Come On Over To My Place - Hey YOU - We're Having A Party

[29/9/2012]

After a deadline day so tense it didn't even need Jim White to give it a sense of drama, we were all in dire need of a bit of R and R. The office opening party at Steelcase would hopefully give us a chance to do just that while also being able to discuss our designs with some industry figures.


Arriving en masse in our jeans and trainers, we felt more uncomfortable than David Cameron on This Morning. We stood awkwardly in the corner where our boards had been placed in a sort of denim-clad phalanx waiting desperately for one of the affluent, well-dressed professionals to come and talk to us. After some time, and some greatly appreciated free drink, some did eventually come over to the corner where we had decided to make our stand. They all seemed taken aback by the quality of our posters - one told us that he only expected to see some concept sketches (which would have been great to know LAST week). Although some of the attendees must have wondered why Steelcase had invited this cosmopolitan group of vagrants to their party, those who knew why we were there were all genuinely enthused by what we had showcased.

Tony Watt scoring against Barcelona. Any excuse really.

Afterwards we made an effort to mingle with the crowd and talk to as many people as we could. Although, with my voice still shredded from screaming "Tony Watt, Tony Watt, Tony Tony Watt, Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah, Tony Tony Watt" at the top of my lungs the night before, i struggled to make any sort of conversation. As the first part of the night was drawing to a close i did manage to have a word with Steelcase designer Dan MacAllan. I explained my concept and its context to him and he gave me a lot of positive feedback which was very gratifying. He particularly liked the idea of the user's preferences being stored on a device that would be with them at all times and thought the idea could be expanded to other products like coffee makers for example. He was also intrigued by the idea of having a ball at the base of the chair to allow for movement in all directions. He said that to the best of his knowledge there was no chair on the market that allowed users to lean forward while maintaining contact with their back. Although some of his positivity may have been mere politeness, and some of it possibly due to mild inebriation, it was pleasing to have my idea receive such a reaction.


With the party moving on to Chandon d'Or and having had very little sleep, i decided to call it a night. From what i heard everyone that did attend the after party greatly enjoyed themselves and, according to gossip monger Phil Matthews, Sehoon in particular enjoyed the free bar.