My final project has been difficult for me to figure out. There are so many possibilities that I am struggling to make design constraints to brainstorm within. I want to take inspiration from well thought out engineering, simple yet elegant. I want to make something that I can use every day, not something that will just hang on a wall like my upcycling project. I think I want to go with a more minimalistic approach with primarily organic shapes and few elements.
I have really always liked the look of machined or welded aluminum, and it is a medium I have never worked with. I also think that this material would complement the minimalist aesthetic well because it is relatively easy to polish and has a nice sheen that isn’t too bright. I have thought about building a car part or something storage related like a pencil holder, but I am not sure how to make it dynamic.
I have also considered using other mediums like wood or titanium because they both have aesthetically appealing surface finishes. However, I want to primarily construct my final project from one material. I think it would be really cool to mill something out of an interesting chunk of driftwood, like a bowl or an organization device for my tools. I could even use urethane to fill in the cracks so the final product could be watertight. Again, I would want to create smooth flowing lines and minimal features throughout the piece, not only to make it less liable of breaking, but also to stay within the minimalist aesthetic. I still have a lot to figure out with my final project, but I would really appreciate your suggestions on what you think would be interesting yet useful.
Picture 2: https://www.quickmachine.hk/aluminum-machining-pl43.html
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Hey Zack, I think this is a good start for your project. I always like the idea of using wood as the material when going for a minimalist aesthetic, because you can create super simple and refined forms while the wood grain still gives you something interesting to look at. Maybe just building a nice wooden box or some folding device could be cool. Best of luck choosing an idea!
Thank you for your support, I also really like the look of wood grain and I would really like to use it for my final product. I am still trying to determine a good way of manufacturing something with the curves and shapes I would want. I will keep thinking about what will be the next step in this project.
Zack,
I think your idea to use one material to demonstrate the minimalist aesthetic is a great starting point. Some suggestions to make your project dynamic could be to add some lights to make some sort of under glow. Also, if you are aiming to make a storage device you could make it rotate in some way to also make it dynamic. Just suggestions, but I hope you figure out what you want to do.
Hi Hunter, I think your idea of adding lights would be really cool for anything storage related. I would like to incorporate something with RGB LED lights so that I could change the color to match the rest of my room. Thank you for your suggestions!