Concept
The SW-01 cordless steam iron is a passion project/design study that was inspired by two things; my disdain for my bulky heavy steam iron, and an opportunity to challenge myself and learn some new things.
About three times a week, I find myself frantically ironing a nice shirt to wear before I run off to work. I thought about the different features I would like in an iron if I designed my own. These features were to reduce the size, make it cordless, and make it easier to refill.
Gestures
Early on in the project, I explored different gestures to help guide form development; mainly involving tools that are easy to control and maneuver.
On the top of the iron, there is a temperature dial for different fabrics, steam control, and a removable cap to refill water.
The steam iron rests on a charging base, but can also be placed in different positions.
Process and Insights
It's strange, I feel like I learned a ton throughout this project but there is so much room for improvement. I had to force myself to just finally throw in the towel and post the project. There were a lot of challenges throughout, including exploring new rendering/lighting techniques and color grading. Thankfully with resources like Liam Martin's videos and Render Weekly, I was able to achieve some of the things I wanted to. It's important to teach what you learn, so to pass it on, I included a link below for one of my KeyShot scenes and the Photoshop file for the rendering with the hands, hope it helps!
I used MarvelousDesigner and Blender to create the fabric and pedestals. I also used Blender for the steam/smoke simulation.
Thank you!
