Upcycle Inspiration: Speaker Landscape
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For my upcycle project, I wanted to make use of a broken bluetooth speaker and make a landscape on top of it. My inspiration behind this project is when I kept seeing those miniature cities in movies, and I always wondered how cool they are on a large, 3-D scale. nb My original intent for…
Upcycle Inspiration: Spiral Staircase
As I mentioned in my last blog post, the base of my lamp is inspired by a spiral staircase. The spiral staircase I was directly inspired by was from a DIY (Do it yourself) video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd-Z7OTAjJ0, by Ben Uyeda on Facebook I saw a couple of months ago (You can find Ben Uyeda and his…
Upcycle Inspiration: Kintsugi
My first encounter with kintsugi was through a creator’s video on the subject matter. Nerdwriter1 is an amazing Youtube creator and storyteller who’s deep dive makes for ultra-interesting content. The video below gives the background on the origin of the aesthetic along with some great visuals and some deeper thought into the method. Mending the…
Upcycle Inspiration: Fabric
After thinking more about my up-cycling project, I decided to let the fabric inspire me into a sketch that makes it serve a purpose. While looking at the clothings I had, I felt the Sherpa jacket lining was begging me to reincarnate it as a polar bear. I then quickly started sketching the bear. I…
Upcycle progress/final report
In my last post, I mostly explained what a zoetrope is and briefly about why I chose the zoetrope over my other up-cycle project ideas. In this post I would like to document the process I went through to build the zoetrope. The reason I chose the zoetrope was due to my fascination of our…
Upcycle Inspiration
The inspiration for my upcycle project was born from necessity and the materials I had available to me. I originally knew that I wanted to turn this assignment into a project that I could use in my daily life. With this thought in mind, I decided I wanted to make a piece of furniture, either…
Upcycle Inspiration: Board Game
CAD Model of Jakaroo Board Game I love most kind of games and I’m addicted to any kind of board game. I started playing board games since I was 3 years old. I play with my friends, siblings, my parents, and my husband. I’m competitive in a good way ( I guess ) and it…
Upcycle Inspiration: Silverware Holder
[1] My main focus for this upcycle project was to build something useful that adds a beautiful touch to my kitchen. I really enjoy cooking and having an organized kitchen is really important to me. Therefore, I started to look at different upcycle projects and I was inspired by the amazing design shown in the…
10 Aesthetics Game
Today the teams played the Aesthetics Game. The names of artifacts and aesthetics were drawn at random from a hat, and teams then sketch versions of the resulting mashup. For examples of what happened see https://www.aesdes.org/category/student-work/2016/aesthetics-game/ The popular favorite was the Disney Princess Flathead Screwdriver Lecture notes: 10 Aesthetics GameDownload
UpCycle Inspiration: Bright Board 2.0
My initial thought process for my project started with me looking around my room for something that I could re purpose into a cool design. I definitely wanted to focus on the design over the function for this project so that gave me the liberty to make just about anything. I am currently working on…
Upcycle Inspo
The inspiration for my project came mostly from the materials I had. It is interesting to think back on the project because I never really had that “ah ha!” moment when searching for ideas. I knew which materials I wanted to use and my inspiration more or less came from there. I then researched industrial…
Upcycle Project Inspiration
For my up-cycle project, I’m making a I was inspired by lots of different examples of parametric design I had seen on the internet, but this light fixture designed by a studio called Path caught my eye. It looked like a technique I could replicate with my own design, and I could easily incorporate my…
Upcycle Inspiration
I was inspired by many kinds of aesthetics that I saw as I was growing up in California. Because of the touristy nature of California in general, I saw many types of “Beachy art”. These types of art pieces often incorporated shells of some type as well as different types of seaglass and driftwood. These…
Upcycle: Safety Glove for the cutting. Inspiration
My inspiration from my brainstorming process. I thought about what I do and what I need for that. My biggest hobby is cooking so I thought what do I need for that. And I always wanted a glove that can quickly wear on and off and keep my fingers safe from knife and spices because…
