Extraordinary Ordinary Things Senior Studio F21

Week 1 + 2

Going into this project I had no idea what was expected of us as a class, but after visiting the museum exhibit, I had a better sense of where I want to focus my project on for this semester.

The Extraordinary Ordinary Things Exhibit:

Walking through the Extraordinary Ordinary Things Exhibit there were a few points of interest that I took note of:

• How these objects were created / manufactured
• Notable designers that I was familiar with
• Cultural Value + Appropriation
• The amalgam of design styles that represent different time periods in history.

The artifact I chose was the Sink with Stand by George Sarier. What intrigued me about this artifact is its practicality in material choice and how that informs the Art Deco aesthetic style. The choice for a porcelain basin and steel tube legs was for easy cleaning as the standards for sanitation has risen majorly during the early 20th century.

Looking at similar furniture pieces in the exhibit, there seems to be a lot of pieces that use steel as the material for the legs. I was wondering if it was possible to draw a connection to Pittsburgh’s contribution to the steel industry.

Beyond the exhibit, I was trying to connect the artifacts to the surrounding neighborhood such as South Craig Street and local artisans.

Possible local stores to collaborate with:

• Vendors on S.Craig — All represent food cultures across the world, a lot of the various furniture styles in the exhibit come from different designers from Italy, Japan etc, so perhaps a connection could be made between the two
• Dobra Tea — There seems to be a range of tea ware styles on display in the exhibit. It would be an interesting angle to explore different cultures through the styles of these vessels and the various types of tea
• Pittsburgh Glass Center
• Local Artists

The Greg Manley Workshop

• This workshop made me rethink how I could possibly incorporate ritualistic aspects to this experience and make it so something can be gained by visitors at the end of the visit.
• Back to my tea idea, tea ceremonies in itself are very ritualistic and each culture drinks teas in different way, I was wondering if we can bring out people who represent these various cultures and teach other community members about their rituals.
• Indian Tea, Japanese Tea, Chinese Tea, British Tea

Carrie Furnace and Braddock Library Field Trip

The tour guide told us about how the structural and mechanical design of Carrie Furnace was really intentionally designed but how it was very dangerous for the workers who worked there. This made me question, what kind of labor went into the creation of an object?

I also really appreciated how the local artists payed homage to the African American workers who risked their lives through their art. I was wondering if we could also give a voice to the current community of Pittsburgh artists by connecting them to certain series of objects.

• Even though the space is pretty derelict and abandoned, remnants of creativity still survive!
• Each space engages the local community in an unique way
• Old vs New Pittsburgh

Moving forward:

How would the pop-up space affect and attract different demographics in the surrounding community?