Taking Metaproject to the next level

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A. Sue Weisler

RIT and Corning Museum team up on Metaproject

This year’s Metaproject featured an interdisciplinary collaboration among the School of Design, School for American Crafts and Corning Museum of Glass. This year’s projects were domestic vessels that incorporated recycled glass. Keeping this in mind, we began the process of ideation in which we chose different contexts for exploration. The contexts varied from coffee-table clutter to writing implements, and we displayed the exhaustive contemplation behind each proposal.

Ceiling fans are commonplace but occupy a gray area between being inconspicuous and obtrusive. Their large size, rotational movement and projected shadows are inherent in their function and prevent them from remaining unnoticed, but they are not utilized with intent. I intended to create a ceiling fan that capitalized on the shadows thrown from it, with an appearance that reflected its function. I had identified a problem—the underutilization of the dynamic play of light that all ceiling fans produce—and found a solution that glass could facilitate. The fan’s blades are made from float glass, a material that is ubiquitous in our surroundings due to its architectural use. I slumped, or bent, the glass to imitate the form of a windswept material and added a frosted finish that makes the best use of the environmental light. With a firm grasp on the fan’s mechanics and the practicality of assembly, I am confident that subsequent iterations will be notably more developed and natural.