QJD Design studio

when is design copied or an inspirational point of departure?

2012-01-23T06:18:00.000-08:00

as a cape town , south African designer with wild conceptual design ideas - the critical question that all designers need to ask themselves is - when is a design you do, a straight copy or just an inspirational point of departure?

having published a small cross section of QJD studios and wildetects wilder ideas on the net - the above question is invariably raised in conversation. it is my understanding that if a design is 20% different from the original concept then copyright laws dont apply. a sad fact that all conceptual designers will find out sooner or later is fellow designers will steal your design concepts, completely and unashamedly faun in the limelight you might feel is reserved for you, without as much as a thought of passing on a smidgen of credit. this is a regrettable fact.

as cape town and south africa has always been far away from the international design limelight - it would appear that it has been relatively easy for local designers to borrow wholesale from overseas design trends. and cheekily pass these designs to local clients, under their own banner without incident - keeping possibly to the 20% design different rule. however now that we are thrust onto the 2014 design world super highway. the design world is now looking in on us and those inspired by overseas trend concepts, could upset a few overseas designers, who might not care about the 20% design different rule and will feel the design idea is a little close to there actual point of inspirational design departure. a design copied straight from the italian or french design guru's will solicit a very emotional response - of this one can be assured.

as is always the case one has to look at creative design concepts across the spectrum, take for example creative cooking - we have some of the very best food in the world within our south african borders. local sa restaurants are inspired by almost every culture on the planet - food preparation skills are borrowed wholesale from the east, west , north, south. our pallette is infused with borrowed preparation taste ideas - being inspired by other cultures culinary trends in food is very easy and not so fanatically policed by the cultures that created them. in the fasion industry its also very easy enough to spot a dress on the runways of paris - copy or get inspired by it and create a similar dress for those close to you. the fasion houses wont get overly excited because they wont see you as a threat if they ever see you at all. however now that we are going to be in the worlds design spotlight - the question now becomes critical - when is a design you do, a straight copy or just an inspirational point of departure?

architectural and furniture design is different -

a few designers and artists unashamedly copy fellow contemporaries ideas - with no thought of passing on the design credit. and the south african design community is not immune from this problem. sculptures copying other sculptures application techniques (albeit badly) confusing established clients and taking limelight not their own. this design idea theft or design idea point of creative departure coupled with the 20% rule is sometimes very difficult to prove - however as a designer you know when a design idea youve hatched has been lifted.

so to establish a 2014 design idea forum here in cape town will take care of this design plagerism possibility - the design forum makes sure local design ideas are unique to the originator - and hacks , copyists and design frauds are kept at bay. the worst thing for a designer is to have a fellow designer rip off wholesale your work. as we are heading towards a limelight where design ideas will = huge money and credibility in 2014 - we need to create a SA gentlemanly design sense of fair play and honor ability - or quite simply we will have possibly better connected designers, overshadow original design ideas specialists.

so the question is -
when is a design you do, a straight copy or just an inspirational point of departure?
a simple answer is to create a 2014 design forum that keeps the design copy artist or design tracer's out the limelight reserved for the design idea originator.

mantis quad chair - wildetect style

2012-01-15T11:58:00.000-08:00

the beauty of the mantis QJD chair is that it can be added to - the drama increases with adding additional pods. africa inspired fauvistic design - wildetect style.

Quadrupedalism is a form of land animal locomotion using four limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a quadrupedal manner is known as a quadruped, meaning "four feet" (from the Latin quad for "four" and ped for "foot"). The majority of quadrupeds are vertebrate animals, including mammals such as cattle, dogs and cats, and reptiles, like lizards.

Birds, humans, insects, crustaceans, and snakes are not quadrupeds. However, there are some exceptions. For example, among the insects, the praying mantis is a quadruped. A few birds may use quadrupedal movement in some circumstances, for example the shoebill will sometimes use its wings to right itself after lunging at prey.

wildetect - dean hoffman style

2012-01-11T11:14:00.000-08:00

dean is a consumate wildetect designer - creating wild designs that encapsulate the south african culture and africa's very wild, wild design ideals.

2012 the year of the wildetect -

2012-01-10T23:09:00.000-08:00

having spent the last 3 weeks on a trout farm near bardskeerders bos close gansbaai - (bardskeerders is an insect that cuts your beard whilst you sleep - according to local legend its absolutely true) i let the viking beard grow and every morning checked the length of the bristles. - the insects didnt think the ol beard was long enough to cut this time. my time was well spent reading , designing and spending fun time with the family. we did have a visit from a rather large puffadder, who decided the canoes where a great place to hunt. the colours on the puffadder which my daughter named , hilton, where really incredible - our little sausage dog gabby was barking for awhile before we investigated and heard the sound of a very angry whistling / hissing kettle. oupa tried to move the snake with an oar - well it was at that point hilton decided enough was enough, and moved incredibly fast in a straight line into the reeds. i was amazed at the speed with which he travelled. gabby followed and fortunately before she could get bitten we fished her out - the puffy was very rattled im sure.

well i designed 2 homes whilst away and devoured several books - one of them was bernard cornwells - the pale horsemen - this book fueled the design concepts towards the 8th century. i love reading about time from the 8th century up to the 17th. bernard cornwell is a master story teller , a troubadour of the elite kind. and if anything can get the design mind fueled . so the wildetect viking feasting table was sketched and born.

2012 is going to be a big year for the wildetects and QJD design studio - having received some press at the end of 2011 - its managed to solicit several new homes im currently designing. so even though the building industry is slowing down - work is till very much on offer and the show is going on.

an article published in issue no 39 design times -

2011-12-22T01:59:00.000-08:00

http://issuu.com/Designtimes/docs/issue39/25

QJD design studio - wildetect mantis chair

2011-12-20T01:22:00.000-08:00

QJD mantis chair – exploring wild african insectiture and arachniture architectural and furniture conceptual ideas – which is a furthering of the wild African fauvistic ideals branded wildetecture that QJD design studio has been exploring over the last 5 years. experimenting with architectural shadow projection , perceived kinetic architecture, earth branded architecture, disintegration of perspective , human driven architectural mechanisms , trompe-l'oeil in architecture , the erxell concept and african fauvistic architecture to mention a few synaptic design inspirations. - because end product furniture design is more immediate than architecture - exploring the above ideas in this medium gets to a much faster experimentation of form to end product.

the QJD mantis chair is combining the latest cad cam and flat sheet 2 dimensional material into wild 3d shape and form. As most homes are small and cannot accommodate sculpture and furniture, the wildetect, insectiture, arachniture wild ideal is to create furniture that is a fusion of sculpture, wild colour , practical furniture and art. being able to see through the pieces like lace adds to the illusion of space idea QJD design studio is playing with. Bringing wild, wild shape, colour and abit of tongue in cheek wildefoolery into a home setting. south africans need to respect the colours and shapes of the african bushveldt in the home - and a wildetect chair can be the subliminal reminder.

QJD design studio specialises in the design of new homes principally, from very modern homes to classic herbert baker alterations, having designed garages on a herbert baker estate for a bugatti veyron and several other luxury cars. The studio also experiments with the wildetect forum consisting of 2 other wild designers. the studio also dabbles in other design arenas from informal settlement town planning ventures like the erxell concept and electrical conduit ideas to outlandish fashion ideas. Having fun with the concept that is wild African fauvistic design – from furniture to music. As a designer life is far, far to short to await validation from the creative gate keepers – every new design has its many school fees and every wild design will have those who love it and those who absolutely hate it – one has to really concentrate on the few that are in sync with ones creative ideas and as much as possible drown out those who simply enjoy a good old creative parade piddle.

if your interested in the QJD design studio catalogue and pricelist for furniture please email - quinton@erxell.com

PACIDERM - wildetect building concept

2011-12-12T06:08:00.000-08:00

THE WAY OF THE ARTIST - WILDETECT STYLE

2011-12-12T04:20:00.000-08:00

the way of the artist - to slay dragons on a windswept megido - all the while, never leaving your drawing board and the space of your own mind.

butterfly chair in action - wildetect style

2011-12-02T03:09:00.000-08:00

a few folk have asked how the butterfly chair actually works because in my post yesterday it was not so clear. so i decided to get the help of action man.

rural school mobile library concept

2011-12-02T02:17:00.000-08:00

Over the last few years QJD design studio has been involved in many design endeavors to improve things within informal settlements and rural schools. Some concepts don’t go the distance and lose energy along the way for some reason - even though the idea is very workable and practical. I engaged in a conceptual design idea process with a large manufacturer a few years back. The concept was to design up a library / science lab that was portable between class rooms in rural schools. Where facilities are limited - this would make the furniture piece transportable from one class to the next without having to have a dedicated library space within the school.

Maybe a sponsors can see merit in this idea and could roll it out - the library could be filled with design ideas for children to get inspired by - switch on the creativity at a rural school level within a rural setting - I’m sure this will set off some great ideas within these communities - they can really make a difference in their communities through design.

electrical conduit concept - wildetect style improvement

2011-12-01T08:04:00.000-08:00

as is always the case with a synaptic design idea that is filtered through the other design wildetect minds. it improves organically - having a think out loud session with fellow wildetect dean hoffman is always enlightening. dean takes the raw fabric of a design idea and processes and refines it into a great concept. my initial pre-cast electrical conduit idea was heavy and sombre - colourful yes , dean has lightened the electrical informal settlement pre-cast concrete conduit concept and its a great improvement. well done dean - here is hoping your container project you've entered into that Australian design contest does as well as your buckminister fuller entry of 2011.

butterfly chair - insectiture wildetect style sketch 1

2011-12-01T07:21:00.000-08:00

following on the mantis chair sketch model - the butterfly chair is now a work in progress - now that ive modelled up the 1:5 scale. i can see immediately where the improvements need to be made to soften and comfortise this chair proposal. so this is sketch 1 of the butterfly chair wildetect ensamble. what you think? - quinton@erxell.com

QJD mantis chair wildetect style - insectiture / insectiverous

2011-11-21T22:19:00.000-08:00

because production with furniture design ideas is so important - ive set about creating scale 1;5 models of my newest african wild inspired furniture range - this process is really incredibly rewarding - im now busy with a wildetect design ideal disintegration of perspective tea-set and several other furniture pieces falling under the africa wildetect design ideals of african fauvistic design.
this mantis chair wildetect design piece is more of an insectiture design ideal and very insectivorous in nature. when sitting on the piece one would take on the stance of a chopper rider - this piece is also a fusion piece whereby our homes are so small now days for sculpture - so the piece becomes a functional item of sculpture in the home. bright wild colours are being experimented with on this design as well.

360 QJD design logo - wildetect

2011-11-21T22:09:00.000-08:00

vivaladraught worlds newest revolutionary. merchandise 4sale.

2011-11-11T05:31:00.000-08:00

it has come to QJD's secret attention that the worlds latest revolutionary character has just created a range of rare merchandise - masks (like the V for vendetta) stickers and t-shirts. now vivaladraught being a thorn in the foot of a few south african architectural designers and living rough in the badlands of the karoo is a new revolutionary on the block.
black , white , dark blue t-shirts, size small , medium , large. masks are one size fits all and stickers the same. prices on site. google vivaladraught. the issues raised are pretty weighty and deserve attention.

for now send orders to QJD and he will try facilitate order to V. even revolutionaries know how to turn a capitalistic trick or 2 it seems.

please pass on - chance to win Beria and a fake pair of le-corbusier glasses.

khayalitsha - electrical conduit proposal - wildetect style

2011-11-11T05:11:00.000-08:00

thank you to all my clients and folk who sent kind words over the last week in connection with my 2 tirade blog posts below. for me to continue to be bitterly disappointed and angry at the injustices of a design concept steal. - is a complete waste of my time and my energy. i can see now that this side track has given me new impetus to continue on the wildetect track i was almost scuppered off. so I'm going to continue airing our wildetect ideas and concepts, all-be-it now under more of a spotlight.

teaching sustainable construction techniques in khayalitsha and facilitating courses that teach foundation trench digging, mixing and pouring cement. as well as bricklaying and floor screed floating in informal settlements - i came across the concept of electrical cable vine organics. while busy teaching it is not uncommon for the overhead electric wires to fall over our site. their are hundreds of thousands of shop bought electric extension leads that run overhead and on the ground in informal settlements. each cable is from an eskom power source to an individual informal settlement dwelling. i can only guess as to the dangers faced by these communities as the laying and monitoring of these cables is up to the individual home owner.

so i thought it would be prudent to create a pre cast concrete conduit system that could have multi faceted connectivity and uses. installed above ground below ground - created out of bright pigment concrete they could inject colour and a sense of gridded order within the informal settlement environment. all the while safely carrying electricity in a more formal setup - below are some initial sketches of this concept which could create street furniture and a framework for the erxell vegetable garden concept - whereby mosaic images are created from vegetables and key into the erxell concept.

the perfect design concept steal

2011-11-08T02:40:00.000-08:00

if you have ever had a design idea worth stealing or even improving on - you might identify with what I'm about to write. if you have never had an idea worth taking - you will feel this tirade is all rather OTT. yawn.

as i run a very small design studio , running off a very moderate budget and not really linked into any major design networks. (which i think sums up most designers and artists operating in cape town today) i have tried to do everything i can individually do as a designer to get my ideas and idea of collective informal settlement roof space imagery into the sights of , design forums , potential industry sponsors and fellow designers. this concept of using imagery forming a collective roof mosaic image effect on informal settlement roof space is not something a designer can accomplish on his own. a designer needs back up. i termed the concept erxell 5 years ago. and since then i have busted a gut with my limited means and limited web knowledge to try and showcase this concept in local forums. to try solicit comments, maybe some peripheral design work and some much needed design publication exposure. the dates are all plane to see in the links below.

http://superstars.designindaba.com/entry/quinton-j-damstra
http://www.bizcommunity.com/Showcase.aspx?shi=149

http://www.designmind.co.za/photo/erxell-001

http://www.said.co.za/service.asp

www.erxell.com - a website ive owned for over 3 years or so.

