Project Description
This is my historical aesthetic upcycling project! I chose to build a lamp based on the aesthetic of futuristic decoration and furniture design of the 1940’s to 1970’s. During this time, in primarily the United States, Western Europe, and the USSR, World War Two, the Space Race, and other technological developments of the time led to creative visions of a highly advanced future. These visions became depicted in films and TV like Star Trek and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Designers and architects like Charles and Ray Eames and Dieter Rams created designs for furniture, interior designs, and technological products reflective of these ideas.
This project involved design, modeling, and manufacturing techniques all centered on the goal of an aesthetic. All manufactured pieces were custom fitted to and hidden by upcycled components.
Project Posts
Here’s the finalized structure of the piece and a photo collage of how it all assembles. I feel like I learned a lot about material tolerances and 3D printing geometry trying to get all of the pieces to be a tight custom fit with the upcycled components. Overall I think it turned out quite well. Not shown here: LED strips on insides of colanders. Flow cog added because this post is supposed to show the design intent of the 3D printed support structures since they are hidden in the final assembly.
I began with these materials acquired at a thrift store: a small bowl, two colanders, and a lamp with no shade. The organic shapes of the lamp and the painted and unpainted metal of the colanders match the mid century futurism aesthetic very well.
My next steps would be creating supports for the bowl and colanders in CAD to be 3D printed. These supports will hold the shade elements up and provide a central path for the led wiring to go, all while remaining hidden to preserve the aesthetic.
Manufacturing was relatively simple in this build as most of the work had been put towards the design end to achieve a futuristic look with minimally altered base materials.
The 3D printed elements are purely structural as they are hidden when the lamp is constructed.
The colanders both needed their bottom stands and handles removed to leave only the dome shape. Then the small colander and small bowl needed 1.25in diameter holes drilled straight through their tops.
The quality of the print is very important for tolerances when the upcycled components are to attach and to ensure that there is room left for wiring. With minimal post processing (sanding, filing) the prints came out to high enough quality.
I Began with the selection of Mid-Century Futurism. My design changed a lot from my original sketches but I was okay with this pivot as it seems to really accentuate the upcycled components. Many reactions I got to the final product had something to do with “aliens”, “retro”, or “futuristic” so I feel that I have achieved the aesthetic I sought after.
