The Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar’s (VCUQ) Master of Fine Arts in Design Studies assistant professor (MFA Design) Thomas Modeen is participating in the ongoing summer design and fashion exhibition entitled ‘Home Sweet Home’ in Finland.The exhibition, curated by industrial designer and silversmith Mikael Nygard, is being organised by the Pro Artibus Foundation at Elverket in Tammisaari, Finland till October 7. At the event, showcasing the work of 10 designers with roots in Finland, but who live abroad and have made a career there, Modeen is presenting three pieces of work - the Cu3o Cabinet, the Bowls Interrupted, and some Laser Toast. Originally designed and modelled over 20 years ago in New York during Modeen’s time at Parsons, the Cu3o Cabinet was prototyped in London during his final year at the Architectural Association School of Architecture and eventually built into its (for now) final form very recently in Doha. The Cu3o Cabinet consists of a set of proportionally synchronised wooden boxes with industrial strength velcro on its top and bottom (and some select interior) surfaces. This allows it to be assembled into a variety of, often surprisingly ‘just wrong’ looking, compositions. Modeen considers his Laser Toast a fandango food folly of sorts. He used a laser-cutter to cut/ etch toast - some slices of bread - for a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich. Each of the sandwich slices is divided into twelve, numbered and matched ‘bites’. Each bite includes corresponding, same size, cavities that secure equal quantities of both peanut-butter and jelly.
Bowls Interrupted is from Modeen’s interrupted design series, where the FDM (fused deposition modelling) fabrication process is intentionally interrupted mid-build to reveal the inner support structures, a feature that consequently becomes a key characteristic of the final design. The stackable bowls and trays have all their particular, often quite subtle, variations in function, use and execution. The connection point of the bowls and trays are uniform, and can be stacked in any sequence desired. The nine other designers exhibiting at ‘Home Sweet Home’ are Katarina Andersson (glasses, cutlery, cups and ornamental objects), Eero Koivisto (furniture), Anne Kyyrö Quinn (wall panels), Veronica Lassenius (animation), Stina Lindholm (furniture), Julia Lundsten (shoes), Camilla Norrback (clothes), Thomas Sandell (furniture) and Terhi Tolvanen (jewellery). Modeen has a BFA in Product Design from Parsons School of Design in New York, an AA diploma (MA) from the Architectural Association in London, an MPhil from the Royal College of Art in London, and completed a PhD in collaboration with the Additive Manufacturing Research Group at Loughborough University in the UK. As an architect with one foot in academia, the other in practice, he’s worked, researched and lectured in Europe, Asia, North America, Australia and the Middle-East.Modeen’s work will be featured this June in the exhibition Home (an exhibition of the Arabic home) at the Museum of Architecture in London. Modeen will also be seen in an episode of the TV show “Jaakko ja maailmanvalloittajat” (by YLE, the national public service broadcasting company of Finland) in the fall. Modeen is the co-chair of Tasmeem Doha 2013, the largest international design conference in the Middle East which is hosted biennially by VCUQatar. Tasmeem Doha 2013 will take place in March 2013.