HU | BHSAD, BA (HONS) PRODUCT DESIGN L.4
TABLE&CHANDELIER
LABBOOK BY _ FAINA IASEN
PROJECT BY _ FAINA IASEN | MONICA RAMILISON | VARVARA ANISIMOVA
let's get started
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Phase 1. Inspiration
/ɪnspɪˈreɪʃ(ə)n/
the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.
CREATIVITY | MOTIVATION | IMAGINATION
Source of inspiration After we were asked to pick one source of inspiration from nature, our team decided to go with something unconventional. Something you don't think of when you hear the word "nature".
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So we decided to go inside the human body. bones blood vessels internal organs limbs structure
human brain blood system cells neurons!!!
We chose neurons ( nerve cells tath are electrically excitable cells that receive, process and transmit information through electrical and chemical signals) not only because of their aesthetical appearance but mostly because of their function.
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Phase 2. Exploration
/ɛkspləˈreɪʃ(ə)n
the action of exploring an unfamiliar area; a thorough examination of a subject.
INVESTIGATION | STUDY | RESEARCH
Some of the sketches we made looking for ideas to draw from neurons, their shapes and connections.
The neurons do not really have a particular shape but are usually depicted as cells with a number of "arms" spreading from the core.
Through these "tentacles" they connect to each other and transfer signal directed from the brain to all of the parts of human body.
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In case of a dining table, several types of connections can be seen: The connection between the people around the table The connection between people and food The connection between the acts of cooking food and eating it The physical connection between the tableware, cutlery and the surface of the table The waiter and the guests, if talking about a restaurant The table's appearance and the interior of the room
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We had several ideas of how to entwine this information in our design. Here are some of them: A table that gives you hints as to where to place what/which knife  to use for what dish whilst in a restaurant A table that gives you a hand in cooking A table that connects people sitting around it physically in some way A table that lights up and sends waves of colours from one person to another whilst they're conversing A table with a chandelier that light you up when it is your time to speak, so people pay attention to what you're saying
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Phase 3. Experimentation
/ɪkspɛrɪmɛnˈteɪʃ(ə)n/
the action or process of trying out new ideas, methods, or activities
TESTING | TRIAL & ERROR | TRY OUT
Some mathematical calculations and practical geometry for the sake of study.I've done it in Rhino since it allows for precision and geometrical accuracy.
The ellipse represents the table and the circles depict people sitting around the said table. Lines divide the surface of the table in equal parts.
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The conclusions drawn: The optimal personal space for a person at the dining table - 50x50cm; Elips is the best shape to sit down 6 people for them to be able to comfortably communicate with each other; The space in the centre of an ellipse-shaped that is not used is not in the shape of an ellipse - it's more like a star; The space in the centre should either easily reached by everyone or not used for practical purposes at all & and used for decoration.
STOP SKETCHING & GET TO MODELING! DANIEL
IN MAYA... TOPOLOGY IS THE KEY. DANIEL
Topology. 1'st attempt.
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I started with a single hexagon. Which, from the beginning wasn't the greatest idea as it consists of triangles. And triangles aren't good for topology. They screw up some of the tools & modifications and break the flow.
After that, I multiplied it by the number of people we intended for the table and added one more for the central piece. Then, I connected them and adjusted for each person to have enough space according to our calculations.
Next step was to bridge all of the edges facing each other. That way I got a surface that would serve as a starting point for the countertop.Â
But after taking another look at it, I saw that the topology in this piece barely usable if at all. So instead of trying to fix it, I decided to do it all over again.
Topology. 2'nd attempt.
I, again, started with multiplying one hexagon and connecting them to create a surface.
Then I rethought some of my decisions and instead of connecting all of the edges, left some to be the corners.
I liked the corners and pushed that idea further by emphasising them even more.
After being at least somewhat satisfied with the shape I extruded and offset the border edge to make the transitions a bit more subtle and the whole shape less edgy.
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Then I stretched it in y axes by corner vertexes to give it a more flowing and less blobish look using smooth modification to keep the initial hexagons in place.
I was deleting the connection between the main body and the central piece from time to time to get an understanding of the final shape.
I also scaled it negatively a bit less in x axes to make it even thinner for aesthetical reasons.