other than the SAID and various local design academies no one locally has really given the idea a look. i also have given out over 700 erxell rulers - so if you have one - thanks for the support it cost me R6000. i really thought i had done everything correctly in linking myself unequavically to this design idea and concept. and didnt mind that to date i have had not one local design forum even acknowledge my idea in writing. and ive sent it to them ALL many , many times. so i decided to showcase the concept on the international stage - well i have had incredible response on this front, an email from Bart prince , a holcom award in 2008 , the concept was showcased in the buckminster fuller ideas index - http://challenge.bfi.org/node/2240 to mention a few. (dont want to play all my cards just yet)

so clearly for this local cape town designer, this was the way to go, it seems if your not heavily connected into the local design scene or sexy enough to attract sponsors. then go i-n-t-e-r-n-a-t-i-o-n-a-l broer. i have been very happy to plug away at this angle under the local cape town design scene radar , squirreling away at my design ideas and trying to earn my living from design ability off our shores.

that is until this last week i noticed the perfect design concept heist taking place of one of my design concepts, from under my very nose nogal. how do you take the icing , lipstick and lace of a fellow designers very unique idea , improve on it - and think nothing of affording him the credit of the original concept. all this with the complete backing of design forums , sponsors, product providers and fellow designers. let it be known i don't want prize money or cocktails in fancy restaurants - just a basic heads up to say - good idea quin, were moving on with it, would have been more than sufficient. i would have languished in just the crumb of approval. now im set up to look like a scorned girlfriend in a hill billy bar mud fight with xena.

now I'm not mentioning any names in this blog because if the pilferred design idea wasn't so close to mine, you might just be completely confused. however upon writing to the design forum to let them know of this possible scandalous theft, they immediately knew exactly which entry matched and sent a letter back stating quite allot - the just of the letter back was much to my absolute amazement.

the concept is similar but different , primary and secondary objectives and no room for ego and rivalry - bla bla bla stolen diamonds.

it was at that point i went back to being a kid again - you know the times when your older brother has been teasing you mercilessly and somehow really hurts you - and you go to your parents sniffling, screaming and crying - and they decide to give you the hiding of your life. and then your boet snickers at you from under his breath, - well you know what your going to do next is going to get you into a massive lot of trouble - but you dont care and you do it anyway.

so QJD design studio decided to create the golden bryce lawrence and gold sally spectra joint design fair play award. to be given to the design officials and the designers pursueing gentlemanly fair play, and who aid and abet perfect south african design idea heists and steals. the product sponsor can even for there part in the idea, paint the award on the chosen building. (a building i worked for 2 years as a store designer way back in the mid 90's)

so it seems the build up to 2014 is starting very well - the line in the sand is drawn and if your a not so well connected designer with fair to middly or down right crazy design idea concepts. get ready for these tactics sometime soon to happen to you, when you will fall prey to the design bigwigs and those concepts of yours seemlessly are lifted from your design credit. dont fret - send them an award - you might be banished to and will land up in the wastelands of the siberian south african design camps - however when your sitting their, you can at least know you didnt take it all lying down - this should bring a small smile to your dial.

every designer knows its not that easy to prove design idea plagarism. but wait until you have something your passionate about taken from under your nose. design ideas need to be fairly refereed by the design forums accepting competition material. as designers we are looking for at the very least commendation for our design ideas. however if this commendation is taken away from you, just send the design folk who have used the lipstick and lace of your design idea the gbl - gs2 joint fair play design award - it ropes in all the key design players and gives them the awards for successful , fair design play.

you can then go back to your room, design siberia , polsmor all scolded and carry on providing the raw material for the next perfect SA design steal. - by the way - wildetecture is another cracking idea if anyones looking for the above award. or how about some wild african furniture design steals, anyone looking for a short story , poem written by a dyslexic auther (dyslexia is the purist form of creative writing you know) or how about some perceived kinetic art work or a amatuer bash at comic book character creation nado storm or a yip trip childrens story - mmmmm baldrick.

go on - make my day. (the weeks already been completely ruined)

absolute tirade

2011-11-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

for reasons I'm still to gutted to talk about and that are far to volatile to air in an open forum such as this - i find myself about to embark on several crusades all at once. Ive opened up a western and eastern front and by all accounts my southern and northern borders are looking likely to go to all out war very soon. the storm clouds are brewing and regrettably the dragons of war are the inevitable unleashing.

i have very quietly run my little QJD design studio very much under the radar in cape town for 12 years. and now I'm sticking my head up to take on several respect issues which have all come to a head at the same time, quite by chance really.

the first one is my good friend and confident vivaladraught has decided to take on the entire architectural landscape single handed - you might want to read his latest "remember , remember the 5th of November 2011" blog insert. (click him next door to this blog - the Che character with pencil in ear.) Ive been reluctantly roped in because as they say in the classics - we are joined at the hip and it seems a few other places as well. vivaladraught could not help himself, - the mans a complete animal - awaiting to be shackled in the bastille or worse - devils island - next to the count of monte cristo. vivaladraught vows and promises he will escape and throw lavish parties and invite everyone round to talk of times before all these foolius dillemas.

my other flat out war is still simmering - however both have one thing in common - basic - R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

it is suffice to say
when bureaucrats, academics , regulatory bodies , design forums , contemporaries , industry start to show absolutely no respect towards the rights of the hard working man in the street , professional Joe public and working class citizen x. history tells and shows us what will happen next. (let the reader use his own discernment)
it is the rule rather than the exception that men who are so puffed up by their own self importance , they fail to simply validate and respect the property and rights of qualified through experience (QBE) professionals. the professionals and designers who have worked there way up in a profession through experience of years and not full study. we see these puffers develop gloating pride - this pride gives rise to absolute greed , which gives rise to a countries landscape with exclusively locked rooms, where a very few fat puffed up men shoot fish in barrels. often these puffers, whilst thinking they are feathering their own nest are in actual fact digging all our graves.

QJD architectural design studio - showcase on topbilling

2011-10-17T23:16:00.000-07:00

sometimes quite suddenly one can be thrust into the spot light - tonight is for me one of those sudden moments - squirreling away at a blog and at ones creative ventures, you sometimes think, is anyone noticing - however its the passion of just creating that drives one forward. not really if anyone is actually listening.
creativity is, as creativity does - its a tangible end product. creativity is a doing word and needs to be always backed up with created end product. to talk a good game is nothing like actually playing one. so for 20 yrs experience here is the few minutes of limelight. yes its worth it, as all creative animals start off enjoying the validation for pictures one draws from when your 2.

here is a link to an intro you tube video of the topbilling showcase. it was really an incredible experience

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_zR3_UI9_g

architectural links connected to QJD architectural design studio

2011-10-12T07:43:00.000-07:00

http://www.artefacts.co.za/main/Buildings/archframes.php?archid=348&countadd=1

http://qjdesign.blogspot.com/search/label/quinton%20j%20damstra%20architectural%20design%20studio

http://qjdesign.blogspot.com/search/label/QJD%20design%20studio%20-%20house%20design

http://qjdesign.blogspot.com/2010/09/homes-designed-by-qjd-design-studio.html

impact assessment building case studies wildetect style

2011-10-03T05:26:00.000-07:00

“The nearness of our vision should never stand in the way of the furthest reaches of our collective imaginations.” QJD 2005

Most modern city scapes are completely lifeless, hulking masses of straight line gridded concrete, steel and glass mirroring an accountant like “less is more” philosophy. Decorated by a pigeon patina and a film of pollution. Most buildings today really lack any form of dynamic energy, they are simply concrete shells designed to fit a one dimensional basic function. Skeletons of ideas in which we move through, conducting our everyday tasks one foot in front of the other. Whilst the accountant’s machine chops huge chunks out of the spiritual, military and medical mans imaginative sculpting process whilst bowing to the terms of the mighty dollar. In times past design projects where undertaken with passion at the forefront – now days the passion is filtered distilled and rendered lifeless through an aggressive accounting process. Our city scape end product speaks for itself.
Wildetects realize there is art that fills a single crochet minute and art to fill generations of like minded poets, designers and artists with inspiration, enthusiasm and dreams of a possible future vision. The goal of the wildetects is to create this perceived dynamic energy in the static – the blur representing movement in artwork. Artists like Caravaggio, Boccioni, van Gogh, Picasso, Malevich, and William Blake alluded to this dynamic vision. Sculptures like Rodin captured it in an instant of time. Architects like Antoni Gaudi, hundertwasser experimented with the dynamic possibilities.
The wildetects are experimenting further with contempory design concepts like – earth branded architecture, perceived kinetic architecture, disintegration of perspective, architectural shadow projection, architectural musical interludes, human driven architectural mechanisms, trompe loeil in architecture. Concepts experimented by designers before – however none really living in and picking up on the energy of a dynamic African continent. – African fauvistic architecture forms the backbone of the wildetects style of architectural expression. Using bold colour and dynamic shapes we seek to experiment with creations that explore this perceived allusive dynamic energy.
See case studies of the impact assessment building creations – wildetect style. Definitely not for the faint hearted however a reaction to living full speed on an African continent.

"architecture is the skeletal remains of imagination" QJD 2011

LONDON - piccadilly circus site survey and cad capture

2011-10-01T22:33:00.000-07:00

Spending 2 years 1997-1999 in London as a contracts architectural technician was an incredible experience. My third contract in London was at an advertising agency that specialized in retail upgrades. This was to set me up for a new found passion for measuring and capturing on cad old buildings. It gave me an appreciation for architecture one can only get through actually measuring, surveying and draughting existing old buildings. To measure and capture 2 entire blocks of historic London on cad. my job over 18 months was to measure the London pavilion and the trocadero's floor layouts and then measure and draw up all the elevations facing, Shaftesbury avenue , Rupert street. Great windmill street and Coventry Street. I spent most lunch breaks sitting on the steps of Piccadilly Circus soaking up the fast paced energy of London. I was left to spend the mornings measuring the labyrinths of the buildings, all the floors and all elevations and then the afternoons capturing my survey on cad in the office. I found the British sense of humor brilliant; even at times when it was directed at me. When I have a number 1 haircut my hair grows into a ridge in the middle so thanks to Paul I got the nickname Rhodesian ridgeback.

The sections where the hardest because all the buildings did not sit exactly at the same floor heights. This part of the puzzle was really difficult to figure out. It was a straight 18 month task with much needed holidays spent in Spain and Portugal. I measured from below the basement where I encountered huge London rats to the very top floor of the trocadero. I really enjoyed the solitude of tape measure in hand and thousands of measurements slowly bit by bit capturing the architectural survey on cad. The agency did recruit help from time to time for short contract work which was most welcome as the task was a huge one. Eventually I was part of the team that designed the link walkway from Piccadilly Circus to the trocadero atrium.

this project set me up for my return to south Africa - and the measuring of many old existing buildings in and around cape town. one of the areas i did many cad capture surveys has been the cape quarter - bo-kaap area. on the first cape quarter project i was the only architectural technician on the project. i would take my desktop computer everyday to site - set up and bang out drawings. then come back to my home office to complete other work - all the while carting my desktop up and down stairs - it was really hard work however incredibly satisfying to sit in the restuarants in the piaza and know i had been part of a team that created someting as special as the cape quarter. i also did all the existing as built site surveys on my own for the second cape quarter project. however the developer by then had secured enough funds to employ an entire team of architectural technologists. so my draughting input during the initail design phase was exciting. however during the build phase many hands made lite work. i worked for chris brown and assoc amd propfin on this project. eventually compiling over 900 drawings for this exciting project.

i have measured and captured many old buildings in cape town since then - on my own mostly. I really enjoy this task of unpacking the old girls. so with my worker overalls on and tape measure in hand slowly piece together from my survey sketches and measurements the building on cad. incidently since starting the passion in mid 1997 i have worn out 13 tape measures - kaput. i dont use modern technology i prefer measuring myself - this allows to to really understand the nuances of the old buildings.

wildetect creative design mind - dean hoffman

2011-09-27T09:04:00.000-07:00

dean hoffman is one of the creative directors of the wildetect architectural design forum. dean has embraced this african fauvistic style of architecture with an energy and creativity that has seen his work showcased on several futuristic design idea websites. buckminster fuller ideas index 2010 being one of them. his exciting creative ability to seemlessly conceptualise current design trends with difficult socio economic issues is one of his design strengths.

the wildetects are striving to create design concepts that improve life in informal settlements. our world is changing rapidly , africa is changing at an incredible pace - to embrace this incredibly fast metamorphosis is about bridging chasms between africa's many socio economic groups. the terminal (see above) dean has created around the concept of an arachnid is symbolic of this need for connectivity across this african socio playing field. through social networks and connectivity the african architectural landscape is rapidly changing - the terminal is a step in this wild exciting direction.

some of deans other wildetect design ideas are an edu-pod made from shipping containers and a dynamic coke cola head quarters - go to http://www.wildetecture.com/ and see some further incredible wildetect designs, under projects. it just so happens warren hoffman , deans younger brother has also inherited an incredible creative design ability and is also a wildetect creative director.

for an interview with the wildetect design crew please email quinton@erxell.com and we can showcase our future vision african fauvistic style.

wildetect , erxell - wild architectural african creative design ideas?