Insect Inspirations
With this upcycling project I had no specific inspirations, in terms of what motivated me to chose this sculpture topic and style, other than the constraints of the materials I had available to me, and some discussions with friends about what I could do with said materials. However, as I’ve progressed with the construction of…
Aesthetic Game: Martial Arts Bicycle (Xavier, Tyler, Evan)
For this Aesthetic Game, our team ended up with the aesthetic of martial arts and a bicycle as the object. Together we came up with three separate designs as you can see below. The design we have above is based primarily on the classic Kung Fu kick pose that is fairly well known and requires…
Aesthetics Game – Punk Outboard Motor
Aesthetic: Punk Object: Outboard Motor (boat motor) Authors: Jack Plantz, Rachel Bork, Ellie Pearson
Aesthetics Game – Qipao Footwear
Contributors Include: Clare Bork, Hadeel Al Gallaf, and Shen Shu We were assigned with choosing an aesthetic and figuring out what it represented. For our group, we chose Chinese Qipao and Footwear. We chose to design a collette heel with floral patterns, a sneaker with flowers, and a sandal that had curved edges. Overall, we…
Aesthetics Game: Art Deco Shelving Unit
For the Aesthetic game in class we were assigned to create a sketch of a shelving unit created with the art deco aesthetic. In order to do this, we took inspiration from buildings that were created in the art deco style such as the empire state building. To do this, we created a single unit…
Aesthetic Game: Team 8
Team 8: Luke, Shalil, and Josh For this game we picked out 2 slips of paper; one with an aesthetic and one with an object. The papers we picked were “Las Vegas Casino” and “Cafe Chair and Table Set”. The first idea we had was a cafe scene with a chair made to look like…
Andrew and Aziz Aesthetics Theme Game
We received shoe horn and Japanese motorcycles for our object and aesthetic. For this post, we will discuss how we designed our shoe horn with this aesthetic in mind and what our final product will look like We started by looking at how we could incorporate the motorcycle into our design more literally than figuratively.…
Flat -Head Princess
This aesthetic came from the combination of a screwdriver and Disney princesses. This specific design was created by Tyler Cagle and is basically a screwdriver dressed in a princesses outfit. Conrad Trybus had a very similar design to Tyler’s but we chose to use Tyler’s design for the blog post. My design consisted of a…
Team 1 Aesthetics Game
Our team, comprised of Max Buechler, Yousef AlQattan, and Abdulrahman Alnoaim, was given the object of a bedside table with the aesthetic of Telefoni Bianchi. The design of this mashup that we came up with can be seen below: This aesthetic comes from a style of Italian movies from the 1930’s. These movies captured the…
Aesthetics Game: Novelty Architecture/Dog Leash and Collar
For the aesthetics game, my team and I received novelty architecture as our aesthetic and dog leash and collar for our object. With this, we decided to create a dog park that has a ‘dog collar’ as the surrounding fence. The buckle of the collar acts as the gate into the dog park. My team/authors:…
Dannie, Fatema, Chris (Team 7) Aesthetics Game
Our aesthetic was country, western cowboy and our object was men’s winter coat. Our first design is shown above on the right. It features a built in red bandana, holster, and hat on the hood. Next, the design in the middle has a cow print and a built in bolo tie with big, red buckle.…
Upcycle Inspiration: Pennies
As the years drag on, the value of a penny has increasingly gone down as natural inflation decreases the value of a note. In the 1950’s a penny had value and was commonly used in transactions. Today however, if given three cents back in change, many people will not take it or just donate it…
Upcycle Inspiration: Fire Pit
For my upcycle project, I am making a fire pit out of cardboard. I got my inspiration from all the time I spent this summer around the fire with my friends, and my general affinity for fires. After looking at all the circular designs online, and realizing it would be impossible to print these shapes,…
UpCycle Inspiration/Progress
The post that I made last week spoke a little about my progress in decision making, but more about my inspiration. Referencing my previous post, my inspiration spurred from a steampunk aesthetic. Being a mechanical engineer, gears and mechanical components as a form of interior design seems fascinating. As a result, I decided to incorporate…
Upcycle Inspiration
