INDN 342: Render Development

After playing around with the design in the sketch process, I moved into modelling my design in 3D. The modelling process allows me to explore another dimension in a very quick and aesthetic way. This is really good, especially because I can then very easily iterate on the design further and further.

This is the first iteration of the design post-sketching. Note that the design has the fourth leg coming through the sheet metal. This started out this way in order to improve stability of the overall design, but I realised late that it wasn't very necessary. Another aspect of the design that I ended up considering more and putting some more time into was the legs of the stool.

The legs of the stool are ultimately and actually one of the most important features of the stool design. The legs allow the stools to interlock with each other, and become more than just a stool. The nature of the stools should allow for lots of different configurations, and that's really the interesting aspect about the stools that makes me like them.

One of the ideas about the stools that's come through recently is the way the stools feels very animal-like. One of the concepts for their quirkiness is to make them "Herd animals" and play on that idea a bit to get some more character into the designs. In many respects, the design of the stools reflects the way elephants and water buffalo interact with each other when they congregate or when they are on the move.

The aforementioned animals often hold onto each others tails when they are on the move or when they just want to be close to each other. The concept that I'm really trying to nail with my designs is the potential for a piece of furniture to be something a little bit more living and have a bit of character and a kind of "cuteness" to them. This way the chairs could see multiple iterations and multiple uses, encouraging users to experiment and play with the configurations that the stools can be in.

The full metal legged stools toy with the concept of having a single flowing "ribbon" of metal, as opposed to a potentially top-heavy design that might possibly not make a flowing contiguous connection to the ground it sits on. The design above looked at how an angle could possibly make the flow of the of the stool design a bit different.

This design looked at creating a another section of usable space, enabling the user to really utilise the spaces created in more obvious ways. This one could be a really cool design, however after considering the design a little bit, I realised that the design might allow the metal side to act as a spring, making it flex and bend a little more than it should really be allowed to do.