Tropic of Cancer is title of my BFA exhibition in the University of Iowa. In this show, I displayed several projects I've made in my undergraduate program in 3D Design, and Sculpture.
I. MOLECULAR
The furniture inspiration comes from a structure of an organic chemical called acetylcholine which has been implicated in learning and memory in several ways. This is a series of furniture including two stackable stools, a side table and a coat rack. All furniture are available to be packed flat with no need of hardware to install the furniture.
I learn the micro structure from natural sciences. From all the chemical structures I know, I choose acetylcholine, a chemical implicated in learning and memory. Not only with a relatively simple function, it also shows my ambition of never stop learning.
The furniture is made of maple, birch, and oak ply wood, and furnished by using a wood stain in this series. Because I don’t want to use other hardware to assemble my furniture, I used a couple of wood joints including dovetail, and mortise and tenon which are easily assembled or disassembled. So I think it necessary to make them capable to be packed flat as well. This set of furniture is made by using CNC technique.
Acetylcholine Coat Rack
Inspired by the beauty of the natural structure, I borrow the molecular structure of acetylcholine, a chemical in charge of learning and dreaming, into my coat rack design. It is light and steady. With the technique of wood joints, the coat rack requiring no other hardware is easy for assembly.
Benzene Stools
Based on the idea of using molecular structure, I developed my table design from the geometry of benzene C6H6, a perfect hexagon shape. I modified the shape of the hexagon in order to make them stackable.
Phenyl Table
Continuing the idea of my stools and also embracing molecular structure, my table is designed out of the phenyl ring C6H5. Closely related to benzene, my stools’ inspiration, it can be viewed as a benzene ring, minus a hydrogen. It doesn’t require other hardware and easy to be assembled also.
II. PRISM FRUIT BOWL
The Prism fruit bowl gives users a tasteful experience of fruit picking. With the levitating bowl, Prism fruit bowl brings the orchard into your home. The bowl is like an upside-down pyramid which means fruits are votive gifts for users.
There are three models in the series, germination, blossom, and prosperity. The different modes are designed to fit various weights of fruits.
They are made of 16-gauge metal and cut by CNC plasma. After bending the metal, I powder coated them, in order to reach food-safe level.
III. ORBITAL INSIDER
Orbital Insider is a kinetic sculpture with microcontroller.
In this sculpture I explored the transformation of different forces. The purpose of this piece is to transfer the rotating movement form a DC motor into two horizontal and two vertical semicircular linear movements. I also used rectangular and cubic shape system to present the organic combination between square and circle.
It is composed by a bearing ring inside the middle block and hand-crafted with ten joins in calculative angles. The zigzag middle beam and square frame constitute into a dynamic system in three dimensional space. I think the highlight of this piece is how I use these two angular shapes to build a sphere orbit with torque from a DC motor. With a DC motor controlled by Arduino Pro Mini, this sculpture is capable of running diverse programs.