The inspiration for my upcycle project came from these light projectors. Specifically, the green light shown above on the left. I have a family friend that uses one of these inside his home, right when you enter the house, so it looks like a cool, night sky scene. I have always loved the way the…
Upcycle Inspiration
As I discussed in my previous blog posts my inspiration behind my upcycle project is based on this T-shirt. My product will most likely just be a plain white tee with a white draw string. I am most likely going to sew from the outside of the shirt because I am into the urban type…
Upcycle Progress
Source: https://www.delish.com/entertaining/g3815/upcycle-beer-bottles-diy-projects/?slide=1 My First post was about my thinking process about this project. After thinking a lot. I decided to use some o the bottles I have as flower vases. This idea I found while searching for innovations for utilizing empty bottles. Also, I am planing to add some decorations to the bottles such as…
Upcycling Final Report
My vision for this project was to make something that I could use every day. The expectation for something that I put my time into is that it must be something that I can either build off of, or learn from. My artistic vision was an item that would incorporate more than two materials. Most…
Up-cycle Progress: Inspiration
The inspiration of this project came from my house key. I was fumbling around with where to put it in my room, and came across my cable holder and a cork. I started brainstorming and flipping through pins on Pinterest to find projects that people had done with corks for keys or reminders. The two…
09 Upcycle Specs and Perspective Sketching
Today we went over the explicit expectations for final documentation of the Upcycle project: presentations and next week’s blog post. Then we went over basic use of vanishing points in 1, 2 and 3 point perspective, starting with cubes, of course. 09 Upcycle specs, Perspective sketching
Up-cycle Project : Inspiration and Progress Report
This blog post is supposed to be about my inspiration for the up-cycle project. But since I described that process in my last blog post I am going to focus on the progress I have made since that post. Project Background: If you haven’t read my last post, the general idea is that I am…
Movie Night: Helvetica
Our first movie night will feature Helvetica, a movie about the impact of the most widely-used modern font. Yes, an entire feature-length film about a font. One font. A font which you have to pay to use (unless you have a mac, in which case you are already paying to use it). The film documents…
Upcycle Progress: Kintsugi
Kintsugi is a pottery technique that glorifies imperfection and embraces the cracks that bring us together. The art-form dates back to the Japanese shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa, who sent sent a piece of pottery back to China to be repaired. After the piece return, lackluster held together with only staples, he decided to have it mended…
Up-cycle Progress: Jewelry from a mug
For my up-cycle project I wanted to find a way to repurpose one of my favorite mugs I recently broke. I did some research, and found a bunch of projects where broken porcelain was repurposed into jewelry. Shown in the images below. For my own design I chose some pieces of the cup that were…
08 Teams
We listened to my favorite wisdom on teamwork, from This American Life, and then the teams all met for the first time. The TAL episode focused on the work of Will Felps, now a professor of business at the University of New South Wales. During his PhD thesis in 2006 or so, he found ‘bad…
Upcycle Progress: My Design Process
This is my upcycle design process. My way of thinking is that this project require a lot of research. The challenge of finding an idea which posses three conditions. First, it has to be aesthetic. Second, I have the skills to accomplish the plan. Finally, I should have most of the product materials. I built…
Upcycle Process: Safety glove for cutting in kitchen
I started brainstorming with thinking what I need first and think about if it is doable by upcycle. And, here is the flow chart. I love to cook so I cut a lot of vegetables. While cutting vegetables, such as garlic or pepper, I always hated the smell and the spiciness stuck on my fingers.…
Upcycle Progress: Patterns of Circles
I was considering repetitious use of circular designs in my sketches. Also there is a possibility of using the bottoms of the water bottles as flowers. I had envisioned an upcycling project that would use either water bottles or these 3-inch dia. lids in repetition to make a sculpture. There’s a caveat when it comes…
Upcycle Progress: Ideation & Materials
