL
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EH
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IDIT
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CO
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TIC
SF
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R
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IST
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I chose to move forward with possibilities to create multi-colour OSB-boards in industrial processes. At this point, Erika Emerén and me started sharing ideas and decided that I would present our ideas to the OSB producer Nordbord.
CO
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HIP
SC
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COLOURED OSB - TWO POSSIBILITIES
DESIGN PROCESS
Nordbord kindly offered me to develop the project in their factory. In the process, a colour paste is raked onto the boards, filling up the cavities.
PRODUCTION
The coloured boards were put through a high-speed industrial sanding line that is rarely used by the factory. The boards could be finished to an eggshell sheen in these sanding belts. The resulting material can be dyed to get a two-colour board.
INDUSTRIAL SANDING LINE
N E O - A N I M I S T I C C O F F E E M A K E R
G A R G L ES I N G E R
B a c h e l o r ’ s T h e s i s
D e s i g n s t u d e n t s s e l e c t e d b y
GARGLE SINGER
PROJECT THEME
KEY SKILLS
- Bachelors thesis- New sensor technology- Emotional design- Changing ecologically harmful behaviour
- Research- CAD- Model-building
My bachelor’s thesis revolves around the theme neo-animism - how we increasingly percieve advanced interactive technology as “living” or “having a will of its own”. The coffeemaker “Gargle Singer” uses new smell sensors to tell us if our coffee is ecological or not, trying to affect our choice by playing with our emotions.
Coffee is one of the world’s most pesticide sprayed crops. Drinking non-ecological coffee isn’t danger-ous for the consumer, but for the farmers it’s an-other story. Gargle Singer senses pesticide traces with a nano sensor and coughs violently if the coffee is non-ecological. Our reaction to coughing is instinctive and defensive, as mechanisms for avoiding contagion are activated. If, however, the coffee is ecological, the coffee maker purrs content-ly.
Since coffee-drinking is (at least in Sweden) a so-cial event, the person making the coffee is scruti-nised in front the other coffee-drinkers. This will create feelings of shame or pride, which might fur-ther affect the choice of coffee.
This machine shows potential design in the upcom-ing age of “the internet of things”. As we connect our products to the internet, and give them the ability to sense us and adapt, we are in fact mak-ing them into a type of primitive life-forms. This will mean new opportunities for designers to cre-ate relations between humans and machines. With my bachelor’s thesis, I show how this can make in-teractions between us and our creations more un-derstandable.
*Neo-Animism : The perception of life or intention in new technological objects
DESIGN PROCESS
Based on written sources about the sense of life (animism) in objects, I set out to investigate user relations to products. It becomes clear that there is a cultural consensus as to which products feel alive formwise, and that mobile or high-tech objects tend to be seen as having a personality.
RESEARCH
ASESSING “ALIVENESS” IN PRODUCTS: USER SURVEY
DETERMINING WHICH PRODUCTS USERS GIVE NAMES: WEB SURVEY
MEETING EXPERTS: A PSYCHOLOGIST AND A DESIGN RESEARCHER
- Have you ever named an object,
and if - what’s the story behind the name?
“Thomas, it was a TomTom GPS and the name grew with me making wrong turns. Damnit Thom-as! felt more natural than damnit tomtom.”
“My parents robot vacuum-cleaner was named Rut-ger, because that was the name of the brand. Now they talk in terms like - Now Rutger’s awake! - and - Rutger’s in the way again”
“The shared house I live in at the moment calls the dishwasher Fatima. Dunno why it got that name but it’s used in jokes: “don’t worry about it, Fatima
will do the dishes”
To handle the complex subject of using percieved life in products as a design tool, I take help from classmates to perform a brainstorm with themes based on my research. One of the ideas that come up is to work with trying to change environmentally hasardous behaviour.Further on, I start to analyse coffee-
drinking and the situations connected to it. I find my context in problems re-garding non-ecological coffee. The idea becomes to affect the choice of coffee by means of a coffee maker that gives sound feedback that tells if the coffee is ecological or not. I start sketching different types of drip-coffee makers.
IDEATION&ROUGHSKETCHING
DESIGN PROCESS
I have my concept set, but what will it look like? After developing a general form in the shape of a humanoid body, I start to investigate the transfer-ring of water from one form to another.It becomes very important to work out this transfer-ral so that it doesn’t associate to bodily fluids.
SEMIOTICEXPLORATION
I refine all the form elements and also work a lot with the in-between spaces. I place the nano-sensor in a protective glass casing. The visual language for this coffee-maker is playful, but also gives credibility to the technical process taking place, by having similarities to lab equipment.
FINALPROPOSAL
N E O - A N I M I S T I C R O U T E R
STARGAZER
B a c h e l o r ’ s T h e s i s
D e s i g n s t u d e n t s s e l e c t e d b y
STARGAZER
PROJECT THEME
KEY SKILLS
- Bachelors thesis- The internet of things- Emotional design- New visual language for high-tech
- User surveys- Prototyping- Model-building
The second part of my bachelor’s thesis shows how the sense of life in future products can make us under-stand the complex world we have cre-ated. The router “Stargazer” helps us understand the invisible parallell world of wi-fi signals and transferrals of data, by showing its intensity via a light interface.
The shape of this router is inspired by that of a pet, something many of us hold dear. I have made a user survey to determine what grade of abstrac-tion is suitable to make it credible both as a high-tech object, and as something the users would want to be alive. This way, I have created a method to better understand emotional value in products that have potential to feel alive.
The gestalt of this router is meant to build a posi-tive relation to the user, but also to challenge the industrial design norms that decide what high-tech should look like.I believe there is room for a kinder futurism, that will fulfill emotional needs to a greater extent.
DESIGN PROCESS
I’m making a router that feels alive, so what does a signal “organ” look like? I start to investigate differ-ent types of antennae in nature. Thinking about the evolution of our products, I find a metaphor in how fishes evolved into reptiles. This becomes my first theme.
IDEATION
Combining clay and 3D-printing, I set out to explore possible shapes for the router. The common theme is some sort of protective shell with an inside that encompasses a light interface. This interface will show the intensity of data traffic.
I start to explore ceramics as a possibility to get structured surfaces that enhance tactility and the feeling of aliveness.
However I don’t get the positive emotional responses I want from my users, and decide to find another shape.
SHAPES &MATERIALS
DESIGN PROCESS
I look to something more close to home, and become inspired by our pets.
It is important to me that this object will be accepted as both something high-tech and as something living,
without being seen as a toy. Therefore I create a user survey to determine from a scale of abstraction what they signal to the users.
VERSION 2&USER SURVEY
One shape stands out to the users, signalling both high-tech and creates a positive emotional response. This be-comes the outline of the router.
I start to explore light interfaces and build one from silicone and fiber-optics.
THE WINNER
BATHTUB - WASH BASIN - SHOWER
O T H E R P R O J E C T S
( O v e r v i e w )
D I G I T A L L Y C R A F T E D T A B L E S
W i t h A g n e s E r s s o n & J e n n y K j ä l l
P O U R
S O U N D A B S O R B E N T
W i t h A g n e s E r s s o n & J e n n y K j ä l l
M E A D O W
L A U N D R Y S T O R A G E
B L U B B Y
HEALTH SOUP BUSINESS CONCEPT
W i t h H a n K u s t e r s , Y i - W e n H u a n g ,
O n n o A d r i a a n s e a n d K i m H o u
f o r
E L I X I R
