Thoughts on furniture

So recently I have begun to think about what I might want to actually exhibit in my final degree show- in particular the karate chop chest of drawers, and the action hero door. I do not think these objects will be shown as they are. The context of the products completely changes how they work, and what they do. When used in the context of the classroom (as the door is in the video) they become a tool for play- showing off, messing around, meaning that the user does not actually become someone else, they are still them, it's just that they are messing around with a door.

I think that when placed in the context of the home, the objects will work much better at acheiving their aim- to make the user act as someone completely different. Placing the objects in a sistuation where there is no one else watching will mean they are taken seriously. When discussing this with Tom and Milan it was also brought to my attention that it will be interesting to see wether the user replaces the foam door or not. 

This raises another question about if the products should force you to use them as they are meant to be used or not. With the kung-fu chest of drawers the only way to open them is to push the buttons, there is no handle, no other way of opening them. The door however has to be replaced by the user, a choice can be made about wether to do this or not. There are situations which would make it impossible not to replace the door though- for example if it is a toilet door in a shared house- or a bedroom door in a shared house- as the user would need privacy.

I have also been thinking about one of the main points raised by my tutoril feedback- who is the user? The question is valid, howeevr I can't help but think that the user is simply anyone who wants to be someone else. If the 'user group' for my designs needs refining, I want to know how to go about this- do I need to focus on refining it? Or will that come naturally with the development of the project? All these are questions to raise in my next tutorial (5 days time) Inbetween now and then the plan is to continue making the drawers and foam door, until they are at a standard to be placed in a home environment and tested.