Business Card Holder
Story
The Business Card Holder arose from my fascination with the capsule shape. It's a shape that transcends easy characterization. One finds it in abundance in nature, mostly at small scales (mitochondria, prokaryotes). It is alternately common in engineering applications (pressurized containers, spaceships). Or - more significantly, as far as I'm concerned - in product design.
Fit for a king: a solid stone Roman basin, ca. 2nd-3rd century CE. From the collection of The Metropolitan Museum
Unlike the circle, it is neither noncommittal nor amorphous. And unlike the square, it is neither sharp nor brazen.
The capsule's quality shines through even as a simple shape of extrusion, here a flower vase
But, in common with so many shapes, its character is pronounced by slicing it an angle. That slice, here, has yielded the perfect area onto which to place business-card-holding ridges. It also yields a perfect volume into which a drawer (presumably for one's own business cards) can be inserted.
I encountered fewer than average technical challenges during design and prototyping. The toughest bit was aesthetic judgement - how tall, how steep the cut, how pronounced the fuzz? I designed and refined several versions until I was satisfied. I owe a debt of gratitude to Youie Cho for her counsel.
As for the fuzz, I was excited by the final effect achieved. It softens what could have been a harsh form. Best yet, it calls out to be touched - always one of my goals as I seek to maximize the interactivity of my work.
Lambswool? Fleece? My 3D printed fuzz in full effect.