2011-09-26T23:30:00.000-07:00

"When you're one step ahead of the crowd you're a genius. When you're two steps ahead, you're a crackpot." --Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Lincoln Square

the above quote really resonates when taking the concepts of wildetecture - which is a wild fauvistic african design style and erxell which is an african socio economic bridge concept into consideration.

wildetecture (google images and see further) a very exciting wildly dynamic african architectural design point of departure that encompasses -
1) earth branded architecture
2) architectural musical interludes.
3) logotexturalised buildings.
4) perceived kinetic architecture
5) disintegration of perspective
6) architectural shadow projection
7) human driven architectural mechanisms
8) trompe leiol in architecture
9) human space sculpture - hs2
10) past image investigation - pi2

erxell - google using images
championing a sustainable across the socio economic african living playing fields concept. ie the advertising mogul at the same negotiating table as the informal settlement dweller. the only way africa is going to be taken seriously is if the architectural and design concepts add value on the world stage. erxell creates a glass bead of trade where none now exists. it creates the communicative link between technology , art , architecture and human settlements. it links into the bigger picture a people living outside of the current frame work and grid. - just go into khayalitsha informal settlement cape town and see folk living in an unregulated frontier type town next to a majorly regulated city. we need to create systems and design concepts that reach in and showcase the tale of 2 cities. one rich one poor - at the moment the design ideas dont have a depth to do this - because clients need money and khayalitsha informal settlement coupled with every informal settlement in south africa - just dont have money. the erxell concept gives them a bartering glass bead.

picasso wild wildetect furniture range couples the complete wild aspects of african design with the veneer of a wild artist inspired by africa.

nado storm - concept part of the built environment

2011-09-22T00:42:00.000-07:00

i sent my nado storm comic book character to a built environment forum - they excepted my homes and interior design pics however nado was not accepted as - well - he's not strictly built environment material - so as i have designed buildings that have made nado storm part of the built environment - i decided to try again. not that they will accept nado this time either. however it is an exciting point of architectural design departure - and fits firmly in the wildetect design ideal. nado storm and yip trip are 2 characters i use to project off the wall design concepts - ideas at first that seem completely barking mad - however over time they start becoming less shocking and more possible - buildings that are designed purly to create form and aesthetics function. so turning the old saying into function follows form. - a wildetect ideal - fit the function into the form. create beautiful gaudy colourful architecture and populate the space. i agree whole heartedly with osbert lancaster - in his forward - pillar to post - read it. im sure he wont like the direction im taking here however even in the 30's the design of architecture was left up to the mystics. and lets face it - they have not really produced incredible architecture and solutions to house the masses and solve mankinds built environment issues.
on another note entirely -
i have given the writing of the yip trip childrens design series over to my daughter and unbeknown st as yet to my son - he will take over the writing and drawing of nado storm a cape town comic book hero. its a work in progress and eventually in a few years time both will be able to take these 2 characters forward and inject their own energy into them. we will publish under artsmad publications. so if you want the first books mailed to you - drop me a line - quinton@erxell.com

mantis chair - picasso wild -

2011-09-21T07:12:00.000-07:00

wildetecture furniture design offset by an artist who wasnt afraid to express himself - as the mantis chair stealthily sits in its natural habitat - camouflaged, awaiting an occupant. the photo of the moth against bark was the african inspiration for this poster.

QJD architectural design studio

2011-09-20T05:42:00.000-07:00

nado storm - springbok supporter

2011-09-20T02:48:00.000-07:00

nado storm - cape town comic crime fighter - i know the graphics specialists are looking at my comic drawing attempts going - needs this, needs that - lacking this, lacking that - puh amatuer comic dude. well when we dabble in each others disciplines it is never easy - however ive drawn this up on an architectural cad programme - so nado is being created through technical cad softwear and hence he looks a little different. the idea is that i want to extrude these images into buildings, creating a cartoon city scape. - yes i know the architectural purists wont like this low tech dabbling and muddying the waters of the prime creative discipline. well frankly my dear - i really dont give a damn.

nado storm cape town crime fighter - supporter of the boks 2011 - win or lose the boks show heart , passion and ferver not often seen on the rugby field. GO BOKKE!!!

end phase 1 - QJD blog - parting shot

2011-08-15T00:18:00.000-07:00

every artist must know when its time to lop off the ol ear - at around 35-40 yrs or so, you go through the im spitting into the wind phase - and before you know it - off pops the ol ear - mad not im.

on the 10th of June 2008 i started this blog journey and as per most journeys, they have a beginning , middle and end. i have enjoyed writing this blog and adding more than 140 entries - it is now the end of this phase in my creative developement. it was more a therapeutic ensemble of jumbled ideas for like minded folk to spark from , containing these concepts in this future techno perfect set. compiling the concepts of the yip trip children's story and nado storm - a cape town comic book hero. writing my strange little short story collection and a few of my poems. and all my QJD furniture pieces -- not for the feint at heart. the erxell concept and wildetecture idea are websites linked to this blog.

i now embark on a brand new journey - QJD phase 2 - an actuality underground creative endeavour, a creative phase which is going to be much less public.

having put some of my ideas ive been experimenting with down in this journal. like earth branded architecture, perceived kinetic architecture, disintegration of perspective, architectural shadow projection , African fauvistic architecture, human driven architectural mechanisms, the erxell concept , wildetecture architecture , furniture, clothing. yip trip , nado storm and many, many other creative ideas and concepts. these concepts have been inspired by the past and contemporised by QJD design studio.

the idea was for like minded creatives to get inspired by these thoughts and concepts, not to copy them completely wholesale and then try and pass as their own. it is partly for this reason i am creating my underground creative phase. you see dancing before cold fowl feet is a dance all creatives eventually will walk away from.

i have ended this blog with a few shots taken of myself by my daughter , tayze. she directed the photo shoots in our little courtyard. lots of giggling dress up and silly shinanigans. logan my son adding his 5 cents. below is an example of a piece of furniture inspired by the artist edvard munch - the scream. a concept of reality that haunts this lifes journey. (see my poem end)

if anyone would like me to send a catalogue of the homes and furniture coupled with price lists etc QJD design studio has been busy with please contact - quinton@erxell.com

beware the social creative trap - QJD - 2006 - WORDSMITH GLADIATOR

know all creative men and to whom it may concern.....
read this warning to avoid life's trap and learn!
at birth you're given seeds to facilitate your rise,
beware the Pip that can cause your creative demise!
your seeds may be beauty , royal blood , superior brain....
beware the Stella that cause you the greatest pain.
its words etched deep in this troublesome life.
for striving for social creative acceptance can cause unnecessary strife.
be contented with your station and creative class,
because "born rich snobs" can delight in making you the ass!
the birthright of royals and the social elite,
must not have you seeking approval at cold fowl feet.
be content and happy with your creative standing,
let those who hold the keys come to your respected landing.
because a humble lord will tip his hat to creative skill
whereas arrogance has you climbing a pseudo creative hill.
a hill that's height never reaches the end,
striving for its pinnacle will drive you round the bend!
my son , its better to be a creative working class hero,
than a wanna-be, social creative , high class zero.!!!

the end

LG - s/s table - wildetect style

2011-08-10T05:55:00.000-07:00

the LG table is cut from stainless steel plate. the other range of LG pieces have been cut as a realistic silhouette - however this piece is much more abstract. i enjoy art being functional - bringing colour and drama into a space using the furniture. this is a wildetect ideal.

mantis black dog project - wildetect style

2011-08-10T01:29:00.000-07:00

an ode to my black dog - a QJD mantis chair project with venom - wildetect style

mantis chair - wildetect design project

2011-08-10T01:18:00.000-07:00

I had very , very disappointing work related news late last week , which has put me into a complete tail spin. when this happens which is not often thankfully - ones only means of coping really is to design - i believe being creative stave's off depression, my black dog. you see when one focuses on something and can show a creative end product - this forces the mind on a track away from self.

the little pray mantis's which visit my studio from time to time gave me this idea. one of the little chaps landed on my computer whilst i was in a doldrums frame of mind. sitting staring at the little critter i decided to see if i could conceptualise a piece of furniture. so i thought it would be great to create a chair with this little earth passenger in mind.
behold the wildetect mantis chair. -
many folk have asked me why i put my work and ideas on the net for all to copy. the wildetect way of creative design is so shot left - that if anyone does decide to copy them and take full credit for my work - they will find they are only furthering these wildetect ideals - as these ideas encompass an African fauvists ideal and don't really hold up in isolation.

andro - spine chair, wildetect style

2011-08-05T01:12:00.000-07:00

i realy, really enjoy taking aspects of the human form and extruding designs from this point of creative departure. the spine of this piece coupled with the cell like structures which wrap around it really inspires me. the chair follows on from the virus mankind furniture concept ive been exploring for several years. not for your average middleclass home - possibly not for any home really - but heck this is not for you - this is my selfish creative ensamble journey - create your own creative ensamble stuff , why dont you!!!!

my uncle gus and his stone roses

2011-08-05T01:03:00.000-07:00

my uncle Gus was a real eccentric character - he was a rock hound and used to spend many hours making stone eggs amongst other stone items. he was really passionate about geology and various types of stones and rock formations. many years ago before chapmanspeak was closed during rainy spells. uncle Gus would wake up early after storms and go collect the chapmanspeak stone that fell on the road. he wanted to build a house from it. so with his glasses halfway on his nose and that funny geologists magnifying glass strapped to the glasses - he was off to prospect some chapmanspeak stone. in his van with trailer.
anyway my good ol uncle loved to go to Namibia, south west it was called then, to collect a stone rose or 2. he had a show cabinet in his lounge with all sorts of stone things he had made or collected. the stone roses always fascinated me. so when i spotted one in a previously advantaged shop - (charity shop) it sparked me thinking about my uncle - i also decided to take a photo of the eggs that my uncle gave me.

he passed away a good few years ago - however the stone rose reminded me of a passion not easily forgotten.

QJDIVA - wildetect style furniture

2011-08-05T00:13:00.000-07:00

to place an order - quinton@erxell.com

starting a small business

2011-08-04T00:38:00.000-07:00

in 1999 i started my own little architectural design studio when i came back from London - leaving the work treadmill , climbing my Everest , slipping , falling and eventually flying. now with things being tighter than a fishes backside in 2011. I'm diversifying - anyway i draughted up a little sketch in 2005 for the small business entrepreneur. it shows a chap leaving the treadmill and eventually flying. im just going through all my stuff and putting it out their hopefully to spark something for someone. the small business evolutionary drawing.

Jet Jungle and the black panther jupiter

2011-08-04T00:24:00.000-07:00

growing up in the 80's in south africa was now to be seen as a bitter sweet experience. however the sweet moments where listening to the radio in the late 70's and early 80's. squad cars at 9pm, little peoples playtime at 4pm and jet jungle at 5pm. i must have eaten ten tons of jungle oats. brian oshanicy (have no idea how to spell his surname, only ever heard it on the radio) was jet jungle, south african super hero extraordinaire.
i dressed in black and even all the american comic dudes had nothing on JET. my favourite animal is still the black panther - now my son's, however he has no idea why. i did send these 2 little rough drawings to tiger brands to try and resurrect old jet jungle in 2006. however i heard nadda, zippo the horse back from the food giants, i should imagine jets far to white and comes from the bitter sweet period. like suddenly finding a white weavel in the oats.

anyway i thought it would be great if jet had an african uber babe girlfriend and together they kicked isanyorca butt. i dare say south africa needs its super hero's to stand up and rid the streets of the over flow of filthy varmits. jet is the man - oh and eat your jungle oats - makes you beeg and strong. im still eating it at 40. powerful stuff superheros. why are they shelved - jet could be massive - bigger than captain america , superman and spiderman combined. thats why i created nado storm - however not much beats the vintage super hero dude.

lady gadiva - a wildetect table ensamble

2011-08-03T03:14:00.000-07:00

the wildetect lady Gadiva table idea, speaks for itself really - taking the silhouette of the female form and creating a bent, extruded metal or a cut metal piece. combines a strength of material with a softness of form. i have notions of furthering this concept into a range. as per other ideas im am experimenting with - this is just a simplistic sojourn into the unknown.

a wildetect menswear conceptual idea

2011-08-03T03:07:00.000-07:00

because life is far to short to sit on ones "of the edges" concepts. and as i have long held notions of developing a few menswear items that would appeal to me - ever since plodding away as a store designer for a big retail outlet. ive tinkered with ideas for a range of menswear clothing i suppose and fully realise only will appeal to my own tastes. as with most creative ideas - the appeal is not for the masses and the influence is far across historical and cultural divides. combining technology and fabric weaving techniques with age old knitting skills and age old dyes.
from the middle-ages to the plains of 14th century America, to the uniforms worn by a few choice regiments. menswear for me has a certain appeal, especially when its thrown together as apposed to finely manicured. welding history with different styles is a wildetect creative adventure. a maverick approach to creative design.

if folk don't like it - the wildetect in me doesn't really give a damn.

earths virulent virus - a wildetect observation.

2011-08-03T00:37:00.000-07:00

Are we not earth’s virulent virus? what !!!! MANKIND.

Is Man a virulent virus destroying his fragile host? We operate under the supercilious guise that we are an advanced creature. However we do not act very advanced. We appear so insecure that if there were a more advanced creature on earth, we would have set about destroying it along time ago. The threat would have been greater than trying to understand our advanced neighbour. Like cancer cells our suburbs erupt, blighting perfect landscapes. Black tar and concrete ooze over earths pristine fields. Monoxide blankets the once clear skies. If this is evidence of advancement, then we are really just fooling ourselves. Advanced systems or species create environments of self-preservation first; this is not what mankind practices. We act more like a virus, as we parasitically stifle the fragile life systems of this earth. We are hell bent on self-destruction and we are actually getting it right. Like any virus we kill our host and hope to god another one swings by before it’s to late.

When analysing mankind’s cities one cannot help but wonder how far removed they are from the beautiful landscape that used to be before the onslaught of man. Our cities ooze tar and concrete all over a once abundant life filled landscape. Where once thousands of creatures and plant life lived and died, now a fraction of introduced plants and animal forms inhabit. For us to inhabit a space we change completely the natural order of the Eco system. We do not find a way around our environment; we obliterate all that was once the environment. Yes we are advanced - who we kidding.

