Welcome to my design portfolio. Items in the portfolio are published on their completion dates, and the complete collection can be browsed over in the Archives, by both category and date. Browsing by tag is available in the site footer.
My name is Bronwyn Boltwood, and I live in Chinatown in Ottawa, Canada. I’m a mature student in Algonquin College’s BAA of Interior Design program, class of 2011. After obtaining a bachelor degree in Humanities (Carleton University, class of 2001) and spending some years in the workforce, I admitted that I had always and still wanted to design buildings. I love making beautiful things, but I love even more to make things that work. I’ve tried related and unrelated fields, and design is the only work that will satisfy me. A little research showed that there was no way to do that without getting the appropriate credentials, so I dropped everything to go get them. Four months later I had my acceptance letter in hand.
While I’m doing this for me, I’m not only doing it for pleasure. It’s obvious that our planet and our bodies cannot cope with the conditions we are putting them in: look at the rise of food allergies and asthma, of toxins in animals; look at the mud outside your door when there should still be snow. Everyone says they’d like to save the world — I’m learning sustainable design so that I can actually do it.
I also want to work with heritage buildings. I love graceful old-fashioned style and want to keep our architectural history present, lived in, and loved by other people too. I also want to learn from them. Their builders sometimes knew better than us how to use sun, wind, and water, and we need to recover and build on that knowledge. We can’t afford to just throw oil at the problem anymore.
I am a natural writer who loves to work in plain English, and who has over a decade of writing experience in various settings and styles. I enjoy reading, researching, and writing. I am also a good presenter: my classmates usually appoint me group spokesperson.
On a more personal note I’m an unstoppable reader who goes through at least a few dozen books a year. Some of the authors that I love most are Robert A. Heinlein, Barry Hughart, Spider Robinson, Robin McKinley, Isaac Asimov, Melissa Scott, Neil Gaiman, and Garth Nix. My interests range all over the place, as I realized when writing up this list for you:
- History, especially archaeology, ancient history, cultural changes, and migrations of peoples.
- Science, technology and how they affect society. I’m better with applied science (such as technology) than pure; I can get a better grip on what it might do.
- Design of many kinds, including architecture, interior design, industrial design, web design, and interaction design.
- How we think and believe, leading me to psychology, cognitive science, and religion.
- Realms of imagination, as found in fairy tales, fantasy and science fiction, mythology, role-playing games, animé, and manga.
- Anything to do with making books, such as writing, typography, and graphic design.
- Art and music.
- Diverse arts and crafts, such as calligraphy, glassblowing, jewelry-making, origami, pottery, and woodwork.
