Knot – an experimental project. A study of the characteristic of knots in order to construct New structures

Supervisor:
Professor Jerzy Porębski

Studio of Product Design (No. 3)

> Jakub Marzoch

What I value in design, is the chance to solve intriguing problems and identify real needs which should be satisfied. When developing a design, I always highlight the need for prototyping and experimenting with the material and the object being designed. What I find interesting in any design object, is the stress and tension occurring between the form and material. I try to honour universal and timeless aesthetics, which manifests itself in thrift and simplicity.

> Professor Jerzy Porębski

Knot is a research project in which Kuba Marzoch addresses connections, intersections, and things that prove hard to unbind. Looking for a suitable field for his activities as a designer, he analysed areas where nodes in a broad sense are an important element. Transportation, emergency services (the Municipal Emergency Hub), social relationships (including the concept of augmented reality which supports the building of interpersonal relationships), various categories of products in which a combination of parts is the key, and finally, technology and materials science. He entered an experimental project examining properties of nodes, which will be used in the building of structures with new properties. The point of departure was the mathematical definition of a node, and the main area of research, transformability and medium of nodes.
By multiplication of designed connections, three structures emerged, with a variable concentration of knots and diversity of medium, thanks to which flat structures can be transformed into spatial ones and unwindable planes into ones that can be wound, giving new and unusual forms to these structures. For the construction process Kuba adopted the following parameters: type of structure (surface), type of weave (regular, irregular), type of medium (static, rigid, extensible, flexible), type of node (movable, immovable). This project was strongly influenced by the idea of a spider’s web, in which particular threads have different functions and properties – some are extensible, others static, flexible, or adhesive, etc.
We can already designate certain areas where such structures may be applied in the realm of the practical, in the development of new materials, building, dividing and arranging space, in exhibition design or the development of new objects. A shirt made of such material knits back together right after being torn apart. A shoe changes the configuration of the sole and adjusts to the shape of the foot. By adjusting the thickness of the weave, we create a filter for light passing through or objects of varying shape and range.