Day 043: Formgiving

What do we mean by formgiving? I think the term might originate from the Scandinavian languages because there is a similar word in Swedish and Norwegian for example. Nowadays it is commonly used term among architects and designers, but artists can speak about formgiving as well. But let’s think of some examples in the different fileds. Have you ever seen buildings by Frank Gehry or seen some pictures of his buildings? Do you know how they look like? The style of the second activity has somehow similar formgiving as his buildings have. What do you think of it? How about the Opera hall in Sydney then? Have you seen a picture of it ever? A Danish architect, Jørn Utzon designed it in the 60’s and 70’s. It is a cool building and has a personal style of formgiving considering especially the time when it was build. Would be great to see it one day! Both of these masters in architecture have somehow a similar style of formgiving that feels kind of free and airy. In design we could find some good examples as well. Have you ever thought of car design? How about the very original Model T-ford, what do you think about the formgiving of it? There are also some very good examples of Tapio Wirkkala, who was an excellent designers and sculptor too. In arts formgiving is important as well and many artists use it as a daily tool too. Have you seen the pink sculpture in Kalasatama, Helsinki, by Swedish artist Jacob Dahlgren? Many other examples could be mentioned too. Do you have some great examples in mind as well?

We have been a bit excited today. In Finland the first of May is one of the biggest celebrations, of course these year is a bit challenging, but we still want to do our best to bring the spirit a bit higher! Today we shall explore the topic of form giving and different kinds of masks are perfect task to be practicing that. We got maybe a bit too excited and created two different kinds. The good thing is that the first one is a simpler version and the second one gives a bit more challenge if one is very familiar with the topic of form giving!

For this activity you would need:

Activity 1:
coloured paper, glue, scissors, a pen and some stretchy thing to fix it.

Activity 2:
An old pizza box or a cardboard box, scissors, some glue and paints if you wish!

We have also provided some files to be downloaded if that helps you to get started! Remember that these are just two examples, you are more than free to make your of variations, hack the ideas and continue the form giving activity even further! Colours will give another twist too.

Have fun and enjoy!