here’s a shot I took yesterday of the 1-layer twist ring being worn. pretty awesome right?
I’m slowly adding better pictures for all of the new pieces.
we’re putting the finishing touches on the cell cycle applet. right now I am finishing the graphical user interface. normally for our in process work we just edit the code and don’t bother with any kind of GUI. that means when it comes time to put the piece online for public consumption it requires a lot of beautification.
This is the first 3D applet we are releasing to the public. You can control all aspects of the mesh structure and subdivide the cells. You can rotate and zoom the model by using the mouse. Here you see this random, extremely twisted lampshade type thing that I made in less than 10 seconds.
Just a quick note that we will be at the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn this weekend. The show features over 250 crafters/designers hawking their wares in McCarren Park. Come see us at booth #151, the weather forecast is looking great! This is our third Renegade show and hopefully it will be the best one yet. Come check out our new Cell Cycle pieces.
We made a new display wall to show our jewelry at ICFF this year out of bent plywood. After making some sketches in Rhino, Jesse built a more rigorous model in CATIA. The idea was to use the bend of the plywood to create both wall-like and shelf-like elements. The 3-dimensional nature of the new Cell Cycle line meant that we needed flat surfaces to display pieces on, in addition to our usual hanging space. Using CATIA allowed us very close control over how the surfaces curves were created so we could ensure the shelves were perfectly flat and sized for the pieces.
We used a CNC router to cut six 4′x4′ pieces of MDF into molds. We decided to only make every other layer needed for the full thickness of the plywood which saved quite a bit of materials and machine time, but meant we spent hours screwing spacers on to the pieces. The display is made up of 10 bent plywood strips, which means there were 10 molds, each with a male and female side. We cut down 4′x8′ sheets of 1/40″ cherry veneer into strips of an appropriate size. Then we layered six strips with epoxy resin glue using a foam roller. The stack was then carefully put in between the two halves of the mold and 2-4 clamps were used to apply pressure over a 24 hour period.
The next day, we removed the pieces from the molds, trimmed the top and bottom edge, and sanded everything. For our first attempt at bent plywood, I think it came out very well!
Finally had a chance to stop by a news stand and pick up a copy of I.D. June’s edition features a picture of our Radial II Necklace is grey and an article about on demand manufacturing. I think we might owe this one to Derek at Ponoko. Thanks!
We got back from ICFF a week ago, and we’ve been really busy following up since then. It was a lot of fun, and our new line had a very good reception. The new pieces will be available online soon and at several stores including A+R in LA and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. We also have them at the Brooklyn Renegade craft fair on June 6+7.
Thanks to everyone we met and talked to especially Grace from design*sponge, Lloyd from treehugger, Katherine from readymade, and William from metropolis. It was also great to see JB from blueoculus again, who I exhibited with at A+ in the NYIGF last February, and delightful to exhibit next to Jean Pelle.
After seeing the other rings, we decided to design a very thin, more minimal one. It came out great and is very comfortable to wear. We will have a very small quantity available at ICFF starting this Saturday. We are exhibiting with designboom, come check it out!
The interior surfaces of the ring have a white unpolished finish, while the outer surfaces have a polished finish. I think the contrast heightens your experience of the two layers. An 8.5×11″ sheet of white paper goes a long way when you are photographing small objects…
We finally got the prototype silver rings back from polishing/finishing and they look great. Just need a couple of changes and we will be ready for production.
The rings were 3d printed in wax and then cast! Each ring consists of two layers of pattern, a convex layer on the interior and a concave one on the exterior. We have also designed a much thinner, more delicate one that we will hopefully make soon.
I just listed a bunch of older or slightly flawed pieces that I found while cleaning up the studio today on Etsy. They are on sale for HUGE discounts (30-40$ off). You can find them here : nervoussystem.etsy.com
These pieces are 3d printed by SLS (selective laser sinteting) in a hard nylon material. We also have two samples of the rings cast in sterling silver which are incredibly amazing! They are off being polished right now and we won’t get them back until Wednesday; you will have to wait until then to see them.
It is really great to finally be able to produce fully 3 dimensional works that get at the effect I was originally trying to achieve a couple of years ago. Hopefully we will have time to document the process by which these pieces were generated in Processing soon.
Oh and I am probably dropping out of school.
