New Time Wall Clocks // Materials: 100% Cotton Fibre, Metal, ABS / Product Design: Veronika Szalai / Photo: Péter Magyar / Date: 2015–2017
“Critical Design
With the help of speculative concepts critical design questions the social status quo. Taking into account current developments, the form of criticism extends to objects that have come about as part of dystopian scenarios. The projects presented here are targeted at creating awareness and adopting a stand. To do this, ideas are exaggerated, confronted, and reflected. Currently, we can see that the designs are devoted less to comprehensive, acute issues but rather contribute to a discourse on basic values and their possibilities of adapting to current social demands. AKG”
“New Time
The Budapest-based designer, Veronika Szalai, questions the perception and meaning of time in her project, New Time. The wall clock consists of cotton fibres, metal, and ABS (plastic). The clockwork is a quartz mechanism. The packaging design is borrowed from a bed cover so that when the product is first opened, an association is made with one’s sleeping environment – something that plays a considerable role in one’s rhythm of life. The design of the clock is individual as the malleable material remains in the condition dictated by the user. It can be crumpled, folded or pulled out smooth, while the basic function as a time marker remains intact. Visually, it often gives the impression of crumpled paper, reminiscent of discarded ideas and plans. This object brings the user’s attention to how he physically feels and interacts with his time.”
(Source: Form – Design and Energy / Design Magazine N°263, Jan/Feb 2016)
Veronika Szalai 