The Potala Palace in Tibet was the chief residence of the Dalai Lama until he fled to India after the Chinese invasion in 1959. The palace is built with the walls angled at five degrees to help withstand earthquakes.

A series of ten ceramic tiles with applied decoration that can be used to create text and signage by their various combinations. The aim was to to keep the number of different decorated tiles to a minimum so that manufacturing might become cheaper and stock in retail outlets easier to manage.

The tiles were developed in 2008.

My brief was originally to provide secure storage for the corridor areas of Brecknock school in Camden. It became obvious however that there was no need for secure lockers as these would cause new problems but instaed there was a need to help the primary school children respect each others belongings. This was achieved by providing each student with an individual locker that appeared to be a little home. The lockers could be personalised by displaying interests and name in the window and letter boxes in the front door of each locker opened new possibilities of posting each other letters.

Each locker in the school is unique. There are four variables of front door design, four colour ways for both body and door sections and seventy different designs of brass plaque showing the aspirational jobs of the school children and drawn by them.

Because of a lack of space around the school to put all this extra storage, the lockers were designed to be put everywhere. They can be stacked and bolted together, attached to the wall or under desk surfaces or even used as seating.

The home lockers were developed with an existing UK manufacturer called Helmsman. This collaboration not only meant that the design for the lockers was realistic and suitable for production, but also that the school was able to place an order for five hundred lockers when the project was finished. The design work was finished in 2005.

An important aspect of the home is that it doesn’t exist only in the present. A sense of home comes from how long we have been at a place and how long we plan to stay.

This is a child’s cupboard with a twelve-year lifespan, which aims to become a sentimental belonging. The child creates a visual diary over the course of their growing up, which will continue to be seen and enjoyed when the locker has grown beyond it. Every year the locker is moved up the backboard to the child’s height, which exposes a fresh section of white board inside the locker. The child will then naturally customise the inside of their locker until the time comes for it to move back up.

I plan to give my daughter Tilly the locker when she has finished growing and using it. I’ll get to keep her 12 year artwork.

Sentimental attachment is the holly grail of emotional focused design. I strive to achieve different ways that users might more strongly connect with objects through narrative, function, humor and assosiation, but these devices will never form a bond as strong as personal sentimentality. This is why I have tried to include the potential for new products to become sentimental through use.