Sunday 25 March 2012

bioinspired.

For the project one: bioinspired assignment, I decided to design a storage system for jewellery. In nature, the obvious choice would be to see how a clam protects its’ pearl and how hard it is for one to open the clam to reach into the treasures. However, there are also other ways nature protects its treasures, such as how bees protect their queen and store their nectar. The shape of the honeycomb, and the nature of the hive has inspired me to create a jewellery storage system that is reminiscent of a jewellery box, but with biomimetic (the study of the structure and function of biological systems) and biomimicry (examination of nature, its models, systems, processes and elements to emulate or take inspiration from) reflections.

Firstly is the form. It’s reminiscent of the honey comb structure with the hexagonal lid and base. I specifically chose this form because the honeycomb structure is often related to storing, and jewellery is no exception. This pattern is good for tessellating, and that’s part of the design’s appeal. I have also designed the box to be stackable, and therefore space efficient in medium-high density housing. The inside compartments of the box are very honeycomb like – hexagonal with branching out walls. The centre compartment is much larger than others, because much like in a hive, where the “queen bee” rests in the centre, in this case “the crown jewel” sits in the middle, surrounded by its other accessories. The compartments have been designed with both visual appeal and user accessibility in mind, with just enough flare to be hexagonal, but large enough for adequate storage of rings, earrings, necklaces and bracelets. The box is painted a glossy black, paired with gold detailing of the hinges and frontal clasp. There is also a more biomimicry reason, and that is because the honey bee is black and yellow striped. This little detail relates it back to nature, whilst adding a touch of elegance to the jewellery storage.

Concept Poster.

Product usage storyboard.

Disassembled pieces.

Assembled jewellery box.

Five peer assessed comments, links and names are below:

5 comments:

  1. Well designed jewelry box, captures the essense of the a honeycomb which you have based your design off. The compartments inside the box also give a good effect to the design.

    One way you could have improved your design could be to put a secret compartment on the bottom of the box. Since it is a jewelry box, it could have added an extra effect to the overall design

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  2. this is a wonderfully designed jewellery box that looks amazing, i also agree with Daniel that it would add a whole other element to the box if it would contain some sort of secret compartment, after all we are dealing with jewellery here!

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  3. WOW! I'm impressed :) I love the fact that the storage is all in one, yet its segmented when you open the lid (if that makes sense) i love the simplicity of the design, and the colour scheme is very classy. maybe you could have cut out some felt and laid that on the inside to prevent scratching both the jewellry and the paint?

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  4. Its a very beautiful design, I love how it's so simple but when you open it up there are all of these compartments designated to specific things within. An improvement would be to add a different element to it, perhaps a centre piece within the centre of the box

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  5. this design is really nice. i like how you are able to stack it and make it larger. i like how you made it look like a real honey comb inside the box, separating each section for different jewellery. the overall shape looks like a real jewellery box and how elegant it looks. the use if a black shape and a gold lock makes this product look royal and expensive made for expensive jewellery.

    i suggest to make one area with one less spacer so that longer jewellery can be placed inside.

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