Mankind’s very small time on our earth and his ability to wipe out functioning Eco systems instantaneously, make man an extremely dangerous virus. The earth is millions of years old, with Eco systems equally as old. We have managed in a split second of time to bring these environments to there knees. Even viruses that prey on us don’t pose such a virulent threat to their hosts as fast. Given the age of the earth and the time man has been on earth. When comparing our life span and viruses that effect us. The virus that is man would kill us in 0.000000000001 of a split second.. This makes us an incredibly dangerous form of parasite. As understanding increases of our fragile earth a small part of mankind is stemming the tide of wholesale abuse. Imagine if cancer had small parts of its collective that thought altruistically. We would need only to encourage the growth of that small segment of the collective in order to overcome the threat on the human body.

To bring about change in human perspective is difficult. To try and educate people to stop abusing our fragile earth is near impossible. Man will always have the element of self abuse and greed within his ranks and to try and control these individuals is not really the answer. Man will only effect change when his life or resources are coming to an end. We are simply very selfish and will only leave our ingrained habits when the water rises above our heads or the heat of our own fire starts to burn our own flesh. That moment is fast approaching. –

Where to from here?

Our city architects have expounded their vast wisdom and our builders have touted their talents. We have many examples of mankind’s talents. Man does not try and live simply within his means. We have tar and concrete up to our eyeballs. We use every form of soap and insecticide to sanitise our already sanitised living spaces. Few cultures and human forms of life leave little or no scar on the landscape. encouraging the small sparks of altruistic thinking is an important start.

What is our answer?

First and foremost we need to humble ourselves and stop thinking the sun circles around us. By this I mean we need to stop thinking we are the smartest life form on the planet. If we where so smart we wouldn’t have a fraction of the problems we do. We are one of the only life forms on this planet that practices wholesale abuse on an unprecedented scale. (Compared to Earth’s other passengers) If antelope or squirrels showed as huge degrees of difference between individuals, as humans do, we would have desert squirrels living on the ocean. ( wetsuits and all) We have a vast amount to still learn and we need to acknowledge this lack of self preservation altruistic knowledge. By unpacking our existing building processes and starting rebuild our environments with the sensitivity of a few select cultures who have understood clearly our place and space in the universe.

Our structures and cladding could be a living entity. We could develop architecture that protects us but it itself is alive. This is not new thinking however its new to me. So when our living structure starts dying we can immediately address the fundamental issues of our system. The structure itself acts as a thermometer to our destructive tendencies. This will move away from man trying to be the great architect and back towards man the great agriculturalist. We need to grow our structures as a shell grows around its organism. The individual organism is responsible for its own sometimes-living shelter. When we work with organisms like the organisms creating coral in our oceans, to create our shelters, we might have advanced to the next level of our survival on this planet. We might start to understand the synergy we where designed to live by. To have as many smaller forms of life hang off the systems we steer and manage. With applying this concept maybe earth will give up more of her millions of valuable secrets.

We think to permanently about our homes. Homes must provide shelter for us today not necessarily be around in 10 000 years time. Each successive generation should have the privilege to build their own structures. Learning from past endeavours and improving on future concepts. Our structures at the moment are fixatedly created to be permanent fixtures. Along with the scar of the quarry that the stones for our homes where hewn out of. Our building materials could themselves be alive; they could provide an unseen energy, which would flow through our human experience allowing us to become curators of our own systems. The only type of construction on earth I can think of at present that fits into this thought process is the polyps of coral and the small creatures that create them. They provide a massive labyrinth for billions of life forms to benefit from.

This form of construction using living building material will form an early warning system to potential environmental issues. Like the rose trees at the edge of a vineyard detect problems before the vines fail.

Mankind will reach the next level of his advancement when his energy to put back into the universe is greater than his energy to take out. We are incredibly destructive creatures who need to stop feeling where the top of the food chain and start realising we are in actual fact a very, very small part of a massive age old system. Of which we have not found our correct place in yet. It appears through instinct, wisdom most of the planets other passengers are able to get along without interrupting the natural flow of things. We can learn so much from these systems around us – and we have the wisdom to find the best system that will best suite our needs. Unfortunately we are still quite far from this point in our history.

It is with great pleasure that the Wildetects , QJD Design studio and Erxell design and marketing have calibrated to create the recycled plastic virus furniture range. The aim of this furniture is to remind us daily where we fit in the food chain. Subliminally we will hopefully slowly lose the perception that we are the top of the food chain and start slowly trying to hinge as many smaller ecosystems off of our lifestyle. By creating furniture that promotes a message and is vibrant, colourful and carries a social conscience we hope to be part of the collective virus that is looking towards stemming the tide of mankinds wholesale abuse of our planet. the cancer cells that think altruistically.

Our earth Mother
"Oh dear Earth Mother"
Are you not itching
With the collective mankind virus.
As they crawl over your surface
with thick tar encrusted carbuncle city scape's.
Harvesting all your resources and
setting them to work against you.
The scourge of his cities, flake on your surface.
Like scabies and boils blighting your virgin soil.
I really feel your pain.
"My Earth Mother"

Tarquin J Oarsmad. : 2008.

CSI - creative spark item harvisted from the beach

2011-07-06T20:45:00.000-07:00

grebnezium surprise
there is not much more to life than this
walk the beach and find a paper Nautilus.

the delicate sea traveler, journey fraught
spilled out treasure is actually an argonaught.
Quin - 2011

yesterday was a great day for finding argonaughts on muizenberg beach. the wind was ripping on shore and it was a race against the seagulls pecking the delicate shells as they washed up and myself scouring the beach. my collection of combed beach ob-je-da

khayalitsha construction training

2011-07-06T05:54:00.000-07:00

my training experience in khayalitsha has led to another facilitator construction training contract in de aar in august. this is with juta books, the sustainable institute and the department of human settlement, south africa. i am really looking forward to this time in this remote town. im going to use the time when im not teaching to create and design, from catching up on my short story writing to designing wild wildetect ideals.

i have a few concepts i want to explore for a personal menswear range, which i would like to explore under the banner wildesion. ever since my time as a retail store designer for topics in the mid 90's - i have wanted to explore a range of clothes for myself, inspired by cultures where the men designed clothing for themselves. ie no feminine intervention to soften the ideals. from the native american indians, to the roman legions - as i have far to many distractions here in cape town . me being the distraction king - so getting away for 3 weeks into the middle of south africa - might just allow me to find a few creative ideas i can fully explore.

CSI - creative spark items

2011-07-06T05:29:00.000-07:00

my office space is crowded with what i call creative spark items - CSI items. i buy these csi items at markets, second hand and charity shops. i dont know what i like until i see it. and the buy is strictly an immediate emotional attachment to whatever it is i see. im not looking for bargains - im looking for things that spike or spark my imagination. something someone else might have cherished or found useful . collecting old scale rulers and pens and various objects. most of the objects end up costing me alot because my csi radar is set to very expensive. however i enjoy sitting in my lair and visually marinading myself in my CSI collected stuff. but what good is stuff if i selfishly get inspired by it myself - so i decided to take some photo's of the things that create an emotional response in me. my CSI items.

timber furniture

2011-07-06T05:17:00.000-07:00

i have long found the shape of fish bones and the struts of ships absolutely fascinating. if something captures ones fascination as readily, one has to try and feed off the inspiration thereof. i have now adapted 3 of my furniture design wildetect ideas to timber marine ply wood ensembles. i love the way the chairs and the table form one sculpture in the fishbone concept - one is not complete without the other. i find functional art is becoming a fascination with me, as well as perceived kinetic-ism within the static. these examples would be a wildetect working towards these ideals.

perpetual motion advertising vehicle release - p-mav

2011-07-06T05:08:00.000-07:00

over the last 4 years ive released about 10 p-mav's - ideas in a bottle into the ocean around the southern tip of africa. and about 8 add crossing folders at various art galleries and coffee shops. each p-mav (perpetual motion advertising vehicle) is equipped with puzzles and clues leading across the internet and back to reality - a kind of dan brown approach i suppose. i have a few blogs that drop a clue or 2, as well as a few websites. all leading back to this site. the idea is to find the bottle - pour over the clues in it and find your way to this site. as previously stated this leads the treasure hunter to a bottle of jack compliments QJD design studio - however the would be daniels extractor would have to furbish info from the bottle found from the sea to claim the liquid treasure.

as a frothing mad, avid beach comber it has always been a desire of mine to find a message in a bottle. so i decided to entertain my own message in a bottle campaign. i released a p-mav into the ocean off arniston 4 years ago. and i was very excited to get a call over a year or so later to say it had been found. the lady left a message on my phone to say she had worked out it was me who let the bottle free. i never followed up on the call at the time - a little embarrassed i had been found out so easily. (absolutely weird i know.) i was pretty chuffed about this simple little exploit. my p-mav's now are a little better populated and more difficult to fathom. - they have numbers and i now know times and dates of release - we always harvist 2 bottles out the ocean before throwing 1 back. the folders are stacked with drawing equipment , pencils and post cards of arty things.

trying to weld the unreality of a sterile internet environment with the tangible reality of a touchable treasure map is a simple yet exciting venture.

tretchikoff - erxell - khayalitsha

2011-06-08T12:49:00.000-07:00

south african creative design is all about building bridges between the future, past, present and embracing all the socio economic, racial and cultural entities within our incredible country. my last 3 weeks of facilitating a sustainable construction course in khayalitsha has led me to the point where i feel i need to promote and thereby link like minded creatives sitting in different social, cultural arenas.

the tretchikoff - erxell - khayalitsha concept is exactly that link bridge im talking about. it is vital to remember an informal settlement is called informal because its supposed to be a link between a formal home owned and a temporary structure. so informal settlements are not red taped communities so to speak. they have very different dynamics which apply to them. in other words creating a canvas from the roof structure is perfectly acceptable in an informal settlement environment. one has to only look at eskom's and the city of cape towns informal allowance of electricity wiring within these communities, to see a giant billboard using roof space is nothing in comparison.

south african informal settlements should be using this as yet unseen potential roof canvas to showcase their grievances as an art canvas. whilst the powers that be take forever to house them. a giant billboard awaiting organic green signage - a very first in the world. an architectural earth branded wildetect ideal awaiting the artists touch. a product linking the advertising machine with the informal settlement home owner.

the key to this concept is the word informal. so when its called a formal settlement one can apply all the cities red tape rules that apply everywhere else in cape town. has anyone seen the informal electrical wiring criss crossing these communities - its amazing that this is not regulated at all - its a very dangerous entity that seemingly anyone can key into - a brilliantly designed signage canvas on the roof space providing waterproofing and possible residual income is nothing in comparison .

informal settlements roof space is the advertisers blank canvas of the future - plus it will give communities a link to google (the world) and the powers that be. this is food for thought for futuristic creatives living in informal settlements in SA. this idea creates an advertising canvas whilst it delivers a legitimate monthly food payment for allowing the use of informal shack roof canvas. bonding communities with a possible advertisement link - its a simple idea really - and it takes wildetect thinkers to expose this potential.

erxell , QJD design studio and the wildetects have long been pushing this crusade for many years - its not for nothing we as the wildetects identify with the likes of Tretchikoff - a painter criticized to death with such venom by the legion of minor showmen of the day, who epitomize the creative mediocre circles of the art world. most of these minor showmen sniggered behind their open faced hands at tretchikoff for many years. it is important to note it was the same characters in the art world who did the same to other great artists and great art movements.

south african cellphone advertising campaign could paint the town red

2011-06-08T07:26:00.000-07:00

i mentioned the erxell concept to one of my futuristic thinking students - Epaph Mbesi. he immediately picked up on the potential of this concept to be created in informal settlements around south africa. his first suggestion was to paint a huge section of khayalitsha's roof space red, inline with a south african mobile phones add campaign. this was a simple idea to get the erxell concept to take root in the minds of south africa's advertising elite. Epaph is an entrepreneur with a dynamic outlook and a great vibrant persona. i said i would create some imagery for him to take the concept further using his contacts in khayalitsha. as the erxell concept is an organic idea constantly growing - the idea is to build bridges between south africa's social, financial and cultural entities. creative design inventing the glass bead of trade or the bonding agent between all these groups.

Luvo Matina - budding khayalitsha wildetect

2011-06-08T06:32:00.000-07:00

Luvo Matino one of my sustainable construction students has shown great promise as a wildetect designer. on Saturday we have a wildetect meeting. the 3 established wildetect designers from the academy of inventive design and technology and now these 2 wildetect designers from khayalitsha. i believe design should link culture and socio economic groups. i am very excited to see the design ideas spring from the minds of luvo and luthando once they have been exposed to the ideas of warren, dean and jacques. putting futuristic thinkers into the same space is bound to produce wonderful design ideas.

luthando sitole - a budding young wildetect talent

2011-06-03T00:14:00.000-07:00

one of my students - luthando sitole is brimming with draughting talent. he compiled this picture as an example of his work. i really love the bold use of colour- luthando follows a wildetect design ideal without fully comprehending the style - its boldness is a natural way of expressing his ideals.

i really look forward to more wildetect design ideas and examples of luthando's work - khayalitsha is really brimming with true talent.

khayalitsha sustainable construction class - 2011

2011-06-02T23:59:00.000-07:00

the sustainable construction course im facilitating for the department of human settlements. SA, the sustainability institute and juta books. has so far been the most powerful teaching experience i have had since starting out as a draughting lecturer in 1994.

we have left the classroom and have moved onto site. a vegetable garden in khayalitsha - we have set out our trenches , dug them and have hand mixed and cast our foundations. i really enjoy going to work in my construction overall and gum boots -feeling part of a team is really great. after work i go for a coffee at an upmarket coffee shop in muizenberg - where a few sideways glances at my attire is very energising .

the humour and teamwork makes going to work a pleasure. - next week is going to be equally as exciting im sure. i really wish i spoke xhosa - it would make teaching easier.

