Design Goal

In this post I want to talk a little about my design goals and my thinking behind them. In order to define my overall design goals, I had to think about form and function as I understand it.

Function is important

Function seemed pretty obvious to me.  Useful objects should always do their job well without the user needing to adapt  to the objects idiosyncrasies.  This seems pretty basic, I want to create useful tools that do the job that they were designed for well, almost naturally.

Don’t ignore form

To create knives that people want to use every day,  knives that do their job so well that they become part of everyday life for the owner means that I must not ignore form.  People are full of feelings and those feelings will color how we perceive the value of something.  Sometimes these perceptions will keep us from truly appreciating what is in front of us, so instead of fighting against it, I want to embrace it in my work.  People should desire to use one of my knifes because it is excellent at its job, feels good to use and is visually appealing, in that order.

Perfect tool for the job

For a knife to be truly useful, it should not be so beautiful that the person is afraid of damaging it.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love some of the beautiful designs that I have seen and want to make some works of art like that someday as my skills improve.  However my primary desire is to create knives where the beauty in their design rests solidly in both form and function without being so pretty that it is better off on display than in use as the perfect tool for the job.