This September, we're getting design education-y here on Core77, so it seemed appropriate to highlight a student project for this week's column.
Parametric Pendants is a series of generative lighting by Colin Westeinde, a BFA furniture student at the Rhode Island School of Design. Completed last May during Westeinde's third year at RISD, the lights are a direct result of Westeinde's work experience—his internships and apprenticeships led the Vancouver-born designer to explore the space between handcraft and machine work in the lighting series.
After an internship at Amsterdam's Joris Laarman Lab (whose Gradient Chair we previously covered in this column), Westeinde was struck by the studio's approach of designing systems of making rather than specific objects. Particularly with regard to code, Westeinde observed the massive front-load of work taken on by Laarman's specialists that allowed for quick iterations and fine tuning of a design once complete. "This workflow allowed rapid responses and efficient adaptability to the unexpected challenges that inevitably arise in any process—within the established framework, of course," Westeinde says.
During his internship and back in the classroom, Westeinde found himself questioning the subjective value placed on handcraft over the machine-made—and found inspiration in the work of another Dutch designer. "Though I don't believe the aforementioned categories will ever truly blur, [Maarten] Baas's More or Less chair proposed possible answers to my dilemma," Westeinde says. "This design identified one of the main defining qualities of mass produced objects—their uniformity—and broke it."
With More or Less, Baas created what is described as "a unique serial production chair," resulting in 50 individual chairs all from the same process. Westeinde believes that these variations allow the consumer to appreciate the differences between each object in a way that parallels the perceived value placed on handmade goods. Taking a page from that book and lessons learned from Laarman, Westeinde developed each light in the Parametric Pendant series from a Grasshopper script, a process that, while intensive, yielded code that could be infinitely varied. Westeinde used Grasshopper to define a model, outlining the parameters and selecting a logical starting point. "The first step of making a light is to define the script's working parameters as value inputs, thereby creating the definition and shape of its functional cage," he explains. "With the script in place, I can vary the parameters to create a unique solution for each light." Westeinde opted for slits to create the openings in the pendants, which reveal themselves through faceted bend angles and perimeter profiles. "The script limits the object's form enough to allow vast amounts of variation without breaking from the original fabrication method and general characteristics of the object," Westeinde says. "This system allows for a family of objects both efficiently producible and consistency unique."
With More or Less, Baas created what is described as "a unique serial production chair," resulting in 50 individual chairs all from the same process. Westeinde believes that these variations allow the consumer to appreciate the differences between each object in a way that parallels the perceived value placed on handmade goods. Taking a page from that book and lessons learned from Laarman, Westeinde developed each light in the Parametric Pendant series from a Grasshopper script, a process that, while intensive, yielded code that could be infinitely varied.
Westeinde used Grasshopper to define a model, outlining the parameters and selecting a logical starting point. "The first step of making a light is to define the script's working parameters as value inputs, thereby creating the definition and shape of its functional cage," he explains. "With the script in place, I can vary the parameters to create a unique solution for each light."
Westeinde opted for slits to create the openings in the pendants, which reveal themselves through faceted bend angles and perimeter profiles. "The script limits the object's form enough to allow vast amounts of variation without breaking from the original fabrication method and general characteristics of the object," Westeinde says. "This system allows for a family of objects both efficiently producible and consistency unique."
Adjusting the parameters, Westeinde experimented with different attributes such as thickness and opening sizes before deciding upon four test patterns. He then exported that script to a cut file, arranging the required number of copies to economize any material loss. Limited by his class schedule, Westeinde prototyped with laser-cut paper models of the script before reaching out to water-jet companies in the area who would be willing to work with a student on a small test run. Massachusetts-based ACP Water Jet rose to the task and also connected Westeinde to a cheaper copper source.
Westeinde sent his files to ACP, who cut the flat shapes out of a sheet of copper, chosen for its thermal characteristics. At 22 gauge, the copper was sturdy enough to retain its structural integrity under high heat, yet malleable enough to move and expand along with the glass that would be blown within it. A rough wood mold was used to properly fold each metal piece, which Westeinde then hand-formed and assembled into the final copper vessel.
For the blown glass, Westeinde was inspired by time spent working with Michael Scheiner, a glassblower and sculptor in Central Falls, Rhode Island. Interested in the contradictory fluid and rigid states of glass, Scheiner often incorporates other materials in his glasswork. For the pendants, Westeinde collaborated with a glass student at RISD, Mackenzie Budd, who advised him and blew the molten opalescent white glass into the pre-heated copper vessels. "She made what would have been otherwise unknown and a long trial-and-error process go incredibly smoothly," Westeinde says. Of those four vessels, three proved successful, with the fourth breaking during the trial process of blowing the glass bubble.
For the remaining three, the fused glass and copper was left to cool before being annealed and washed with a non-abrasive. That technique allowed for the speckled black and copper finish present in the final lights. The metal was then waxed, both to prevent oxidization and to deepen the color of the copper and its patina. Finally, Westeinde installed the LED bulbs, attachment hardware and electrical wiring in the lights.
With the Parametic Pendants done, Westeinde plans to continue exploring CAD design in future projects, and to create a process of formal randomized designs. "Variation in design, controlled or random, will remain as one of my guiding design philosophies," he says. "Design—often seen as the solution to a problem—I feel is more accurately an individual's unique interpretation of the challenges presented."
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