WILDE - ART

2011-05-26T08:50:00.002-07:00

In the forward to john Wyndham's book , the seeds of time, he writes something that really resonates with me. I quote a small section of this forward below.
" when, a good many years ago now , i first happened upon magazines that specialized in stories of the kind,
(science fiction) their proprietors had already concocted the formula which they knew, with that conviction that sustains minor showmen everywhere , to be ............" get the book to get the full forward - john Wyndham is a brilliant writer , a true genius and worth reading. another author i really enjoy is tom wolfe , however i digress.
i must say i really enjoyed this little extract from Mr Wyndham's forward - So the ideals of wildetecture, wilde-art , wilde-furn , wilde-lit, wilde-sculpt, wilde-sic, wilde-sion, wilde-phic, wilde-crossing have no formula for minor showmen. - no one to say this is how it should be done. the concepts for this wild african fauvistic style have not fully been established yet. it is suffice to say that the like minded wildetects who are part of this avant-garde African design style - are establishing the template for this out of Africa style as we speak. the students of this style come from every socio economic and cultural group in south africa. from my students at the academy to the students im currently teaching in khayalitsha.

surprise shako mkhize being the first wilde-artist to champion this cause. creating fusion african wildlife sculpture. eagles verging on griffins and horses closely likened to apocalyptic riderless mustangs. which radically deviates from the technically correct , no life sculpture clogging up the african tourist markets. regrettably my friend shako has past away - i miss our conversations and his wild excited ideas sparking across his truelly creative mind.

during the wild cape wind storm we experienced a few days ago i was fortunate enough to come across a poster advertising a tretchikoff exhibition at the national gallery. naturally not wanting this poster to get damaged i safely popped it in the car for safe delivery back to the museum. now a few years back if you had a poster or a print on your wall of a tretchikoff. or dared to mention you absolutely loved his work - the minor showmen of the day would have your guts for artistic garters. well done to a brilliant showman - tretchikoff - i have always loved your work and enjoyed the way you persisted even whilst enduring the spitting artistic vitriole of the minor showmen of the day.

wildetect ideals

2011-05-23T09:56:00.000-07:00

"wildecture and the wildetects are experimenting with a wild african fauvistic architectural style which eminates from the drum beats of the dark continent." QJD 2011

construction training in khayalitsha

2011-05-16T21:06:00.000-07:00

having been involved in education since 1994 i have finally found a training arena that i really, really enjoy. teaching in informal settlements. my mom and siblings over the years have also extensively been involved in the teaching profession. and it has always been great to watch past pupils get very excited when after many years down the line they come across a past teacher. now standing eye to eye with the educator from the past - and in most cases surpassing their own expectations of themselves. very excitedly trying to rattle off 20 years of jobs , kids and life in a five minute rushed interaction. from walking in the middle of Zimbabwe with my boet who taught at the university in zim and coming across past pupils. to walking with my mom and sister anywhere around south africa. its always incredible to hear teachers chat to past pupils after many years. my mom is classic - telling a fifty year old man - johnny you where very naughty in my biology classes - writing your name on the desk in 1974 - and suddenly the adult immediately becoming the pupil for a split second of time again, before roaring with laughter and telling his kids all about his teacher and a synapse of a life lived long ago.

starting my contractual teaching experience at the CAD training center and then moving to the academy of advanced technology , the academy of draughting, damellin , intec , northlink college and recently for 2 and half years, the academy of inventive design and technology. lecturing multi disciplinary draughting skills and cad training has had its challenges over the many years - however the rewards have been the many tiny moments and the enjoyment of meeting students who have surpassed the teacher in the world of work. this has been the reward - financial rewards are not why one would get involved in teaching on any level really - to teach is a calling and when the dust settles one looks back on a multitude of incredible moments - and there in is the value.

i have now been given the great privilege along with chris brink the president of the institute of draughting to educate a sustainable construction NQF level 1 course in rural parts of south africa. last week was the start of my first 3 week programme to teach 4 unit standards for the sustainability institute , the department of human settlements using juta books training material. if all goes well i just might be given the privilege again

riding the coastal road from my house in muizenberg to khayelitsha , i was not sure what to expect from this new assignment. upon arriving at the training venue i have really enjoyed my time thus far. i started out with 8 students on the first day and on the second day we had increased to 21. because the 4 unit standards cover 21 credits and the portfolio of evidence im compiling for each student is an immense amount of work i have really been loading the work assignments. what has been most incredible that to a student every single person has handed in assignments way before dead lines. coupled with a determination to grasp the work. the course consists of theory and practical - we are going to have to build what we learn in the classroom next. so its an interesting hands on approach to teaching. im very excited with my next week on site -

so now having compiled architectural draughting course material and helped to co-ordinate draughting and design education in south africa - i am at the rock face again - teaching pupils who are working really hard to improve things for themselves. the skill of draughting and construction is such a great subject to impart because its a language in itself and easily crosses all cultural communicative divides very easily.

PROPOSED GOOGLE CHROME BUILDING - WILDETECT STYLE

2011-05-08T21:39:00.000-07:00

Saturdays wildetect forum meeting held at the cape quarter in cape town's bo-kaap district, on Saturday morning was a complete success. moving the wildetects conceptual ideas much further forward, it was agreed that we would increase our design visibility by further conceptualizing a few more architectualised logo's. because QJD's cad draughting skills dont match the advanced cad skills of some of the other wildetects, it was agreed he would set the google chrome building logo hand sketch in motion. by creating a few preliminary design sketches for a proposed google chrome - architecturalised logo building. we are working on several other google building logo's using a combination of cad packages and 3d modeling software. we find that the engineering 3d software seems to be far more powerful to create models and render than some of the architectural 3d software currently available. warren is leading the charge for the cad designed renders. after his sublime wildetect defragmented architectualised logo coke bottle design - we are sure his next imaginative ens-amble for google will equally impress.

PROPOSED COCA COLA BUILDING - WILDETECT STYLE

2011-05-03T21:16:00.000-07:00

wildetecture is an african fauvistic style of architecture which in this design example, warren hoffman one of the directors at the wildetecture design studio has accomplished with this proposed coca cola building design. the wildetects have also designed all the furniture and the outside and inside themed coke interiors

the wildetect style is full on in your face africa its bright, gaudy, unapologetic and very, very wild, UNTAMED. this unsolicited proposal to coca cola is a building encompassing several typical wildetect design ideals.

1) earth branded architecture - buildings designed from the brand logo to key into the new every mans perspective. thanks to google earth suddenly the top plan view is becoming the first introduction of any building to the world. it has become an important elevation - buildings that use this design of brand and imagery into the future - will be utilising an age old nasca concept of speaking to the heavens.
2) disintegration of perspective - the building needs to be multi dimensional - one of the elevations is a sculptured coke bottle , the rest the building defragments.
3) deception of vista
4) perceived kinetic architecture
5) trompe-l'oeil in architecture
6) african fauvistic architecture
7) architecturalising logo's - the wildetecture design studio specialises in creating buildings from brand logo's. although this can negetive connotations the term branded about is logtecture or logotecturalising brands. this design point of departure is to our mind a very exciting and uncontrollable reaction to the small box, big box mindset which is regrettably 90% of architecture today.

the wildetecture studio is working on an architectural shadow projection for this coca cola building. the shadow will be a further coca cola branding at an exact time of day and year. because africa is the continent of sunshine it is important that our buildings start using this sculptural aspect as a means to showcase multi faceted architectural design.

if you want to see more of this multi faceted wildetect design style of architecture, please go look at www.wildetecture.com. if david butler CEO of coca cola thinks that this design reflects coca cola's african futuristic vision. quinton@erxell.com

LOGOTECTURE - WILDETECT STYLE

2011-05-03T06:36:00.000-07:00

the skill of draughting is a complete passion of each of the wildetects who make up the wildetecture design studio. to communicate clearly our unique architectural creative design ideas using the medium of draughting is a process we are striving to perfect. using the latest cad programmes as well as detailed hand sketches to convey our creative design ideas. as one of the wildetect directors our aim is to create unique marketing products for corporates. we can architecturelise your company logo into a futuristic building. one of the first brands to be taken into a logotecturalised building was the QJD design studio in 2005. followed by SAID and now unsolicited CO and COKE . this concept using a logo as the design point of departure creates architecture as an organic process. the end product is not small box, little box syndrome. this can create as yet to be seen architectural landscapes with a unique difference. to see further buildings that have been designed up using this graphically inspired logotecture technique - go to www.wildetecture.com and look at the projects on display , warren , dean and jacques the 3 other directors have designed up and logotecturalised the futuristic coca cola head office building and aquariums with an african fauvistic architectural feel.

the wildetecture style keys into the rhythm of the African drum beat and the wild untamed landscape that is our Africa. the wildetect will detect futuristic design trends on the dark continent and key your futuristic architectural designs into unique end products. email quinton@erxell.com for further information.

wildeart - cube to hexagon creative ensamble picture

2011-05-02T02:17:00.000-07:00

because part of the wildetect style is about deception of vista - to explore these 3dimension to 2dimension endeavors on a canvas is for me a fascinating procedure - where it will lead no one really knows - however when one takes this concept into furniture and architectural design. the possibilities are very exciting, organic and most incredibly uncontrollable.

through my dormer window (at the back of this picture) i get to see the silhouette of the back part of devils peak mountain - as well as the strong ridge line of the mountains leading to muizenberg. i also have a rather large night spider that makes his web every evening at 6:30 and is back under cover at dawn. he sets up on the outside of the dormer window and provides me every evening with an incredibly skilled age old web design building display. (who sais web design needs to be all tinkering computer keys.) great inspiration. im very glad he is on the outside of the window as he is rather a large chap and looks like a brown button spider. 4 indentations in his back. the kids have named him - spidey.

other visitors that are often in my studio are the pray mantis. we seem to have a large monastery of these little and not so little creatures, as im forever putting them back outside. its not the same one as i can tell by the eyes .no its the colour - bright green and shades of brown.

proposed coke recycled cardboard pebble chair - wildetect style

2011-05-02T01:54:00.000-07:00

the unsolicited by coke designed up cardboard coke pebble chair - banged out of coke cans and box cardboard from my super market skip. is going on a cape peninsula road show today. im heading off to hermanus from muizenberg to show a client his proposed new house design. because its a bank holiday today - im taking the family. ive decided to release a batch of bottle p-mav's into the sea along the way and a file or 2 around hermanus. remember if you work out the puzzle in the p-mav you find,on a windswept cape beach. a bottle of jack daniel's awaits your endeavours. well thats if i havent finished it. - at this rate its going to be half a bottle. - however you will need the p-mav to claim the treasure. i will get a few pics of the logster (my son logan) sitting in the coke recycled cardboard pebble chair at various spots along cape to hermanus journey. -

this is a wildetect marketing initiative - having tried to get hold of the people that count at coke HQ. ive decided to bang out wildetect designed concepts - blog them and see if this turns a head or 2. wildetecture is one portfolio of the wildesign campaign being started by the wildetects - the wildetecture drawing and design office consists of 3 other frothing at the mouth designers, Dean , Warren and Jacques. together we form the driving force behind this african fauvistic creative campaign. the untamed continent has an immense amount to offer the world - from the history of ship wrecks, wild interior explorations and as yet to be fully appreciated. age old architectural inspiration. why not commision us to collaborate on your next design project or marketing campaign?

jacques has put together a wildetecture - walking creative logo which you can purchase as a sticker or a t-shirt. email quinton@erxell.com or go check out www.wildetecture.com for further wildetect style african fauvistic buildings, art , furniture and designs.

vivaladraught - SA draughting revolutionary

2011-04-18T22:22:00.000-07:00

because developing the skill of draughting is a complete passion , i am always constantly seeking ways to champion this skill in education , via voluntary associations and regulatory bodies and to industry. draughtspersons have always received a not so favourable rap from elevated contempories. however if you examine the draughtsmanship of escher , gaspot monge as well as the first hand prints our ancestors made on rock walls. to the detailed technical drawings of today. draughting uses pictures to communicate futuristic ideas. it this that has always been a fascinating medium for me to explore and improve my skill.

time and space separates us from the actual communicative moment when those early cave images where created. however simple they are, it is a powerful reminder that our draughting sketches today, if found far in the future, can and will resonate with a generation to come. as they lure into our time and try and understand where they have come from.

vivaladraught is a revolutionary personage - who champions the cause of the draughtsperson in south africa and abroad. (google vivaladraught and see how he is tweaking the minds of south Africa's architectural regulatory body - SACAP) he firmly believes that draughting encompasses graphic design and technical drawing - hence this personage has labeled himself vivaladraught who is a padawan graphic monkey - PGM he sais the term padawan is to signify we are forever the student within this draughting medium.

the plight before flight.

2011-04-13T06:09:00.000-07:00

I've been plugging my concepts and hawking my design ideas for several years now on the world and South African stage. introducing the wildetecture concept, the erxell concept , African fauvistic architecture, nado storm cape town super hero , yip trip - a muizenberg inspired children's story and a few other locally inspired ideas to all and sundry on the South African design and architectural scene. sundry had a couple of choice designer swear words to tell me about my design ideas (a foul mouthed little interior designer from somersetwest - nogal) and all have never ever really commented.

