Project Overview

The Nordic Cuckoo Clock was a self generated project.

I was originally creating collages that featured a stylized bird
character I called ‘retro bird’. The collages had a 1970s’ style colour palette and combined old buttons with pages from vintage children's books.

The collages seemed to lend themselves to other applications.
I liked the quirkiness of the traditional cuckoo clock and decided to create a contemporary interpretation of this classic timepiece.

Organisation

Jo Melrose Design

Team

Jo Melrose is a Melbourne based designer who has developed a range of locally made sustainable home wares. Her formal background is in graphic design and illustration, and has recently branched out into product design.

Project Brief

Aesthetically, my designs are ‘retro-folk’ in style and use a fusion of time honored and easily recognized symbols combined with a rethinking of them and their applications. The ethos of the 70’s is easily seen in much of my work.

The Nordic Cuckoo Clock is a good example of taking something iconic and re-working it in a modern way as well as ensuring it aligned with sustainability principles. So while I wanted to create products that had a strong connection to the design aesthetic of the past, I also wanted to ensure that they projected the design future and could also be produced with minimal environmental impact.

Project Need

I took a novel approach to reworking the traditional cuckoo clock and giving it a modern twist so that it had the design qualities and environmental credentials people expect today.

Importantly, the Nordic Cuckoo Clock respects the original design and pays homage to its history, while allowing for a sense of fun and functionality in the piece.

The idea on which the clock is based, was to produce a contemporaneous and practical product that had synergy with icons from the past. I have self described the Nordic Cuckoo Clock as ‘retro-folk’ which reflects a 1970's aesthetic with the naivety and simplicity of folk art.

Design Challenge

There were several challenges for this project. One challenge was identifying the best manufacturing process that would not compromise the design intention, given the intricate nature of the clock. After researching various techniques, laser cutting appeared to be the most suitable.

Working closely with the laser cutters, I was able to ensure that the finished product was representative and true to my initial concept.

Sustainability

My approach to sustainability included sourcing materials that had genuine environmental credentials.

The hoop pine plywood used to create the Nordic Cuckoo Clock is sustainably grown, accredited and certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FCS) and has a Chain of Custody (CoC) Certification. The ‘Chain of Custody’ is an environmental certification system that ensures that there is an unbroken chain from a certified, sustainable forest, right through to the customer.

Using local suppliers and sourcing non toxic, environmentally friendly wood waxes and paints were also part of my approach to sustainability.