PARACIPHERS

Emma Scully Gallery, NYC

PARACIPHERS is a collectible design lamp fixture inspired by NASA’s wind tunnel parachutes. Within each parachute is a message encoded in binary around race and gender equity and the value of free expression. This piece was made in collaboration with Bec Brittain Studio in Queens, NY.

Skills Used: Graphic Design, Color Theory, Iterative Design Process, Illustrator, Solidworks, Aluminum Casting, Photoshop, Mechanical, Electrical, Product Design Engineering

PROJECT BRIEF: When brought on to work on the PARACIPHERs project, Bec had already designed the parachutes, but she needed a way to have allow them to float in the air and for that solution to be combined with a lighting fixture that illuminated them. This project consisted of my designing the aesthetic qualities of the base, in order to match her existing project vision, but also working on the mechanical and electrical parts of the system to ensure that the fan was quiet and able to sustain the parachute in the air.

Keeping with the brief, I began to work on the industrial design qualities of the project first. This included investigating the inspiration, and understanding the design language of Bec Brittain. Bec’s design language is filled with geometrical lines, even in unexpected places. Bec is a luxury lighting designer, so I frequently found that, despite how expensive the machining might be for hard right angles and sharp edges, Bec was willing to pay in order to bring her vision to life. In return, her clients were also willing to pay for these types of objects. The metallic parts of the release capsule were interesting to me, and I wanted to keep some of those elements in the work as I moved forward in the work.

There were many iterations of this work, which consisted of working to make sure the piece was easily manufactured, determining the material, understanding the electrical wiring, working with a laser cutting studio, 3d printing parts, and other rapid prototyping.

Research + Ideation + Inspiration

When trying to understand how to make the fan both powerful and quiet, I began with market research into existing products. I was able to find information duct fans, which, surprisingly, already had similar form to the base ideas. I was able to find existing information on the use of neoprene in the fan, exhaust structure, and how to place the fan within a shell to reduce the sound.

kh-how-to-choose-the-right-exhaust-fan-inline-image-1.gif

Prototyping + Iterating

We went through a serious of prototypes. This work started out in Solidworks, and then went on to foam core models, and mdf models with 3D printed parts. Not all prototypes are shown here. One of the major manufacturing constraints was that this needed to be done quickly in order to take initial photos for the gallery. The shape needed be made in a way that it could be spun without requiring additional tooling which would increase the cost and time for delivery.

Based on our timeline, we decided to scope out what it would be like if we made the initial pieces by hand. This initiated the idea that if we made the piece faceted, we could bend aluminum by hand, if it was thin enough. We also began to experiment with the fan’s speed using a step-down converter and neoprene foam.

Final

The final pieces were cast out of aluminum based on a mdf model that was built. The mdf model was created using a solidworks file that was paired down using Peppakura into a paper template. Our staff carpenter used the template to made the mdf model.