with Robert Eales & Dr Soumitri Varadarajan:
Small-acre farmers need tools! Work in collaboration with the industry partner, an industrial designer and farmer to design tools for this emerging market that can offer great opportunities for designers. (Website coming)
This studio is about,
- working with a client group that is under-served by designers
- exploring the huge opportunities available to designers in the field of small-acre farming
- using creativity, ingenuity and innovation to develop new human-scale farming tools where there are currently none
We are looking for students who are interested in,
- stepping outside of their comfort zone and work with a group that needs serious design input
- getting their hands dirty, getting hands on, using their hands skills to create models and prototypes
- creating tool designs that reduce drudgery, increase productivity and improve efficiency for farmers working in small-acre farming
- visiting farms to find out what farmers do and how food is grown
This quote gives a good indication of where this field is currently at.
“Cars, houses, meal sizes: for the past few decades, all have been getting larger. The same goes for farming equipment. In this era of “bigger is better,” it’s not easy to find farming tools suitable for small-scale operations. In fact, it’s almost impossible.” Barry Griffin, design engineer, Slow Tools Project.
What kind of projects and products can be used as a guide?
This project is engaged with www.rebuildit.com.au
Rebuild it was founded in 2007. We principally work in the Australian construction and manufacturing industries and focus on productivity and sustainability.
