ABSTRACT
Surfaces play a prominent role in product design. Whether in the furrowing of a facial brow, the gesture of a hand-and-pencil expressing ideas on paper, in computational geometries visualised on-screen, or through materials curved and bent towards collective intentions, surfaces course and coalesce through bodies, clothing, media and environs. This chapter explores the work of a design studio and engineering workshop on the outskirts of Glasgow, Scotland, where a form was conceptualised for the Queen’s Baton for the XX Commonwealth Games. And – in dialogue with a music track featuring the stridulations of grasshoppers – reflections are made on how surfaces meet, correspond and cohere to foster communication and communality.
