Saturday, 24 March 2012

Levels




Autocad technical drawings







Rationale





My design "Levels" is a cocoon inspired clothing storage system for folded clothes and underwear, aimed at people who move around a lot, particularly university students.  A cocoon, which is a casing, spun of silk by many moths and numerous other insect larvae, essentially acts as a storage system for the larvae as it undergoes metamorphosis, cocoons can be formed almost anywhere, but usually amongst trees or bushes, hanging off leaves or branches away from the line of sight of predators.

The design is a flat packable storage that is made out of stretchable silk-like fabric encased around a wire structure.  The design being flat packable and so light weight acts as a simple solution those seeking fast and easy storage, once compressed it becomes easily portable.  The design has several rings which are held by the fabric and is gravity fed, it has a hook on the top, which allows it to be hung almost anywhere.  The rope that connect the storage unit and the hook is also adjustable, which means how high or low the storage system hangs is adjustable.  The back of the storage system is flat which allows for it to sit still when hung against another flat surface such has a wall or corner.  The storage system is opened from the front which opens vertically, and is held shut by Velcro. 

A major issue with storing clothing that i have come across in my research is the issue of moths.  Months are notoriously known for eating away at stored clothes, but this is a misconception.  It is not the actual moth that eats away at the clothing but its larvae who feed on woollen fibres.  Moth balls are commonly used, but are actually very poisonous and contain pesticides.  I combated this issue through research and found that lavender acts as a natural repellent of moths, and utilised this into my design.  In my design I have incorporated a small pouch which hangs inside the storage system, which may be used to hold lavender leaves which can ward off moths, alternatively I have infused the fabric with lavender essence to radiate the lavender scent to also act as a repellent to moths.


Blog comments




http://dominicsee.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/arachni-key-holder-reminder-paper.html?showComment=1332689506353#c3293618271627249816

http://dougcusack-ides1031.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/studio-project-1-biomimetics.html

http://rowenagoodall.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/final.html

Mock - ups and work in progress



















Initial concepts


5 comments:

Christine Chau said...

The form of your design is very reminiscent to an actual cocoon! I can see that you've reworked your form several times from your original mockup and the final is very well done. However, my concern is that it doesn't look very study and might not hold a stack of clothes. This could be changed by possibly adding a thicker layer of fabric or more wire.

Richard Trajcevski said...

I like the overall design of the cocoon storage system. The fact that there are different sized storage levels allows diversity when it comes to storing different clothing items. Maybe you could explore different fabrics, depending on what you want to store, as durability might become an issue. Also the colour white is a sensible one, as it works with many if not all surroundings!

Daniel Foo said...

The way you chose a cocoon to base your design off is a good choice. The shape resembles a cocoon very much and it clearly looks like you have answered the brief.

One thing you could have improved could be the way you chose to hang the actual product with

Benjamin Ma said...

i like your initial design based on a cocoon. the use of the white material is a really good choice, it gives the sense of a really clean closet. the storage way is really good idea for a high density apartment with limited space, you can put lots of clothes into it.

you could use a different material instead of wires to reduce weight e.g. bamboo so you can put more clothes and not stress product.

Jacqueline Bui said...

Your design follows the brief perfectly. The overal shape definielt resembles a cocoon.
Maybe you could try exploring different types of materials for your structure? Your system could possibly made collaspable for foldable through this, which might make washing your system easier.