Making A Coral-inspired Object

As I have been heavily researching coral reefs as part of my Temporary Expert research project, I decided to make an object that incorporates the aesthetics of coral somehow.

The parameter of the project in the context of the Intro to Fabrication class is to use the laser cutter. Design for a laser cutter is ideally vector-based, and heavy with either itching or cutouts. I decided to go with the latter, and to use acrylics as they provide enough color choices to allow for an interesting design.

The idea I felt most attracted towards is to play with the overlay of coral-inspired patterns. To showcase that, the best approach is to have two or more parts, each with a different cutout design (or the same design but with a different scale and/or orientation), that are within one another. This allows for a mismatch of patterns that, I hope, will result in an interesting look.

I decided that the design will be made of two cubes of different sizes, with one placed within another.

In terms of the pattern design, as I previously mentioned, I wanted it to be coral-inspired. I collected suitable vector files, and ended up with choosing to work with the following group of images as a source.

Before proceeding with the acrylic process, I wanted to make sure of the interstingness of the concept of the pattern overlay. I have a vinyl cutter handy at home, so I decided to cut a paper-based design for verification.

After a period of experimentation with various coral-like patterns, including a detour into stags (see image above), I opted to go with a less intricate pattern with holes of varying shapes and sizes. This is because they allow for far more interesting interaction of shapes.

I’ve also opted to go with a circular design instead of the initial box design. Part of it is the time restrictions, another is the amount of acrylics I have for this project.

The below are some of the pieces I cut to be used for the final design. They include colorful, transparent paper circles I cut using the vinyl cutter to be placed between the acrylic circles for visual effect.

I ended up with two pieces, one where the predominant color is white, and another with yellow. The white one, before gluing, is on the top of this post.