To begin this project I thought about which material I wanted to use. I wanted something that gave me a lot room for creativity and didn’t push me into a certain style. I also thought about what functionality do I want to get out of this project and not make something that has no purpose…
Upcycle Progress/ Design Process
The design process that I took for this project so far is pretty standard. As you can see in the image of my flowchart below, I began by looking at the upcycle project that was assigned. I then began brainstorming ideas that involved what kind of materials I should use, what kind of function will…
Upcycle Progress: Layers
I was very intrigued when I heard the first project we would be working on was going to involve upcycling. Upcycling is the process of creating something out of waste materials or products for a better purpose. I thought this challenge would be fun since it puts constraints on what materials we are allowed to…
Upcycle Progress: Wall Mount Piece
Multiple Sketches for Further Conceptualization More Detailed Skateboard Mount Guitar Experimentation I have not completely decided on a final project to get working on but I have a far greater understanding of how I will achieve my aesthetic goals as I sketch more and more. I am currently considering the different applications of reused guitars…
Upcycling Paper Towel Cardboard Tubes
As a warm up assignment we are recycling low value waste into aesthetic pleasing objects. Deciding what to do isn’t always easy however for me this time around it was simpler than in the past. Over the winter break I read “Creative Confidence” by David and Tom Kelley ( I highly recommend it to anyone…
Upcycle Progress: Drawer
Design Process: Available Materials: due to the requirement of the assignment, my first concern was what materials do I have in my disposal that can be used. Since I have amazon prime and being lazy, I end up with a lot of shipping boxes. 2) Brainstorming: my biggest concern in this step was to come up with as many ideas as possible. However, the option to build something out of card boxed are endless. Thus, i have decided to do something that would be useful. 3) Objective of product: after coming up with multiple ideas, I have decided to do a drawer because it was something I wanted to buy for my apartment and doing this project will save me money. So two birds…
Upcycle Progress: Board Game
My family is coming for my graduation and I decided to make a board game for them. It’s called Jakaroo and it’s a really good game. I decided to go with acrylic instead of wood because it’s lighter and it will take less time in the laser cutter. I got the acrylic sheet and it’s…
Upcycle Progress: Silverware Holder
Cutlery holder by Bianca Barreto and Sueli Pacci [1] For my upcycle project, it took me a while to decide what I am going to design. I am interested and focused on making something out of the stuff I have in my kitchen since I find cooking as a hobby and having an organized kitchen…
Upcycle Progress / Design Process
Here is a block/bubble diagram representation of my upcycle project design process. The rectangular blocks represent more defined portions and the round bubbles are more obscure. I’ll walk you through my journey so far. The assignment. Pretty straightforward. We are tasked with creating something out of something less good. It must be reasonably sized. Frugality…
Upcycle Progress: 3D Product Design Sketch
To recap my ideation process so far: I started out with no idea what I wanted to do. In an in-class sketching brainstorm, I decided to think ideate with toothpicks in mind as a material. I started coming up with ideas related to toothpicks, teeth, icepicks, and trees. Of the 3, I liked the idea…
Upcycle progress: Helmet Decoration
I didn’t know what I wanted to do for this project until today, when I saw my friend’s abandoned helmet in my garage. My friend was into racing his car when he was studying at CU he eventually graduated and went back to China. The helmet is still in OK shape but the mechanism that…
Upcycle Progress 2019
A lot of my project so far has consisted of paying more attention to my surrounds and available material. We have a program at my work where we take the hard to recycle materials and bring it to the CHARM facility here in Boulder. Because of this, I’m currently loaded with charger cables, plastic bags,…
Upcycle Progress: Fabric
Brainstorming an idea for this assignment was one of the hardest processes I’ve done in the past few years. I have abandoned my creative parts of my mind for a long time. One of the reasons that made me enroll in this course is to nourish my creativity. I was lost, I didn’t know where…
Up-Cycle Progress: Power Line Insulator Lamp
