Portfolio of selected design work, winter 2021. Chris Merchant

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Design Portfolio
Christopher Merchant
Masters Student in Industrial Design, Iowa State University

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About Me
I am a former Chemist with a lifelong
passion for woodworking and furniture
design whose life was changed by
attending an advanced furniture
design and woodworking school in
Maine. Spending this time honing my
craft and design skills inspired my to
pursue a Masters in Industrial Design at
Iowa State University in my hometown
of Ames, IA. I’m spending this time
expanding upon my experience with
craft, developing an understanding
of design research, and learning
advanced design skills. In the future
I aim to bring craft, research, and
cutting edge tools into my professional
work as a designer.
Education
Iowa State University
Master of Industrial Design
Aug 2020-Present
GPA: 4.0
Center For Furniture Craftsmanship
9 Month Comprehensive
2018-2019
Grinnell College
BA Chemistry (honors)
2013-2017
GPA: 3.7
Skills
Advanced Woodworking
CNC, 3D Printing, laser cutting
Sketching, model making
Adobe photoshop, illustrator, indesign
Fusion 360, Rhino, Solidworks
Microsoft office
Experience
Studio Fellowship, Center for Furniture
Craftsmanship
2019-march 2020
• independent furniture design exploration.
• Completed several bespoke and speculative
furniture pieces.
Chemistry Mentored Advanced Project, Grinnell
College
May-Dec, 2016
• Independent and collaborative research.
• Development of materials for hydrogen fuel cell
technology.
Biochemistry R&D Internship, Kemin Industries
Summer 2015
• Independently maintained research laboratory
and conducted complex biochemical laboratory
techniques.
• Conducted research according to industry
standards.
• Presented research results to Kemin management
and employees.
Awards
Association of Woodworking and Furniture
Suppliers
Fresh Wood Competition
2019
First place, case-piece category.
Second place, table category
International Society of Furniture Designers
Pinnacle Award
2020
Seating Category
Contact
cjmerch@iastate.edu
(515)-710-7447
www.merchantwoodworking.com
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The Drift Chair
5 week individual exploration
Sept-Oct 2019
Pinnacle Award
Seating Design, Student Category, 2020
International Society of Furniture Designers

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I took Inspiration from the work of the
Shakers, mid-century Danish furniture
makers, the crafts of weaving and
basket making, and from the look and
feel of driftwood.
The chair was designed to bridge
the visual languages of different time
periods while evoking the natural
qualities of the material and the
traditional technique of the woven
seat.
Moodboard and Inspiration Sketching and Iteration
I built two full size iterations of the chair
to test style, weaving and construction
techniques.

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Construction Process
I steam-bent the curved components and created
jigs which presented them to machinery for cutting
joints. I then assembled and treated the frame with
wood bleach and a hardwax oil system to achieve
the desired color and finish. Over the course of
building the prototypes and final version of this chair
I developed my own technique for seat weaving
which saves cord and doesn’t require the use of
traditional L-shaped nails.

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Writing Desk
5 week Student Project
Jan-Feb 2019
Second Place, Fresh Wood Competition
Tables Category, 2019
Association of Woodworking & Furnishing Suppliers

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Moodboard and Inspiration
The brief for this project required
students to create a piece of furniture
with at least one curved component. I
tookinspirationfromcommonstructural
and aesthetic uses of curvature in craft,
design, and architecture.
I wanted to create a piece with few
components in which each component
achieves as much as possible, both
visually and structurally. The result was
a desk which derives its structure from
a rigid, compound curved component
which also creates its primary visual
effect.
Sketching and Model Making
I began ideating with hand sketching
and progressed to physical models.
The form evolved over time and
eventually the curved component
was reversed and simplified. I created
a unique joinery system using a
modified wedged through-tenon to
lock together the components into a
structurally sound whole.

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Construction Process
I created a construction process based on a 3D model made in
Fusion 360. The compound curved component was made of 9
steam-bent and shaped staves. I turned the legs and hand shaped
the joinery shoulders to fit. The holes for the tenons were drilled
through both the flat top and the curved structure simultaneously
using a long forstner bit on an angled base on a drill press. Finally,
the entire piece was glued up simultaneously using Epo-Tek epoxy
and the tenons were wedged.