Bart prince to my mind one of the greatest living architects did send me a reply email and said he wishes me well on my creative journey. i was very stoked with this email - and if words could be worn down on a computer screen - i did reread this encouragement quite a few times. - to receive encouragement from an internationally acclaimed architect was amazing. - Dylan Lewis south Africa's own world renowned sculpture has also given encouragement and wished me well on my creative journey. as well as the cape town architect chris brown, who designed the cape quarter and willowbridge lifestyle centers - designs that encapsulate the essence of cape town. wishing someone well on their creative journey is great encouragement. the buckminster fuller ideas challenge and the holcim awards gave the erxell concept of branding shack roof space time in their forums.

however the complete deathly silence from south africa's design showcases and esteemed designers is somewhat disappointing. it is my mind that as SA is so new on the world design stage it is not at this point ready to embrace fringe ideas of design folk on the outskirts who go beyond the MAYA concept. i believe true creativity is being able to nurture and encourage design passion no matter what level one thinks it is at - it seems in south africa everyone is a top end frank L wright , a mies or a corbu and or a geniusly brilliant - fiendishly wonderful design critic. brilliant really, until you hand them a pen and paper and a design brief - the wildetects have coined the phrase - walk creative - its a far less talky talky and more walky walky approach to creative design endeavour.

wildetecture in its raw form is what punk rock was to music. a complete knee jerk reaction to established local design trends. its my opinion that south african designers are far to guilty of bowing and fawning down to the golden calf of overseas design trends, much more than our local ideas. our cape town design showcases seem to be the rest of the world telling and instructing us what we should design and how they have designed it already - really a big brother schooling the little brother to see the direction he must go. far, far to few south africans going - this is what we design here and this is how we design it in SA.

go to the wildetect site www.wildetecture.com check out the coca-cola head office design on the site - warren has designed its 2 side elevations to be a coke bottle. so its not just the coca-cola earth branding from the top - but the elevations form a disintegration of perspective - both these ideals epitomise african fauvistic architecture - wildetecture. coca cola head office - concept 2 .

to my mind - and i really risk offending a few design daba baba dooze. Africa in all its gaudy glory is still the ugly duckling of the elitist design world - it is still awaiting its magnificent transformation for these international design guru's. a couple of African beads and a few ndebele patterns on a building or a design a south african design does not make.

wildetecture encompasses age old architectural design ideas. the wildetects are experimenting with and giving them an african contemporary edge. raw african energy - african fauvistic architecture - wild african design - wildetecture - embraces

1) earth branded architecture ,

2) trompe loeil in architecture ,

3) its deception of vista or

4) disintegration of perspective its

5) perceived kinetic architecture and

6) human driven architectural concepts. its

7) architectural musical interludes and

8) architectural shadow projections.

to mention a few of the wildetects design ideals.

african architecture is ubuntu, community and its big ideals and ideas coupled with bold unapologetic design. african design is its own signature from the Hausa tribes in the north to the sphinx and the dogon - its Ethiopian monasteries hewn out of a single rock. or the bold colour dynamics of the ndebele. African architecture has never really properly been embraced by the western world - a western world that is constantly and has for centuries crashed and ripped into the real dynamics of this individualistic continent. really trying, if you will indulge me - to tame africa and render it passive. - africa cannot be tamed - its a wild place with wild ideas - wildetecture.

i send out p-mav's into the ocean with cryptic clues and treasure maps on the internet. with bottles of jack awaiting the would be finder of the treasure. i really enjoy dabbling in writing the short story with a twist and a poem or 2. i use the word dabble because it signifies a passion for or a childlike approach to my craft.

its possibly best to stay quietly in the back ground of the design community - as once you step over the threshold its highly possible that the thundering herds could enjoy scalding ones face completely off - especially if one dares to imagine anything radically different.

wildetect and erxell websites live - finally

2011-04-07T03:16:00.000-07:00

as a person dabbling in design ideas one must develop a never say die attitude and a rhino hide. even if the ideas you wrap around are totally OTT. so as a designer from muizenberg, cape town. i sometimes feel like the bugler in that peter sellers movie. pfffft - bang. - pf - BANG! - because as we all know every ones a great creative design critic and everyone is a uber frank l wright.

because all the ventures i dabble in are more an experiment and not really where i make my daily bread. it does take a very long, long while for an idea to start getting thrashed into place. the erxell concept I've been nursing and fiddling around for 4 years and now finally, eventually i have managed to get the website done properly. the erxell concept is about bridging gaps between the socio destitute informal settlement dweller and the advertising fat cats. please check it out - let me know what you think. http://www.erxell.com/ it finally and very proudly went live yesterday.

the wildetect concept has a home as well http://www.wildetecture.com/ this is a dynamic group of designers who specialise in creating African continent inspired design ideas. it showcases some really wild, gaudy never before seen African inspired designs from furniture to architecture. as wildetects we aim to do less creative talky talky and more creative walky walky. the work is for passion and just plane creativity sake - most of the wildetect executive are recently graduated students and the direction of the designs is fresh African and very different. yes definetly not to everyones taste - but fresh none the less. wildetecture is the punk rock of design ideas - its design to passionately love or vehemently hate. because the advertising giants are not easily contactable - we hope to use the site to showcase our design ideas for industry - which are unsolicited - hopefully this way we can attract attention to our wildetect design ideals thus.

newsflash. wildetects design coke head office unsolicited. using wildetect earth branded architectural techniques and african fauvistic ideas , architectural trompe-l'oeil, disintegration of perspective as well as deception of vista - and all the african fauvistic ideals - african wildetect style. the wildetects would want to invite david butler the head of coke to look at what a possible future coke HQ could look like - wildetect african style. the design is a radical departure from the normal architectural ideal. - go check out the site.

the products on the erxell site are 3 phase on the site - hopefully its not still beyond MAYA in nature and is starting to come into perspective. the products are -
1 is a painted sign on the informal settlement roof space ,
2 is a greened agricultural crop circle type signage on informal settlement roof space - worth more as its actually addressing global greening without it just being a sexy buzz word.
3 is a simple erxellated photo of bob mugabe's zim mansion - buy an erxell of ol bobs mansion (a square on the page) and have a link to your site and get a titledeed of said erxell. a piece of africanism for you to own.

so now these 2 portfolios have been pushed a little further - its always great to see the development of radical design ideas from conception to implementation to sustainability. an experiment all designers dabble in , an experiment all designers are trying to perfect - if not for themselves for their clients.

http://www.erxell.com/
http://www.wildetecture.com/

the agulhas p-mav release

2011-04-06T10:09:00.000-07:00

releasing a p-mav (perpetual motion advertising vehicle) into the sea off cape agulhas with message and vital treasure clues - cape agulhas africas southern most tip and where 2 oceans meet in a roar of surf and wild, wild wind. in order to justify this bottle release myself and my son combed the beach first for 2 washed up bottles, before putting this one back behind the surf. i have decided to use jack daniels bottles as my release p-mav vehicle of choice. because its possibly one of the greatest excuses to sip through a bottle of jack. as it is really for advertising purposes and very important personal tidal research - on this day the wind was wild and the ocean storm ridden, the foam and waves crashing off the rocks was incredible. my son who really enjoys the strange antics of his dad - with great importance threw the soon to be flotsam as far as he could. we watched like 2 old sea dog captains, as our little bottle rode the wild currents sweeping out to sea. so if you find this p-mav or any others - let us know its journey , time and place - their just might be a full or not so full bottle of ol jack waiting for you at the other side of an email. well thats if you manage to find your way to my email address and have the treasure map in hand. ho, ho, ho and a bottle of rum , ya scurvy dogs , to the yardarm, blistering blue barnacles and shiver me timbers. these are the words we where gruffing out whilst sending the ol bottle off the plank.

erxell, wildetect , QJD , yip trip , nado storm t-shirts for sale

2011-03-17T23:14:00.000-07:00

to order a t-shirt or an erxell scale ruler please email quinton@erxell.com and i will send you the price list.

the erxell concept gets recognition

2011-03-17T09:12:00.000-07:00

over the last several years the erxell concept has had a few great acknowledgements from industry and educational facilities. one of these erxell achievement awards was given to me from the academy of advanced technology. i received this award in 2007 at a graduation ceremony i attended as a SAID representative. i was unaware at the time they had put down professor in front of my name on the award. another time at a CAD conference in Johannesburg i gave a lecture - "future techno perfect" i was introduced as Dr damstra on the printed program - again i had to explain the fact I'm not a Dr or a professor - i have also been termed in a design magazine as a maverick architect. this is also a confusion because i am in actual fact a professional senior architectural technologist. however it is great that the erxell concept receives this sort of positive attention. as i do see it as a way for the financially destitute to improve their environment whilst earning an income.
so I'm not trying to reach higher than my station and i hope that this clears up any prof , doc, arch titles floating around out there.

wildetecture - furniture and architectural landscapes

2011-03-16T07:51:00.000-07:00

architectural and furniture creative design ideas with a difference. wildetect and erxell style, from architectural musical interludes , earth branded architecture , disintegration of perspective , fingerprint cities , wave houses and architectural shadow projections. charlie chit chat chairs to bollamakissi furniture ensembles - as i say to my design students - not everyone is going to like your ideas, some people insist on being pretty vocal about their opinions - however for me it would be a shame if you didn't put them down because some mielie mouthed tonsil - rained on your parade.

items to spark creative endeavour - CSI - creative spark items

2011-03-16T07:48:00.000-07:00

as a person who loves collecting things i have amassed a huge libriary and an assortment of things i call - creative spark items - from my moleskin ensamble, shell collection, art pieces to my pen collection - each item is on my shelf to enthuse creative spark moments. they sit gathering dust until i decide to entertain them. it would be interesting to find out what creative spark items you folk have. drop me an email - quinton@erxell.com

winsome kerkoptjie

2011-03-16T07:37:00.000-07:00

because i like creating characters and breathing life into ideas and concepts that don't exist - I've decided to create 2 new characters - i have 2 busts that provide immense entertainment in my household - pinchnose quintus maximus and winsome kerkopjie. these 2 characters get dressed up and tarted up daily. the pencil in the ear is a new addition for the pair. as i wear a pencil in my ear - i get asked continuously if i am a carpenter or why the pencil - well other folk wear earrings have tats - i wear a pencil. I've been wearing this fashion accessory for several years now and often only realise its there when i put my head on the pillow in the evening.

winsome kerkopjie like the man he was fashioned to look like - is a character or blog that i will start populating which involves creative quotes. my favourite quip from old winsome is -

creative critics who piddle on your creative parade , will regrettably and unfortunately never ever have a parade worth piddling on. - WK

architectural shadow projection - wildetecture style

2011-03-16T06:58:00.000-07:00

for man to create an organic wildetect architectural landscape - our sources of creative influence needs to be from unlikely events. at exactly 5pm during march, the sun shines brilliantly through a side studio window. Ive been putting various objects onto my drawing board which then cast dynamic building shadow landscapes from shells to my old world pen holder - all interpreting 2d shadow shapes from 3d objects.

this process i refer to as a creative spark item - a seemingly insignificant moment creating for me sublime creative ideas. this process of design leaves one open to all forms of as yet unseen or uninterpreted shapes and ideas. looking way beyond the big box, small box accountant driven architectural exhaustive, dull process.

wilde crossing - 4 step approach to releasing p-mav into the wild

2011-03-16T06:35:00.000-07:00

perpetual - motion advertising vehicle - P-MAV
step 1 - populate an old leather bound folder - preferably bought at a second hand shop.
step 2 - find secluded bench and prepare to release pmav - perpetual motion advertising vehicle.
step 3 - place folder next to you
step 4 - leave pmav to be found and deciphered.

a p-mav has interesting clues and information , alot of drawing equipment and art pens and pencils. it also has cryptic notes and clues. interesting things that give small clues for someone to try and locate you hopefully using the internet.

QJD's road in draughting education south africa

2011-03-09T02:24:00.000-08:00

as a passionate advocate of the concept of multi disciplinary draughting, design and multi CAD package skill sets. It has always been a goal which i feel is imperative, that school education should be creating employable young people into the world of work after 12 years of schooling. the school system at present is not creating an employable end product after 12 years of school.

i was having a conversation with a school principle awhile ago , asking him why wood work, technical drawing , metal work , home economics and various other practical courses had been dropped from the main stream SA school curriculum after 1994. his response amazed me - I'm not sure if it is correct, however it could be and it is a fact that these practical important subjects have been dropped. he said - they dropped subjects across the countries schools based on if a school could not afford the equipment and if theft was rife at 1 school then no schools should have the privilege of carrying that subject - all schools must be equal in disseminating information. although this is noble it is an interesting approach and could explain why these valuable subjects have been dropped.

as an executive member of the SAID for close to 10 years and having represented SAID at various SACAP forums. ive had the privilege to sit between education, industry and regulatory bodies for a number of years now, as well as run my own architectural design studio for 11 years. 4 very important domains and role players in the world of work. my own interpretation of Draughting is the ability to clearly Communicate using pictures, technical drawings to illustration to graphic design and even some graphic art could be interpreted as draughting. (escher)

having the privilege to lecture draughting / design since 1994 at various draughting / cad schools. starting at the cad training center, academy of advanced technology, intec, damlin, northlink college and currently at the academy of inventive design and technology in century city. and the further priviledge of currently being assigned the position of examiner and chief examiner for the department of education - south africa - creating isat's and exemplar papers for the NCV - architectural graphics and technology NQF level 1 and 2.

i am always amazed at the incredible talent coming up through the educational system. talent that does not always hit its straps within this benchmarking 12 year arena. late talented bloomers find it difficult in a world that measures one on school performance - unfortunately an arena that doesn't always correctly work with out the box thinkers.

so having spent many years in the after school teaching domain - i am now going to try and expose younger minds to the concepts of out the box thinking - with my little character yip trip. if we can nurture talent before and whilst it goes through the school system. we can hopefully shield young sensitive creative minds and expose them to the concept of the creative within. an exciting prospect which welds tuition, industry expertise and designs around young creative futuristic design draughting mindsets.

so yip trip with his friend thandile, dog gidgit , sister yippi mippi and a host of characters - will start designing whacky furniture, houses , office blocks and improving life in grebnezium (muizenberg backwards.) the concept behind the character is to encourage out the box thinking before and during the formative school years.

most pictures are compiled in technical cad packages (as i couldn't hope to compete with today's graphic artists) the ability to create graphic pictures using CAD packages is a different approach and should yield drawings that are interestingly different whilst giving off the idea that its not necessarily the medium you chose to use to communicate pictorial ideas - but the actual idea itself.

would like to hear from you if you like this idea - qjdamstra@new.co.za

buckminster fuller ideas index

2011-02-28T23:44:00.000-08:00

it is a very very proud moment for QJD design studio as the Erxell concept of branding informal settlement roof space is now being looked at by a wider design community. the concept has been accepted as an entrant to the 2011 buckminster fuller ideas index. and it would be a great honor if you click on the link below and take a look at the concept yourself.

