BA Product Design
Shervon Sarmiento
Crafting beautiful project outcomes which span a broad range of disciplines is something I pride myself in. I design to promote interaction, innovate solutions and deepen understanding of what the ever-changing world around us needs. A detail-oriented and self-improvement attitude helps me to design with empathy, strategy and discernment.
Kapwa
Kapwa embraces Filipino heritage, subtly introducing tradition through furniture whilst connecting to western audiences, using familiar materials.
This bench was made for the dinner table where its exposition is brought through the Filipino tradition 'Boodle Fight', fostering camaraderie and togetherness through a dining experience.
Kapwa forms an entry point to immersion in Filipino culture and craft, made to encourage interest and learning.
Steam bent rattan, and oak wood form the primary materials of the bench, assembled using domino tenons and dowels made from walnut.
Accompanying the bench are cushions hand-crafted from abaca textiles, a material sourced and woven by indigenous communities in the Philippines.
Rota
Rota is a smart home device designed to encourage positive postural habits when in a remote workspace. Developed through concept reviews in collaboration with Sky's industrial design team, Rota is pioneering a new approach to addressing musculoskeletal symptoms, derived from remote working.
Operating via Lidar camera, posture-related information is relayed to control the rotations of Rota's middle segment. Rota will respond in set time intervals, subtly prompting adjustments to the users posture, communicated through the severity of the segments' rotation. Integration of the Lidar camera, allows utilisation of Rota as the primary video input for virtual calling. Bluetooth function also enables Rota to pair with your devices and use virtual assistants via Matter protocol. A series of screws and press fit joints assemble the injection moulded components of Rota, manufactured from ABS plastic.
Rota's shape took faint inspiration from the top view of a vertebrae. The ridges were incorporated to create elegance and something users would appreciate to look at on their desk, whilst bringing more clarity to the misalignment of the segments.
Achieving alignment in all three segments creates a sense of gamification and satisfaction for the user, making the act of maintaining good posture interesting and enticing.