As a design intern at VERITAS, I spearheaded a collaboration with Royal Selangor (+) for a collection of pewter products. For the three weeks while I was there, I worked on concept generation, design, 3D modelling, and prototyping the collection. After I left, the companies will take on the project to bring the collection into the product development, production, and sales cycles. I will act as an ad hoc consultant during this period.
The collection is a set of luxury bathroom products based on the Malayan tiger, the currently-endangered national animal of Malaysia. Some of the sales proceeds will be donated to MyCat, a fund for the Malayan tiger. The collection draws inspiration from the fluidity of the tiger's form and movement. Though large and bulky, tigers still move with grace. The organic shapes of the items are inspired by the flowing tiger form, while the filaments in the design are inspired by the intricate pelage of the tiger. The five items in the collection consist of a soap dish, a reed diffuser, a soap dispenser, a votive holder, and a storage jar. Each item will comprise a glass vessel encased in a pewter sleeve.
When I first was offered this project, I jumped at the opportunity, but I knew quite little about Malaysia, the Malayan tiger, and pewter. Nor about trends in the bathroom products industry, for that matter. I thus began the project with a research phase. I was invited to the Royal Selangor headquarters and was able to tour the museum and the facilities, learning about how pewter products were formed and about the different types of pewter. This supplemented what I learned from my manufacturing class the semester before, and I was pleased to see that I could apply what I knew about casting and molding as I took in the factory.
I also did research into the Malayan tiger, as I wanted to be able to reconcile the image of a tiger with a collection of bathroom products without seeming contrived. For me, the fluidity of the tiger's form lent itself well to the sleekness of a luxury collection, but it seemed like a stretch. I wanted to make sure that there was another unifying factor to the product line so that it did not fall short. Through research, I found it: because of Malaysia's heat, the tigers spend quite a lot of the time in water, playing in it and cooling off. There was the connection, and thus, the collection had meaning.
The design process of the collection involved initial research, paper sketches, and CAD experimentation. I filled pages of my notebook with ideas, doodles, and sketches, and then took to Onshape to model those sketches in CAD. At each stage in the design process, I printed miniature CAD models to show both the clients and users around the firm. I wanted to make sure I got the form right, as the function here was already given. Here are a couple of photos of some 3D-printed prototypes.
The collection is a set of luxury bathroom products based on the Malayan tiger, the currently-endangered national animal of Malaysia. Some of the sales proceeds will be donated to MyCat, a fund for the Malayan tiger. The collection draws inspiration from the fluidity of the tiger's form and movement. Though large and bulky, tigers still move with grace. The organic shapes of the items are inspired by the flowing tiger form, while the filaments in the design are inspired by the intricate pelage of the tiger. The five items in the collection consist of a soap dish, a reed diffuser, a soap dispenser, a votive holder, and a storage jar. Each item will comprise a glass vessel encased in a pewter sleeve.
When I first was offered this project, I jumped at the opportunity, but I knew quite little about Malaysia, the Malayan tiger, and pewter. Nor about trends in the bathroom products industry, for that matter. I thus began the project with a research phase. I was invited to the Royal Selangor headquarters and was able to tour the museum and the facilities, learning about how pewter products were formed and about the different types of pewter. This supplemented what I learned from my manufacturing class the semester before, and I was pleased to see that I could apply what I knew about casting and molding as I took in the factory.
I also did research into the Malayan tiger, as I wanted to be able to reconcile the image of a tiger with a collection of bathroom products without seeming contrived. For me, the fluidity of the tiger's form lent itself well to the sleekness of a luxury collection, but it seemed like a stretch. I wanted to make sure that there was another unifying factor to the product line so that it did not fall short. Through research, I found it: because of Malaysia's heat, the tigers spend quite a lot of the time in water, playing in it and cooling off. There was the connection, and thus, the collection had meaning.
The design process of the collection involved initial research, paper sketches, and CAD experimentation. I filled pages of my notebook with ideas, doodles, and sketches, and then took to Onshape to model those sketches in CAD. At each stage in the design process, I printed miniature CAD models to show both the clients and users around the firm. I wanted to make sure I got the form right, as the function here was already given. Here are a couple of photos of some 3D-printed prototypes.
The printed prototypes allowed me to learn about user interaction in ways that I wouldn't have been able to guess from a piece of paper or computer screen. For example, though the soap dish was smooth to the touch and many liked the form factor, it was only considered light because it was printed in half size, and in plastic, not pewter. A solid pewter soap dish would be quite heavy and unnecessarily wasteful. Throughout the process, I learned from client and user feedback and the shapes began an evolution: from more obvious inspirations of a tiger form to something more abstract, from stripes that were just accentuating the form to stripes that became the form. Each iteration gave the product a more elegant, refined stroke.
In addition to creating the CAD models and renderings and 3D-printed prototypes, I also created mockup ads for the marketing campaign and animated presentations for client meetings with the CEO of VERITAS and the CEO of Royal Selangor.
Here is a snapshot of the collection.
In addition to creating the CAD models and renderings and 3D-printed prototypes, I also created mockup ads for the marketing campaign and animated presentations for client meetings with the CEO of VERITAS and the CEO of Royal Selangor.
Here is a snapshot of the collection.
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