Timekeeper

Tools

Quin, Corinne. 2014. Timekeeper. [Design]

Preview

Image
Audrey_1_med.jpg
Download (3MB) | Preview

Preview

Image
Audrey_2_med.jpg
Download (3MB) | Preview

Preview

Image
Audrey_3_med.jpg
Download (2MB) | Preview

Preview

Image
Contents overview_1.jpg
Download (4MB) | Preview

Official URL: http://www.t-i-m-e-k-e-e-p-e-r.com

Abstract or Description

Our interaction with physical things is disappearing as more aspects of our lives become digital. In the decade before this project I was exploring the idea of time being physical, and had made various iterations of clocks that used thread to measure, accumulate and visualise durations of time. The opportunity to revisit the idea arose when I became pregnant in 2014. I wanted to design a clock that would measure the life of my daughter, but could also work to record a relationship, a promise or any significant event decided by any person. The idea was to take the project out of an exhibition context and have it exist as a product that could live and grow in a domestic context.

The new object had to be simplified to make it suited to small scale production, and also be cheap to produce. At the same time it had to retain some elements that made it feel clock-like. The making process was led by extensive research into found components that could work functionally and aesthetically. I worked with components from the worlds of jewellery, horology, builders’ merchants and haberdasheries. A process of iterative model-making and testing allowed me to discover new potentials for customising the object - such as adding colour to represent different chapters in life, or pre-winding time onto the spindle to celebrate an anniversary. Graphics were also designed and applied to the object to name the person, date or event that was being measured.

The outcome is a clock that grows time into a thread cocoon. It can be purchased from a dedicated online shop where it’s name (meaning), colour and duration can be customised. It was launched at the Brompton Design Quarter as part of London Design Festival in September 2015, to an audience of the London design industry and the general public; and was later featured as a pop-up shop at a mother-makers event at Mirth, Mavel & Maud in Walthamstow, London, November 2016. These events brought the concept to a new audience and showed the possibilities for the object as a meaningful gift – currently, the most popular sales of Timekeepers are for births and weddings. This project allowed me to shift this object from the exhibition space into the world, and everyday life.

Item Type:

Design

Keywords:

Time, Clocks

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Design

Date:

September 2014

Dimensions or Duration: