Nine 2 Five

Design students are great at questioning convention and exploring new ideas, but too often their most innovative schemes never get any further than the drawing board. A unique program at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) was created to bring those great ideas to fruition. Called Working Class Studio, the program shepherds the best work of SCAD students, alumni and faculty through design, manufacturing and marketing. A perfect example is this stretchy clock designed by Charles Heydinger, who earned a graduate degree in furniture design this year.

Daily Grommet founder Jules Pieri discovered the clocks on a field trip to SCAD and couldn’t resist giving them a tug. They’re made from silicone rubber, so they’re flexible. Charles casts the clock pieces by hand in his plastics studio. His inspiration came from the melting clocks seen in the work of surrealist painter Salvador Dali, Charles says. He chose to highlight three numbers on the clock face — 9, 2, 5 — to play up our conventional workday hours in graphic typeface. You can stretch a 9-inch square clock into different organic shapes, up to 12 inches square, that are held in place with pegs. If you want a new look for a room, simply rearrange the rubber pegs, which conceal a standard drywall screw that you can twist by hand into place on your wall. It’s a clever, fun way to stretch your imagination.

— Ann