The Reason

The reason I researched into Russian Folklore, superstition and symbols was to help me produce any ideas on how they could be entwined into the design of the small table next to Ivan Ilych's death sofa. Finding something that could be subtly put into the imagery either on the table or with the carvings and mouldings.

Research on folklore, superstition and sybmols.

Folklore:

Researching into Folklore I found a recurring character which in their culture is similar to our version of the Grim Reaper, she is called "Baba Yaga", "Baba Yaga Kastianaya Noga" or sometimes called "Baba Yaga Boney Legs" as she has a fierce appetite but has a skeleton thin body. Baba Yaga is a formidable witch with a long nose and iron teeth, she is said to be the goddess of wisdom and death, the bone mother and a nature spirit bringing death of ego and through death is rebirth. People say she is to be the guardian spirit of the fountain of the waters of Life and Death.

Russian views on "Good and Bad Death"

A person who has been considered to have a good death is someone who has died at the right time chosen by God, for expample: A person simply dying from old age, it is peaceful and good.

For a person to be considered to have a bad death is for someone who has died before the time God intended for them, a person whos life has been cut short either by being a victim of murder or who has taken their own life.

Symbols:

• Birds- especially if they land or taps on your window as a bad omen and often seen as a representation of death.
• certain animals or other symbols were carved into gravestones that represented death.
  

small table research prior to autocad

For everyone in the group we decided to all take one piece of furniture from either of the chosen rooms and to design it and apply it in autocad.

I am designing the smaller side table situated next to the sofa on which Ivan dies. To begin my research I wanted to find picture references to help motivate my table designs. Not just looking at the shapes of the tables but also if they have any specific types of patterns or mouldings.

Having been able to look into the different types of moulding, carving and general decoration of the tables, this will allow me to explore the different types of russian death motifs which I can now experiment with and try to entwine them into my designs.

My new interpretation Ivan's "Death Room" after the final chosen room layout

This is not a final design for the room however after the room layout had been chosen I decided to draw out a basic design for the room. From discussing the certain types of furniture that would be in the room gave me a clearer insight and rough vision into how the room could look.

After Thursday's group presentation 17.03.11

We had a group meeting in the morning to discuss our research and show our mood boards.

After The Presentation:

After the presentation we discussed further into how we could entwine subtle motifs into the interior of the room in which he died and then as a group, togehter we started to draw up a rough version of the two chosen rooms. By choosing the measurements of the rooms we then added in the vital furniture.

By having the final layout we can now produce more accurate design ideas.

Within the final layout there is a stove/fireplace in each room and in having previously researched into walls I had some images of Russian Baroque fireplaces. With some further research I found other examples of Russian stove/fireplaces which could be used as references later designing our own fireplace.

Tuesday's Tutorial 15.03.11

On Tuesday 15th: We had our group tutorial which involved a group discussion on the story "The Death of Ivan Ilych" in which we spoke about the character of Ivan Ilych, his life, the description of his house and how and where he died.

After the tutorial we had a group meeting where we made the final decision on which rooms to build as sets and expressed ideas toward the interior and furniture. We agreed to split into groups of two to get a broader range of research into differnt areas and make mood boards.

Groups:

Calum and Daniel- Medical Equiptment

Nicole and Kirby- Furniture

Fiona and Stephanie- Drapery

Jenny and Rhyan- NicNacs and Lighting

Vicky and Nuria- Architecture

Lauren and I- Walls

Together Lauren and I decided to produce two seperate mood boards. Laurens board would contain the majority of wallpaper samples whereas mine was to be based more on the imagery of Russian Baroque interior.

I went to the University Libary where I found a helpful book called "Russian Houses" which contained a wide range of good detailed photographs. The book showed Russian houses and palace from different periods including Baroque interiors and exteriors, not only does it show the walls/interior but also furniture, photographs of different styles of tables, chairs, bookcases, stoves/fireplaces as well as close ups of patterns, wall castings, materials and tiles.

I done further research and found that not only within the period of "Death of Ivan Ilych" the interior decor had many Baroque influences having elements with new emphasis placed on bold massing and colonnades, painting work with light-and-shade "Chiaroscuro" colour effects with bold play of volume and void. Wealthier households had a processional sequence of increasingly rish interiors and even though Baroque was taken with most enthusiasm in Germany, Austria and Russia within the 19th Century the interior trend had also began to be dominated by the Neo-Byzantine and Russian Rivival Styles.

With the images from the book and other research i was able to produce my mood board for Thursdays presentation

Last week 14.03.11-18.03.11

Due to a current internet/laptop dilema access to my blog have been delayed.

Last Week: Reading "The Death of Ivan Ilych" and further research.

After reading the story of "The Death of Ivan Ilych" I went back over sections of the story to copy areas of descriptive writing and put them onto a word document, this was to produce a short overview and to create a general image of the interior of the house was like. I also picked out part which may not discribe the surroundings but how Ivan Ilych was feeling, this was to generate or understand the overall mood of which room he was in.

After slight miss-communication and as I had yet not been added to the group blog I was not informed about the group meeting on monday.