Some of the most pressing themes Dan Phillips presented in his talk were breaking conventions and disregarding expectations. If there is a cliché, Phillips tells us not to follow it because that is when the design fails. I found this very insightful because it in every aspect of life, society seems to follow major man-made constructs that are just unnecessary. The action Phillips takes on this issue is using the thrown away “stuff” that has blemish by removing things from landfills and letting them function in a building. I took away from this aspect of his work that an object still has a function, and the idea that certain blemishes make it unusable should be done away with so that we are not constantly wasting resources and doing harm to our planet in the process.

Phillip’s talk also made me think about the cause of waste. For every single thing we perceive and understand, there is a pre-existing archive of information that helps us identify each one. Because we go through data banks to categorize things into functioning and non-functioning, the objects that we see as not fulfilling their intended purposes are done away with and replaced by something that fulfills our expectations for that particular thing or situation. We generally strive for continuity and closure in all things, but Phillip’s art form rattles the expected pattern by using the deemed useless products that are rejected by the conventional constructs popular culture has built.

I liked Phillip’s work because it features blemishes and functions organically without the need to fulfill any expectations. I have always been taught to use the materials I have to create purposeful work, so I connected with Phillip’s and his resourceful methods. He doesn’t seem to force his resources and materials to fit the perfect idea of a house because he believes that we shouldn’t be living life according to what we are expected to do. Personally, I feel the need to break out of the conventions and clichés that lie between my ideas and the results of my creative process. I was encouraged to make my own decisions in my work, and attempt to reconnect with the primal parts of myself that drive me to create.