mbrela launches at National Centre for Craft and Design

mbrela is the collaboration between three Product Design and Industrial Design programmes, based at three international universities: BA (Hons) Product Design here at the University of Lincoln, Industrial Design at Philadelphia University, and Industrial Design at San Jose State University, both in the US.

The exhibition is currently showing in the roof gallery of the National Centre for Craft and Design, and runs until 4 November.  The exhibition offers the visitor a glimpse of the collection of products which were designed and created collaboratively by the staff and students across the continents, through the use of blogging, Skype, and research visits.

The collection of fresh, exciting and fun products features 'Dragg', a luminescent blue coloured rope light, designed by Michael Palmer, Lincoln;

'Sykho' a chair that rocks mysteriously when it is not occupied, designed by Chris Gray, Lincoln;

 'Zoomster', a children's toy ride that can be decorated by its owner, designed by John O'Leary, Lincoln;

and 'Denrug', a rug which lets you clamber inside and make a den, designed by Brenden Feucht and Greg Sunderman, both from Philadelphia University, together with Joseph Rimmer from Lincoln.

Participating students Fran Knight (designer of Milk Light) and John Gill, trying out 'Boksy', designed by Cameron Cole, Lotte de Jong, and Brian Boidin, all from University of Lincoln.

'Notch Light' by Adam Leeming.  An inner light is revealed when the blocks surrounding the light are moved or removed.

A welcome evening was held last week, when guest speakers from both Lincoln and Philadelphia gave an insight into how the project first started, the collaboration itself, and the exhibitions resulting from the collaboration, right across the globe, from Milan, to New York, to Baltimore.  This is the first time the collection can be seen by the general public in its entirety in the UK.

Staff and students above from Philadelphia University joined us for this special evening.

George Crane, Director of UK based design company Slam Design is an integral member of the mbrela collaboration as Lincoln's Level 3 Major Project this year is a collaboration between Lincoln and Philadelphia to produce a range of ideas, concepts and proposals for Slam Design to introduce new product ranges.  The two studios have already communicated through Skype and the recent 'Brick & Mortar' session and will continue to develop ideas for presentations to George in the near future and continually as ideas evolve.