Then using the multicut tool I added a couple more edges to the central piece in an attempt for typology. It wasn't quite there yet but began to be seen.
Always switching between lowpoly and smooth modes to keep everything under control and make sure there aren't any issues (like contradicting planes). At this point, I got a general idea of what I was going for and deleted three fourth of the surface to only work with one piece that was to be mirrored later. I used the relax surface tool from the mesh sculpting tools to decrease the density of polygons in some places by moving the edges.
Being careful not to distort the border, I only relaxed the inside of it, avoiding the edges and the initial hexagon.
42 After relaxing the surface I flattened the vertexes in x and y axes to keep them in line. This would make it easier to match after mirroring. When satisfied with one part I used duplicate special to create a full surface by mirroring it (using the scale -1 option).
I then proceeded with joining four pieces into one. For that, I first combined them into one object to allow modifying them together. And then merged corresponding vertexes to the centre. Unfourtunatelly, in Maya it is impossible to just merge the whole border if it consists of several edges / daces / vertexes - making so would just merge the whole of it in one point.
Always switching between lowpoly and smooth modes to keep everything under control and make sure there aren't any issues (like contradicting planes). At this point, I got a general idea of what I was going for and deleted three fourth of the surface to only work with one piece that was to be mirrored later. I used the relax surface tool from the mesh sculpting tools to decrease the density of polygons in some places by moving the edges.
Being careful not to distort the border, I only relaxed the inside of it, avoiding the edges and the initial hexagon.
44 At this point, first signs of the future topology started to be seen. The outer border and the inner outline of the central piece had the flow necessary for the successful increase in density. I decided to cut it once more and relax a bit to make sure the difference in density between the centre and outer parts is not too drastic. I slightly adjusted the vertexes and edges around the initial hexagons allowed me to see another piece of topology that has formed around the said hexagons. Here I saw three main topology flows that I needed to work with for the final topology. One of the outer corner, one around the hexagons and one on the outline of the central piece.
I mirrored and rejoined all four parts once again in order to take a look at the whole surface. Although in smooth mode everything looks fine most of the time, it doesn't mean that it is as good in the lowpoly mode. So it is crucial to check in on it. I moved the vertexes around and added couple more edges to update a central part and finally got a flow there as well (except the central hexagon, which as I previously mentioned, can be a pain in the ass when making a topology). After that, I also played around with the edges between the centre and the hexagon parts and it led to adding some more fluency to the topology.Â
46 The last challenge was to make the topology for the part that is a transition between the hexagon part and the central piece since it has to be cut at the connection points. The solution was tedious to find and make. I led it around the hexagons and broke off at the collision point. So it is a partial topology as it doesn't flow through the whole model. Here are the final topology flows to be used for the 3D sculpting.
After all 3 flows were set up I reduced the number of edges and got the "clean" version with least amount of polygons possible for later density increase.Â
This is the absolute final structure of the countertop's topology. With least amount of edges and polygons and equal polygon density, it can be easily manipulated both in low- and higpoly.
The flows will later become increasing and colliding waves and the initial hexagons will be representing the induction heating cooking surfaces. Everything's ready for 3D modelling now!
48 The outer border line will become the flat surface to be used for tableware placement and comfortable dining with enough space for every person sitting around the table.
The layer around the induction heating cookers will become the starting point for the waves, sending the first ones to collide together shortly after.
And the central part outline will become the collision centre where everything comes together and rises up. This will later become the accent point.
After getting the topology right and clear I roughly sketched and added more divisions to the areas where the waves will go. It destroyed the equality of polygon density but this will come in handy when flattening out the ends of the waves where they will blend into the table surface.
Here are the lines of the flow for a clearer understanding. Overall there are 3 main flows but if looked at it a bit closer, one more can be seen. It is the transition between the inner and outer parts of the countertop. Another connection in our design
50 Now that the topology has enough divisions to start 3D modelling, the controls have to be manipulated to achieve the desired look. We tried to use faces, vertexes and edges. The latter worked the best since they were sharp and organic, so we stopped on manipulating the edges.Â
So, the countertop was ready. My favourite parts about it are its mathematical precision and its geometrical logic that get so nicely blend with organic fluid waves.