When considering what material to use for my up-cycle project, the first thing to come to mind was a power line insulator. During my grandfather’s career in the power industry, he acquired a decent sized collection of retired insulators that have yet to been put to use. Additionally, I have always been intrigued by the…
Upcycle Progress – Wood Veneer Scraps
For my upcycle project I’ll be using scraps of wood veneer from a custom ski shop I used to work at in my home town of Telluride, CO. Wagner skis creates custom designed skis, and customers have the option to have a wood veneer as the top sheet for their ski. About 12 – 16…
Upcycle Progress: Cardboard Lamp
For this project I knew what object I wanted to create, but I did not know what I wanted to make it out of. To determine what I was going to make it out of I used my go-to design-process. This process always begins with an initial idea and I then ask other people for…
Upcycle Progress
My upcycle project is still in the works design-wise, but a great deal of my design process has centered around the materials that I intend on using. My cheap-o wooden IKEA bed frame recently gave up the ghost, and with its passing came loads of recyclable materials. Primarily, I’m interested in its plywood slats and…
Upcycle Project – Colorado Flag
Being born and raised in Colorado I have always had a general obsession for the Colorado flag. I love its colors and the uniqueness of it compared to many other states. Ever since I’ve lived in my own place I’ve had at least one Colorado flag hanging on the wall so my idea for an…
Upcycle Progress: Miniature Landscape
I have always been interested in miniature-style art. I have seen it a lot in both movies and in real life. One thing that I always been interested in is when major companies have 3D models of miniature cities. This really caught my eye because it is really interesting that those companies use these models…
Upcycle Progress: LEGO Mosaic
Originally having no idea on what to do for the upcycle project I struggled trying to figure out what to create. While thinking about this I was focusing on the final product, what do I want to make? Then the idea of using LEGOs was brought to my attention. LEGOs are a very versatile material…
Upcycle Progress: Leftover Cardboard
It took me a while to decide what material I was going to use for my upcycle project, but I think I have finally found the material I am going to use. It is abundant and easy to work with, and it’s my leftover Blue Apron boxes I’ve been saving for the past few months.…
Up-cycle Project
The biggest challenge in starting the design for my up-cycle project is trying to figure out what material I want to use to create the project and what it is that I want to make. I began by walking around my apartment trying to figure out what material I had that could be transformed into…
07 Process and Sketching
We talked a bit more about individual design processes, and looked at traditional industrial design sketches; how they vary through the design process. Ended with a bit of sketch practice, starting with straight lines, circles and ellipses. 07 Process and sketching lecture notesDownload
Upcycle Project: Zoetrope
I have spent sometime thinking of what I wanted to make for my upcycle project. What I knew was that I wanted something which involved something I learned here as a mechanical engineer. I remembered seeing a toy which had a small circular platform, had evenly spaced slits on it’s top with still images of…
Wine Bottle Holder
I was throwing a lot of ideas around about what I should create for the upcycle project. I knew I had and an old wood palette in my backyard and I thought that would be a good idea to put that to use. The wood has a dark color to it, it looks kind of…
Upcycle Progress: Beer Can Furniture
It took me a while to come up with an idea for this upcycle project. I looked around my apartment trying to find a lot of unused material that I could use to make a project with. I came to the realization that I have a lot of trash. More specifically, I have a ton…
Aesthetic Exploration: Steampunk
Steampunk can be most closely described as a mixture between industrial steam-powered machinery and 19th century British Victorian style. It is a very striking and recognizable aesthetic often envisioned coming from an alternate timeline in which the modern era never made the switch from steam to internal combustion engines. Credit: Omar BrentCredit: Getty ImagesCredit: ILeatherCraft…
Upcycle Progress: Mechanical Countdown Calendar
For my Upcycle Project, I am making a device that will allow the user to countdown days, much like an advent calendar or a countdown clock, but with far less utility. The basic design will have a spring, similar to the leaf spring on a vehicle. This will be bent back and connected to a…