Here are my sketches inspired by the images below, eventually me/ the group will have to choose one design to be made for the final room.

Lighting/ Wall lighting

So I've got to research and design the wall lighting for Ivan's rooms. As a man conscious of the look of his house and being quite picky about it I think all the lights would be the same, that should make the design and making process easier. Being a wealthy man I'm also guessing that he would have been up to date with technology and through my brief research I have found out that Kerosine lamps where being used in the USA and Europe mainly Poland as early as 1850 therefore I think its safe to say by 1880 they would have been fairly popular all over Europe...soo Kerosene Lamps it is.

So from the book Iv gathered that Ivan was a wealthy man but he liked to buy cheap things that looked expensive, and i think because this was fairly new technology at the time he would have had elaborate looking structures but not over the top.

All of these are examples of European 19th century kerosene lamps so I think this a good place to get my inspiration from when designing my wall lighting. I want to try and incorporate elements of all of them in my designs. I want an ornate but not too elaborate look combined with practical for example the mirror that reflects light that would hit the wall back out into the room.

Vulture - http://www.bilerico.com/2010/11/Red-headed_vulture.jpg (accessed 19/03/2011)

Raven - http://www.benrey.com/birds/raven.gif (accessed 19/3/2011)

girl - http://www.barnorama.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/0111.jpg (accessed 19/3/2011)

boy - http://www.lovehkfilm.com/panasia/aj6293/ju_on_2_a.jpg (accessed 19/3/2011)

mood board

Snippets of information for the mood board:

Russian folk culture depicts the soul either as small and childlike, or having wings and flying.

A person who dies in his or her old age surrounded by family died a “good” death, a death that was “their own.” They depart when God says they should. A person who dies a “bad” death, or a death “not their own,” died too soon before the time God assigned them. These persons might have been murdered, committed suicide, died of illness, or in war.

smell of incense, the dead body and carbolic acid’

Death!

So iv been given the subject of death to look at for our initial research and need to make a mood board. Iv read the story and have got a couple of ideas about how I would like to represent death within our rooms.

I want to use a changing screen to represent as a metaphor for the mental screens that Ivan mentions at one point in the story.

I also want to use the quote:

' new screens were found for a while seemed to save him, but then they immediately fell to pieces or rather became transparent, as if *it* penetrate them and nothing could veil *it* '

I want to combine the screen and the idea of *it* being able to penetrate anything by creating some form 'whole'/ crack/ gap covered by some sort of lace (which is mentioned in the first chapter at the funeral, all the women wear a lace 'head dress' I can't remember what its called).

Im going to put together some sketches for my mood board in order to better represent this concept.