http://challenge.bfi.org/application_summary/2240 - you will have to cut and paste this address into your http

perpetual motion advertising campaign - p-mac using a p-mav

2011-01-11T09:30:00.000-08:00

the concept of wilde-crossing using wilde-message-in-a-bottle and wilde-book-folders is to perpetuate an advertising platform for off the grid fellow creatives. the idea is when finding a wilde-bottle on a remote cape beach or a wilde-folder in a cafe/ art gallery or bench in and around cape town. - is to email the time of capture, date and whereabouts to quinton@erxell.com - nose around in the contents - reading the short stories and looking at the information. before adding your own creative inspiration and then letting the perpetual motion advertising vehicle (pmav) go again in the wild. - you will add your hitchhiking info - hopefully full of cryptic puzzles and messages all leading folk around the internet. each wilde-bottle and each wilde-folder is numbered and with the participation from you will be captured and followed.

the wilde-crossing advertising concept has cryptic puzzles and clues welding science fiction stories, art and african fauvistic architectural ideals. the equations are all awaiting the solving from the person who has found the perpetual -motion-advertising-vehicle. PMAV

so if you are reading this , and youve found your way here from the cryptic clues in the bottle or folder. tell us where you found it, when, and the number and tell us where you intend letting it go again. we will follow the progress of each wilde-adverting-vehicle and document the perpetual advertising motion.

the pmav concept blurs the lines between online puzzles and treasure map reality. creating an art piece whereby you as the public become involved - art that involves participation -

in our first wilde-add-campaign in and around cape town we have let go 13 pmav's - 5 wilde-books and 8 wilde-bottles. email us and tell us where you found the bottle and where you intend letting it go - the wildetects are awaiting your response. quinton@erxell.com

remember -1) time ,2) date ,3) where , - 4) where and when are you planning to let the pmav go again with your additional hitchhiking information. - if you have worked through the puzzles and found your way here using google - you have cracked this series of advertising in the wild. lets hear from you.

yip trip - a design inspired story for children

2011-01-11T09:07:00.000-08:00

yip trip is a little boy who lives in a wave house in the sea side village, grebnezium. a town he is slowly changing for the better through clever design. the source of these design inspirations wash up on the sea shore from distant lands, after huge cape winter storms. whilst yip is trying to find a way home for the marooned characters, they impart design knowledge from the part of the world they are from. design inspiration that step by step will improve the architectural and urban landscape of yip's sea side village.
a design inspired creative journey, created for children to inspire the design minds of tomorrow.

http://yiptrip.blogspot.com/

nado storm - cape town comic book hero

2010-12-05T23:37:00.000-08:00

nado storm is a comic book with a difference - the story is in picture format only - in otherwords the interpretation of the story is up to the person looking at the pictures.

The year is 1010ad, Tablebay is filled with the earths warrior tribes.to create the universal warrior.it was given to the San scribes the task to capture the imagery. Nado Storm - controller of the cape winter storms and summer trade winds.a Machiavellian warlord and the one called the adamastor managed to poison the minds of the collective. banishing Nado Storm to the dark recesses of the adamastors domain, in the Kalkbay caves - plunging the earth into turmoil. 2010 -

http://nadostorm.blogspot.com/

domino man -

2010-12-05T23:16:00.000-08:00

whilst playing pool with some really good friends - the domino man character was born - a list of quinn10 characters are evolving from this little exercise - domino is a 40 something suburban father who fights the injustices of the neighbourhood. no one really knows if its all in his head or if he actually dons the outfit and flys in the face of corruption. so whilst swigging beer watching the news - domino solves the mystery and is always back in his chair in time to crack another beer. even he is left surprised at the efficiency of the whole thing - the more violent criminals are especially given the dom treatment. i suppose it comes from every school boys fantasy to save the school from hard core criminals - whilst leopard crawling through the vent system , dropping on unsuspecting terrorists. its a fantasised ideal - domino i suppose keys into this school boy fantasy ideal. - obliterate the crooks and the felons of society in front of the appreciative community. rough justice style. - yes the jpgs are a little fuzzy and the cartoon isnt as sharp or as professional as it could be - but you try draw - swig a beer and don a pillowcase mask and still produce crisp imagery.

domino's once arch rival was none other than sups or soops - however due to common objectives and pool playing skills have now teamed up and now fight crime and machevalian villians together. domino keeps his crime fighting skills to muizenberg whilst superman bases his secret squirrel operations in east london.

cloverfield village - assisted living

2010-12-02T23:31:00.000-08:00

every now and again a project flys across the design table that really resonates with me - doing the research for this project i realised the living conditions of folk living in retirement villages in south africa can be very drab , dull and an expectation of heading off the planet hangs exceedingly heavy in the air.
so when looking at the design ideals for this concept i decided to get inspired by FLW and a developement he explored in the thirties. as per most of the concepts i have been apart of - words can never do justice to the visuals themselves. the brief from my client was detailed and taking all things into account - coming up with an assisted living environment for our planets experienced folk was an absolute pleasure.

this project has led me closer to a concept i keep close to my heart and hope to start at some stage. the concept of lostinformation -

you see when one of our older fellow passengers leaves our planet - they take an entire lifetime of experience with them - to gain these pearls of wisdom from these folk and full circle it back to the youth will cut out lessons and experiences having to be redone. starting with the living environment i hope to take this concept further and gain the invaluable insights of the folk in the third age.

the erxell concept - bridging relationships between socio economic groups

2010-11-16T23:46:00.000-08:00

the erxell concept is a futuristic wildetect design idea that links the haves with the have nots by creating a grided sellable product.
the product is manicured by the folk living in an informal settlement - the value of which increases with the better looking better cared for erxelated branding platforms.

these erxelated brandable platforms can be made up in two ways - as a

1) a painted / waterproof signage over 100 x 100 informal settlement homes.
2) an agricultural platform which is cleverly designed as a logo to create green areas / food and sellable branding over 100 x 100 informal settlement homes.

cape town has huge communities living in desperate conditions - in tin shacks just outside the city - the informal settlements roof space could become a blank canvas that will benefit a few thousand informal settlement dwellers. an agricultural crop circle billboard put onto 100 x 100 informal settlement shack roofs. the families benefit from waterproofed roof and possible residual income - the erxell was developed for the express purpose of putting the poor and the wealthy advertising machine at the same table. building bridges between communities not yet properly linked.

QJD DESIGN STUDIO has been busy with this Erxell concept for a few years now - its a layering concept. the actual branding component is only a part of the overall idea. as south african urban space designers we design our urban sprawl for the destitute very 1 dimensionally - outwards and as fast as possible.

what if we could create a brandable urban canvas that could be grid controlled and sold off per meter square - advertising paying for the size of the signage on top of the informal settlements roof space. only its not meter squares they will be purchasing but erxells - a form of grid measurement already endorsed by the SAID.

the idea goes one step further than just a 1 dimensional branding - what if the informal settlement dwellers could literally live under their own branded crop circle designed vineyards? yes that would require platforms and immense planning - time is what these folk have - they need a product to unlock residual income - a project that takes from the rich and gives to the poor whilst sustaining themselves. - using new lightweight steel structures which the human living component keys into. so the structure for the platform and abode are 1 - taking care of 2 things at once.

the platform will allow the growth of lightweight produce like veggies, vineyards and possibly wheat. so the cultivating fields are above the dwelling component. which forms the layering idea - the branding component forms a futuristic crop circle with the growing component cleverly interwoven into a design logo. much like the Victorian manicured gardens of old and crop circles combined. the value of the erxell unit of measure which is what the advertising giants buy from the informal settlement dwellers will increase with the better kept logos. which creates work, food and incentive to both cultivate and keep the cape flats looking green, green , green.

so the logo is an organic sculpture which needs maintenance - every plane flying over the cape flats will be able to see if the workers below are manicuring their fields - this will increase the rent able erxell space and ultimately be the monetary value - other than the actual food of course which can be bartered as in times of old.

my steps so far -
I have approached the South African institute of draughting. they have endorsed my new unit of earth brand able measurement - they have seen the future prospects of this form of large scale draughting. - the Erxell - 3 cubits X 3 cubits -( Erxell is earth sell and pixel combined) - thereby creating the glass bead of trade between the advertising giants and your little family living in shack 1 khayalitsha site b. this creates a system whereby we all benefit. a cultivated garden pointing skywards - creating a brand able billboard - everyone wins.

because this idea goes way beyond Raymond Loewy's MAYA concept - (Most Advanced Yet Acceptable). its been a slow education process. I am getting abit of airtime in design mags, its received recognition from Holcim and a few other accolades. - I believe the way forward is one shack at a time.

I believe altruistically if a system is designed in place to have a holistic affect on an entire community - the riff raff will not dare disrupt the balance - if the multitudes are aware that collectively they can draw attention to their plight and gain finance in this way - they will police their own area and make sure the criminal element doesn't rock the boat.people who want to use the platform for a living component will stop the entire show - no more aid until the living component is removed and its strictly set as an agricultural entity.

this is an idea that creates a bridge between advertising and informal settlement dwellers - it also has the potentail to unlock the mindset of the impoverished, creating jobs , much needed revenue , food platforms and green advertising on a massive scale - the erxell concept can work - however only once the mechanics are properly instituted.

yours sincerely
quinton j damstra. erxell / wildetect / future city scape artist / hs2 .

SAID endorsement - erxell earth branding grid measurment

2010-10-28T22:18:00.000-07:00

the erxell - earth advertising, branding grid measurement has the endorsement of the SAID. this futuristic concept has the potential of building bridges between informal settlement home owners and the wealthy advertising machine. by creating a unit of grid measurement which will effectively become the glass bead of trade between these 2 groups. this is not charity - its the financially destitute working to improve their habitat to key into massive earth branded signage. signage that altruistically would lead to crop branding above informal settlements. entire informal settlement communities working towards a common goal. the unit of measure - the erxell. 3 cubits X 3 cubits is the size of the unit - advertising pays per erxell - the informal settlement community works together to create the at present not seen potential advertising canvas. finely art to improve the lives of the impoverished. the informal settlement home owner will have the potential of a new sponsored waterproof roof and the entire community benefits - from ideally a green crop circle branded sign.

now that's something to get excited about - advertising millions being put towards a good cause - advertising getting the mileage out of an as yet to be realised glass bead of trade.

homes designed by QJD design studio

2010-09-20T04:00:00.000-07:00

QJD architectural design studio does not specialise in 1 architectural style - the diversity of the portfolio represents a cross section of architectural styles all tailored and crafted to the unique specifications of each individual client.

new dwellings QJD architectural design studio

2010-09-16T00:47:00.000-07:00

a few examples of the studios completed work in the last little while.

modern mountain homes - with a curve

2010-09-06T05:29:00.000-07:00

having designed several homes with the mono pitch roof and the very very man made straight line - i decided with this project to introduce the curve. subtly in the cut of the roof sheeting and the fence line and in a few other areas. the homes are to be built on the mountain. my idea was to camouflage them into the landscape as much as possible - this is slightly achieved through color and the texture of stone cladding. the curve would just introduce a slight organic element to the mix - the purists of this style will lament this introduction I'm sure.
the homes have a glass element under the roof which gives the desired effect of a floating roof. the structure will be seen to be transparent and the mountain landscape behind will be seen through from the front. this heightens the underplay of the man made architectural element. not nearly enough to obliterate the presence of man - however enough to pay tribute to the cape fynbos in which the structures will live.
the double rafters peeking out from under the curved cut roof will give a very desired skeletal effect - an effect I'm slowly moving towards with every new client. i assume its a Gothic approach however let me not raise the Eire of another purist set. on another project i did propose a lynx eared dormer window which is of interest to me - however the client was not really ready for this radical departure from the norm.

noordhoek development - QJD design studio

2010-08-23T23:48:00.000-07:00

most folk assume that the QJD design studio creates off the wall architecture based on the fanciful designs showcased in this blog and other sites - although the WILDETECTURE concept is very exciting to us, the reality is that the studio concentrates on the current residential market here in south africa. designing homes across the financial spectrum. our passion is simple livable homes in various styles - we are currently busy on several developments in the cape town area.

interactive mobile creative workstation - QJD style

2010-08-13T06:04:00.000-07:00

i have long held the opinion that if one has a definite space to create , design and work from, it can help settle the little things that scupper you from being productive.

i would love to be able to manoeuvre all my creature and artistic comforts into different environments. the first draught of the creative workstation is such an animal - transportable into the namib or the Karroo, ready to help kick start few fresh ideas.

wildetecture - inspiration

2010-08-13T05:54:00.000-07:00

a few examples of sketches and ideas encompassing the wildetecture brand of architectural and furniture design.

sculpted truss system wildetect style - as interpreted by QJD design studio

2010-08-13T05:46:00.000-07:00

a series of sculpted roof trusses embodied by raptors , felines and the like. trusses that create art within the structure. a wildetects design solution to an everyday structural design necessity. this sculptural architectural design ideal encompasses the wildetecture and african fauvistic architecture QJD is currently exploring.

manifesto of a wildetect - african style

2010-08-13T04:10:00.000-07:00

When next in a large metropolis observe that most structures and buildings engulfing you are possibly ornate, beautiful, monolithic. However most of these buildings lack a certain dynamic energy. it is similar when comparing most art with a Van Gogh painting or a Caravaggio, the difference in dynamic energy is staggeringly obvious. Or When you compare thought provoking poetry to a made in china instruction manual, you have words to simply convey instruction and words to start the blood pumping - To incite a revolution of thought. The same is true when comparing most sculpture with Dylan Lewis"s or Surprise Shako Mkhize's Work. These artists have bridged the gap between dynamic sculpture and static technically correct objects. There is art to fill a crochet minute, and art to fill generations of poets, designers and artists with enthusiasm and dreams of the impossible.the wildetects main objective is to create designs that are not static, that are daring and unashamedly vibrant and bold - capturing the blur representing movement in the comic strip. Designs that appear to be moving, changing, Design that appears to be something else from afar. Concepts enbodied by Disintegration of Perspective, perceived kinetic architecture, architectural shadow projection - The illusion of movement in static structure is this bold way forward. the trompe-l'oeil in architecture.
As the futurists and cubist painters began to portray movement 100 years ago. Our generation needs to pick up on this dynamic expression and carry the concept further.In Pursuit of a non static architecture and design. Perceived KINETIC ISM, Movement or the expression of movement within the static is what sets average sculpture apart from great. And this concept is what will make great architecture magnificent. cities that are a coat of arms or a human fingerprint - bonding the inhabitants by something far more than just an on the ground architectural style. the out of africa wildetecture style encapsulates these possibilities.