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Phase 4. Determination
/dɪˌtəːmɪˈneɪʃ(ə)n/
the controlling or deciding of the nature or outcome of something.
DEFINITION | OUTLINE | CLARITY
TAKE RISK!
UMBERTO
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Chandelier. 1'st success.
We took the placement of the initial hexagons from Maya and put it in Rhino, where we made all the connections possible between their vertexes to find an idea for a chandelier.
After that, Varya extruded them and tried to manipulate them to get something interesting and unusual. The main goal was to go away from the copy of our table and make something fresh.
She connected some of them and some of them made empty, leaving space for holes inside the connections that would correlate with the table.
Bridging, connecting and smoothing, she found some interesting shapes and flows that gave us some idea of what we might be going for.
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Exaggerating some features and edges was a great idea but unfortunately, it didn't fit our table even though all three of us liked it a lot.
The shape is great and fresh and organic but it has a completely different look than the countertop and that is critical.
It also would be impossible to make at this stage as the 3D printing is unavailable and the CNC cannot go by itself to cut out something like that.
Chandelier. 2'nd success.
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This time I tried to apply my topologymaking skills to the chandelier. I took the centrepiece from the countertop and offset it several times. I wanted this topology to be similar.
But also different. So instead of making it denser closer to the edges, I made it more relaxed. Unlike on the chandelier, here lines straighten out instead of making waves.
After that, I pushed some faces inside and then added a couple of edges to depict the centrepiece just like on the table.
But then I decided to keep it a bit more simple and reduced the number of spikes from 6 to 2 by the y axes. I made the shape more distinctive and less descriptive of the table.
Then I pinched it by scaling 4 vertexes negatively in the smooth selection and tried to play around with it. I decided to delete some of the faces to correlate with the induction cookers.
After deleting the faces I cut off a half of it to make an instance duplicate special. But then I liked the shape of it and the lines, so I wanted to see what will happen if I mirror it in the opposite direction.
So I've put the pivot on the very edge of the surface and duplicated it. The shape and the flow seemed exciting to us so we decided to push it further.
My teammates also played around with it and here's what Monica made. The intersecting waves are almost like a metaphor for overlapping connections in people's lives.
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So this is the final version of our chandelier that we're going to use in the renders and the model. What I like most about is its contradiction. It is sharp and smooth ant the same time, geometrical but organic. It resembles the countertop and at the same time, it doesn't.Â
The leg.
She took the central piece, blew it up in size and extruded down at an angle, keeping the 6 spikes of the centre.
Then she reversed the extrusion angle and made some holes going through the whole surface, nicely correlating with the flow of the countertop and chandelier.
Then we together made some adjustments to fit it better in the whole design concept: made it a bit wider and shorted, added the thickness to the surface and moved some vertexes around to make it correlate with the chandelier a bit more.
70 Here's the final model for the leg. (or better to say 'support') of our table. It is not going to be attached directly to it, but the countertop is going to be sitting on top of it.
This way it gives us one more connection - the connection between two materials, two surfaces, two parts, top and bottom. Which is a nice addition to our concept.
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Phase 5. Execution
/ˌɛksɪˈkjuːʃ(ə)n/
the carrying out of a plan, order, or course of action; the technique or style with which an artistic work is produced or carried out. REALIZATION | IMPLEMENTATION | COMPLETION
COMBINING THE LEG WITH THE COUNTERTOP
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ISOMETRIC VIEW
FRONT VIEW
SIDE VIEW
COMBINING THE TABLEÂ WITH THE CHANDELIER
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TOP VIEW
FRONT VIEW
SIDE VIEW
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Phase 6. Presentation
/prɛz(ə)nˈteɪʃ(ə)n/
the manner or style in which smth is displayed; a speech or talk in which a new product is shown and explained to an audience. INTRODUCTION | DEMONSTRATION | EXHIBITION
WHY SO BORING? MAKE IT GOLD AND SPARKLY MOM
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HU | BHSAD, BA (HONS) PRODUCT DESIGN L.4
LABBOOK BY _ FAINA IASEN PROJECT BY _ FAINA IASEN | MONICA RAMILISON | VARVARA ANISIMOVA