SEED

Fixture Redesign for Bec Brittain Studio

Skills Used: Iterative Design Process, Solidworks, 3D Printing, Rapid Prototyping, Glass Mold Design

PROJECT BRIEF:

Seed was designed in 2014 by Bec Britain Studio. The manufacturing and selling of the piece was quickly given to another lighting design studio that was larger and had more resources to produce such a complex piece. This studio was Roll & Hill. Roll and Hill manufactured and sold the Seed fixture and its variants until 2022. In 2022, the glass manufacturer, previously in Poland, decided the glass was too difficult and costly to make, and no longer wanted to make the product. Roll & Hill, who had previously had issues with manufacturing the parts, and hiring skilled labor to make the piece decided to no longer make the fixture after receiving this news. In 2023, Bec Brittain Studio set out to find a way to create this product while reducing some of the previous issues.

The two main points of concern:

1. Redesigning the crystal glass to reduce the overall cost, and the need for more skilled labor to create each glass piece.

2. Creating joints that were sturdy enough, so that when attaching the pieces, Loctite was not needed. Without using Loctite or one of the welding glues, the overall pieces would sag.

REDESIGNING THE GLASS

When redesigning the glass, I found 3 vendors to give us cost estimates, and walk us through their rationale on pricing. Each vendor was selected with a different quality in mind:

• Vendor A - proximity to Bec Brittain’s studio, which would help us build a better rapport, and reduce shipping costs

• Vendor B - a longtime friend and collaborator, who we could trust to get the project done

• Vendor C - a veteran in the industry who has the tools and expertise to make the glass quickly and correctly

Each Vendor specified that the sharp edges on the glass, and the complexity of the geometry of the glass, and the low quantity of glass pieces needed, were factors contributing to the overall cost.

• Vendor A: $465 per glass piece ($135 extra for the cold-working needed to get the edges sharp) , and $1780 for the glass mold

• Vendor B: $389 per glass piece (No extra cost for cold-working) , and $1500 for the glass mold

• Vendor C: $786 per glass piece (Cold-working included), and $2200 for the glass mold

After getting initial quotes, we worked to redesign the glass piece to reduce the complexity of the geometry. This included making the piece rotationally symmetrical, this would mean that the mold could be made in two halves, instead of a 3 piece mold, and allowing the piece to come out of the mold with radii of .125 inch, which was as sharp as possible, without the chance of an edge breaking.

CREATING STURDY JOINTS

Previous Design

New Design