architectural musical interlude - wildetecture style

2010-08-13T03:48:00.000-07:00

it is my regrettable experience dabbling in the creative arts - that their are many many creative critics who revel in piddling on an artists fragile creative parade. without fail - i have further noted that these very creative critics, unfortunately never ever conjour up or create a parade even slightly worth piddling on. so the creative universe seems to be out of balance im afraid - it is with these frothing at the mouth sniveling human creative critics i lay the architectural musical interlude concept - african fauvistic , wildetecture style. the idea that static buildings can through one perspective hold the notes to a symphony has long held my spellbound fascination - one day it will be within the wildetects vision of possibilities. a multi dimensional african fauvistic design ideal.

vineyard quarter -

2010-08-13T03:31:00.000-07:00

one of QJD design studios latest projects has been to design a malay quarter inspired development. this simple yet dynmic architectural style hinges on vibrant color and plaster mouldings. the style captures the essence of cape town -

trompe-l'oeil in architecture - a wildetect design ideal

2010-08-10T08:01:00.000-07:00

to create buildings that create an illusion to the eye - a disintegration of perspective or a deception of vista or a perceived kinetic architectural masterpiece. this dynamic africanised fauvistic architecturural ideal can be applied to art and design. this exploration of the wildetect ideals intrigues me. a sculpted shell building from 1 perspective and then to appear to disappear depending on your vantage point into a cascading fluted building from any other vantage point. a very exciting point of architectural design departure. this concept encapsulates the wildetecture concept i am currently exploring. the concept of wild african fauvistic architecture that only the african continent can dare to apologetically unleash on the world.

the QJD short story and poem - a writing in progress

2010-08-05T07:48:00.000-07:00

i have dabbled in the more difficult art of creating the twist in the tale short story and the odd over the last 20 years poem - my subject matter is varied and because i don't have a set theme
and definite style my written work is still very rough around the edges.
i am fully aware that these 2 creative disciplines require far more dedication than I'm putting in at present. although I'm reluctant to go on a 101 writing course, as i might end up churning out the same as my instructors. my rough little interludes into the twisted tale and my poetic concepts can be found .

http://qjdstory.blogspot.com/
http://qjdpoems.blogspot.com/

my science fiction story - arachnid sunrise, which gets updated every year or so with a new chapter every so often can be viewed at http://arachnidsunrise.blogspot.com/

i enjoy telling these little twist in the tale stories in particular petrus's lesson and the bird whisperer. writing the odd poem is a great way to spend an afternoon - my suburban fathers lament I'm sure resonates with any father trying to bring up children in a senselessly violent world.

QJD recycled cardboard pebble chair

2010-08-04T06:13:00.000-07:00

the cardboard recycled pebble chair as interpreted by QJD design studio. - an assortment of river stones is a beautiful spectacle. this creation encapsulates a few of my obvious inspirations - recycled material, pebbles and functionality in an art piece.

QJD design studio house design

2010-08-04T03:52:00.000-07:00

please find attached a few examples of homes QJD design studio has designed over the last 20 years. - this is just a very small sample of some of the 100 homes the studio has designed. we specialise in sculpting human space - if you would like a Quote or an interview to see if we can engage email qjdamstra@new.co.za - we design a tailor made home suited to the family or individual needs -

mobile librAry

2010-08-02T04:00:00.000-07:00

QJD design studio in conjunction with pg bison has designed up a mobile library for rural schools. the concept is that schools in africa's out of the way places dont have facilities for a dedicated library or science lab. this mobile unit is wheeled from classroom to classroom and slides out transforming into a mini library or lab. simple yet effective it will have pin board and chalk board options -

i am very excited with the possibilities of this design nd can't wait for this concept to roll out in rural schools.

cArd boArd SquAshed cAn pebble chAir

2010-08-02T03:50:00.000-07:00

the cArdboArd sqAushed cAn pebble chAir is A combinAtion of orgAnic shApe with humAn ergonomics using recycled mAteriAl. the end result is A chAir thAt is shAped like A well tumbled river pebble.

this concept keys into the wildetects hAndbook of AfricAn fAuvistic design.

BALLAMAKISSY FURNITURE RANGE

2010-08-02T03:27:00.000-07:00

to scribe to the concept of perceived kinetic design i hAve creAted the bAllAmAkissy rAnge of chAirs And tAbles - in western countries the bAllAmAkissy is the rolly polly, which All kids love doing. Arms out strAight , heAd tucked into chest . forwArd roll. now freeze frAme this motion And creAte A rAnge of furniture from the pics.

this rAnge encompAsses freeze frAming movement into furniture. you could creAte An elevAtion of buildings which like A huge sculpture plAyfully picks up on this ideA.

I Am often Asked why i put my ideAs onto the net And dont sQuirrel them AwAy in some concept bAnk . "people will steAl your ideAs you know." well if folk wAnt to use or further A concept i hAve fiddled with i would consider it An honour. we never reAlly come up completely with An ideA on our own - we Are monkey see monkey do creAtures.

this rAnge further showcAses the ideAls of wildetect design -

mAnifesto of A wildetect

2010-08-02T00:51:00.000-07:00

Wildetecture - AfricAn fAuvistic Architecture

mAnkinds systems And invented technology move us closer towArds A completely independAnt of eAch other AutomAtive future. An emotionally cAuterised future where mAn cAn operAte independAntly from eAch other. This seems to be mAns Absolute ideAl, to be completely independAnt of All other humAns. this is evident in his creAted systems in Architecture And the like. WAr is even fought viA remote control And the Aggressor does not even need to look into the whites of his civiliAn bomb victims eyes seconds before incinerAtion. the power of the explosion obliterAtes All evidence - the emotionAlly cAuterised soldier does not reAlly cAre thAt he hAs just obliterAted A little fAmily much like his own. As we drive ourselves towArds complete independAnce of eAch other we overlook the 1 criticAl Aspect that mAkes us A humAn. the key thAt sets us ApArt from our fellow AnimAl pAssengers.

As A crowd of people stArts to operAte As 1 orgAnism we see the power of humAn collective endeAvour. As much As first world countries AdvocAte complete independAnce - AfricA hAs shown thAt its this dependAnce on eAch other thAt brings out our humAn QuAlities. A stronger brother tAking cAre of A weAker. wildetectures key is to creAte humAn driven sociAl AwArness Architecture. ArchitecturAl mechAnisms thAt will continuAlly remind us thAt the independAnce we Are so driven to creAte within our structures , is exActly whAts contributing to our entire systems implosion.

our Architecture should creAte humAn driven sociAl awAreness mechAnisms. where ever possible our educAtional buildings should encompAss this ideAl - one exAmple of whAt i elude to is A lift thAt requires humAn effort to get the passengers to the next floor. this will provide exercise And the concept thAt we need to help eAch other to go forwArd. AfricA hAs shown the world the concept of Ubuntu - this Age old ideAl is A gift from generAtions pAst - our Architecture needs to creAte mechAnisms thAt will remind us dAily to think And help others.

We need to creAte mechAnisms thAt take 1 lightbulb off the electric grid At A time. the revolving door leAding into the educAtionAl fAcility needs to creAte the kintetic energy to power the lightbulb over the principles desk - your smAll effort At 1 level secures A system At Another. your direct input , however smAll hAs A direct effect down the line.

cAn we hAve educAtionAl systems thAt through simple humAn effort support other plAtforms? will pupils leArn thAt direct result of endeAvour effect us All? how smAll effort in one unrelAted Area effects Another. the erxell concept Also encompAsses wildetect ideAls - the fAt Advertising mAchine Aiding informAl settlement dwellers. one fAt spectrum of society reaching Across the divide to mutuAlly benefit Another. humAn systems thAt historically hAve been like oil And wAter welding together to benefit eAch other.

wildetecture design is unique to AfricA And focusses on system improvement not just structurAl And Aesthetic ideAls.

1) eArth brAnded Architecture.

2) perceived kinetic Architecture.

3) ArchitecturAl shAdow projection.

4) disintegrAtion of perspective Architecture.

5) human driven sociAl AwAreness mechAnisms. - humAn effort / energy = A better design future.

6) the Erxell concept.

7) humAn spAce sculpting.

wildetect Architecture is very wild, exAmples of which Are within this blog - it is as uniQue As the continent it hAs been forged from.

Quinton J DAmstrA

wildetect

argonauts muizenberg beach

2010-06-07T06:17:00.000-07:00

beach combing on Muizenberg beach from May through till July can yield incredible rewards. for me there is not much more rewarding than stumbling upon a delicate Argonaut shell washed up in the foam of the surf and deposited on the cape white sands.

it seems this year has yielded a bumper harvest of this incredible specimen along the Muizenberg coast. i enjoy walking from the area in front of where i live to cemetery some 3 km down the beach. i have done this walk with my 2 noisy , barking mad sausage dogs umpteenth times. and yesterday i found my very first Argonaut shell, these shells are sometimes confused with the chambered Nautilus.

when i returned to the parking area a chap named carel with chinky tattoos all over his face sold me 2 other Argonaut shells. much better specimens than the one i found but nothing can beat the feeling of finding my own shell. i know the more experienced collectors walk the beach at night with torch in hand looking for these treasures, so to find one in the day is very rare and satisfying. i am told that it is the female of the species that makes the shell and its very rare to find the little creature in the shell as well. very fortunately my shell was well and truly vacated.

i am very happy with my 3 new shelf members. beach combing is still one of the great past times. after a huge cape storm not much beats the walk on the beach once the storm has past.

your creative journey

2010-05-11T04:53:00.000-07:00

a little while ago i was at an art event where everyone was an absolutely frothing mad raging creative of some sort or the other. i found it startling that all the little personality wafts i thought unique to me where coming back at me thick and fast. i realised how damn annoying i must be to others. the usual i cant sleep at all as i think creatively all the time, I'm such an insomniac as my heads constantly brimming with ideas, I'm such a human bleeding creative prodigy bla bla bla BLA.
i did think the dude who told me he dreams in written book form totally won the who's more creative social banter competition. (baaastard) . the only reason why i don't actually use the written word book dreaming creative quip is because I'm slightly dyslexic. which is sort of a back hand creative concept really - because it is very well documented that dyslexic minds are out the box thinkers - after all dicslecia is the ultimate form of ceratvie writing. i explained all this to word dreamer guy, which was totally lost, as he had me beat already - punk. so for those wanna be , actually are creative up all night, squirrel monkey creative quippers - this is such old hat. try the i creative dream in words , writing style, Tolkien, language - Elvin. this will have other creatives so wishing they had used that one.

anyway what did amaze me is that most creative folk think being creative is a meticulous study of other peoples creative process. to become carbon copies of Picasso , Matisse all the great masters. the irony of this concept is that these greats became great for the very reason of not following the herd meticulously.

i decided in the midst of the I'm so poor i live on your tin shanty discussion that ........
As their is only one life time allotted us - the masters have lived theres , experimented with there theories had fun carrying and furthering there artistic concepts. obviously we need to draw inspiration from these geniuses but ultimately set our own unique creative course.
as our set of circumstances is completely unique to any life ever lived on this planet - hence we need to reflect our own creative individuality , yes burrowing , learning , creating from all around us. aggressively creating our own artistic style and personalty - not trying to become another bleeding carbon copy and a dead artist society .

well I'm now fully ready for the next art creative ens amble swar"e, Ive upped my game - Jo mamma's so not creative........ i suppose that would be very childish - i could use the I'm so creative i break wind in Xhosa quip. no the dreaming in words still beats them all.
FOR NOW.........
so the next time your between the wedding photographer, hair dresser and the crouchet blanket specialist - you know who you are --- creative word dreamer guy. c.w.d.g - looks like it could be short for cowdung mindyou.

design indaba superstar competition - late entry

2010-02-07T20:34:00.000-08:00

it seems i latched onto the entry to the design indaba superstar 2010 competition very late unfortunately . excitedly had my daughter take my pic yesterday as per the brief , got my erxell entry all ready - and found i was all dressed up and no where to go , cinders got both the glass slippers out this time. DANGIT!!!!

because i cant let my 10 year old daughter know all the fussing yesterday was for nothing, im uploading my pic and entry onto my blog anyway.

name Quinton J Damstra
age 39
born capetown SA
occupation Human Space Sculpture - HS2
how does this entry best describe you

the erxell concept welds several elements together which are very close to my heart. creating sustainable living platforms for folk across the financial spectrum. whilst importantly being able to put these folk at the same negotiating table. with the glass bead or erxell and the insatiable advertising appetite.
its a very mild form of the African fauvistic architecture i am currently exploring.

other african fauvistic architectural concepts are

1) earth branded architecture
2) perceived kinetic architecture

3) disintergration of perspective

4) architectural shadow projection

earth branded architecture - EBA a wildetect design concept.

2010-01-20T05:30:00.000-08:00

a building using the QJD logo as an earth branded architectural reference point of design departure - this shows strong wildetecture design ideals .

the end product is an outcome which cannot be carefully manicured by mans rigid accountant like design approach. the point of design departure makes the end product more dendromorphological. (dendromorphology) - this concept is pivotal when designing using the wildetect architectural design ideals.

considering the sculptural aspects of the architectural design process over the functional. man has long designed his way to the point of accountant controlled architecture. its the lipstick and lace that the style of wildetecture finds enticing and explores an expression for.