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Cabinet End-Table
7 week Student Project
Oct-Dec 2018
First Place, Fresh Wood Competition
Case-piece Category, 2019
Association of Woodworking & Furnishing Suppliers

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Moodboard and Inspiration
This project began with a brief
requiring students to build a solid
wood case-piece using traditional
techniques incorporating two drawers
and two doors. My inspiration came
from traditional case-piece work,
contemporary wooden furniture and
architecture, and organic forms.
I designed the case-piece with
reference to traditional woodworking
techniques but tilted the sides of the
carcass and the front plane of the
doors and drawers. The form grew
as a result of these parameters and
final details were added to create a
cohesive whole.
Sketching and Models

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Construction Process
Details were finalized using full size
mock-ups.
This piece was constructed based on hand-drafted,
multi-layer plans using layers of drafting paper.
I used variations on traditional solid-wood case
piece construction methods for every part of this
piece. The angled carcass necessitated a custom
hinge system, which I made by hand using basic
metal working techniques.

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Sound Design, Social Distancing, and
Context-Aware Technology
7 week Student Project
Oct-Nov 2020
This project were done in collaboration with Daniel Delay, a friend and talented
music composer.

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Re-imagining Social Distancing
In the spring of 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic
required people everywhere to practice social
distancing, in most cases for the first time.
Navigation in social settings ordinarily depends
on unspoken social norms which have developed
over time and vary culturally, geographically, and
interpersonally.
Social Distancing required that these norms be
rapidly upended and redefined without much
warning or context.
Environmental cues became the norm for
communicating this need, and took the form of
dots, lines, and signs. These cues were quickly
conceived and implemented and often seem to
fall short of the task at hand. With many people
already overstimulated with visual information, how
might we more effectively communicate the need to
change our culturally entrenched social norms?
Auditory Feedback as an Alternative
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbEKAwCoCKw&feature=emb_logo
This video from Thefuntheory.com tells the story of a trash can
which was rigged with a sensor and a speaker which played a
“theatrical falling” sound whenever a piece of trash was thrown
away.
On the first day of use this can collected close to double the trash
that is collected in an ordinary can.
Could auditory feedback be used in a similar fashion
to encourage social distancing in people who have
never experienced it in their lifetime?

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Observation
I conducted observations with a Zoom
H4 audio recorder and a digital
camera. I collected dozens of audio
files of noises and designed sounds in
my environment and images of their
corresponding scenes.
I observed sounds being used in the
built environment in three significant
ways.
• To directly suggest behavior (in
the case of the crosswalk audio
devices, often for the benefit of
hearing impaired users).
• To note significant interactions
with technology (in the case of
swiping into locked doors).
• To remind people of safe or
practical behaviors (sounds made
by cars to remind users to wear
seatbelt, don’t forget keys, avoid
vehicles while backing up).

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Central question: How might we use available
technology to create a system of auditory feedback
to encourage behavioral change, in this case for
social distancing?
Technology:
• Utilize readily available
technology.
• Minimize hardware requirements
Function:
• Identify social distancing behavior
in public.
• Deliver real time feedback
accordingtothesafetyofbehavior.
The functionality of this
product is based on
the capabilities of the
open-source OpenCV
computer vision toolkit.
Camera Speaker
Computer
0-3 feet
High Danger
3-6 feet
Medium Danger
6+ feet
Low Danger
Separation distance
Proposed hardware and social
distancing parameters. Auditory
feedback in this system would change
according to the calculated distance
between people.
Sound Design:
Sound Ideation for this project was
done in collaboration with Daniel
Delay, a composer and electronic
music artist.
• Create multiple options for sounds.
• Sounds should be recognizable
by utilize musicality rather than just
pitch or volume.
• Sounds should generate positive
associations in addition to their
primary function.
Daniel created six different possible
sound systems for the product over the
course of several discussions on the
proposed function of the product and
the requirements of the sound design.
Illustrations of device function at a bus
stations.
A “high danger” sound plays when
people are not socially distanced, a
“low danger” sound plays when they
are.
Electronic 1 Electronic 2 Piano 1 Electronic 3Piano 2 Piano 3
Most “alarm like” Most “Melodic”
Low
Danger
Med
Danger
High
Danger
Results of collaborative sound design.
Click here to see a document with sounds included as buttons.
Click here for an animation of the proposed function with sounds.

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The Device
Raspberry pi
Computer
Aluminum structural
element
Speaker
Camera

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L: 4.5”
W: 3”
H: 4”
Beyond Social Distancing
Basic context aware technology and advanced
sound design could be useful in a number of ways
beyond influencing social distancing behavior.
As cities become quieter, more complex sound
design could become viable. Sound could become
a more vital aspect of design and city planning
and designed sound could be used to create more
meaningful connections to products and places.
Context aware technology (such as computer vision)
could be used to improve public safety and noise
pollution in the future. Sirens and alarms could be
redesigned to activate only when people or cars are
present, reducing the overall noise in a city.
Context aware traffic signal which
could identify oncoming pedestrians
and cars in a blind intersection

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