Spark by Yike Liu MDes '20
Spark Jewelry Stand
Material: brass, marble stone, glass mirror
Created: fall 2019
Spark is a family of customized jewelry stands, which consists of a mirror, a base and two stands. “Beyond shine, Brightest star,” is the slogan of Spark as it's inspired by fireworks. The scattered sparks naturally work as an exquisite holder for jewelry and mirror. Meanwhile, the various combinations increase the interactivity and creativity of the product. Either served as a base extension or placed on the smaller stand, the mirror creates stunning reflections that become another spotlight. The selection of brass and marble lets the jewelry gloss stand out and recreates a visual enjoyment.
Inspiration
"Beyond shine, the brightest star" is the slogan of this product. It's inspired by fireworks and sparklers. More than demonstrating the elegance and delicacy of jewelry, the idea behind this design is to echo an emotion of shining your light with the user. From the reflection of the mirror, Spark is just like the brightest rising star crossing the night sky. We decorate ourselves with jewelry. Meanwhile, the beauty of the jewelry is further highlighted by the confidence of their master.
Unique Properties/Project Description
As a family of highly customized jewelry stands, Spark consists of a mirror, two stands and a base. The smaller stand either supports the mirror or serves as an adaptor to transform the mirror as an extended platform. The spark-shaped stands and the crisscrossed notch naturally work together as a holder, which easily fits all kinds of jewelry. With the classic combination of brass and marble, Spark presents the glory of jewelry and recreates a soft visual enjoyment for the user.
Operation/Flow/Interaction
Users can choose to buy the whole set of jewelry stands or simply purchase a customized combination. Spark can be assembled by plugging the stands into the base. By rotating the stands, jewelry can be placed and removed conveniently. The notches on the smaller stand are for hanging rings, bracelets or earpieces; moreover, they are perfect mirror holders by putting it down. If more room is preferred, the small holes near the edge of the mirror can be locked together with the smaller stand to work as an extended stable platform. Finally, the lower branch of the bigger stand is distributed in the notches upward and downward, which allows users to wrap longer necklaces.
Project Duration and Location
The project began in Philadelphia in October 2019, and was completed in Philadelphia in early December 2020.
Fits Best into Category
Furniture, Decorative Items and Homeware Design
Production/Realization Technology
The spark shaped stand consists of brass rods. Since the joint point of them is too small to apply welding or soldering, a metal cast connector is customized to connect the branches together by epoxy glue. For the mirror, with the three-layer stack technique, it is embedded between the two layers of brass. The brass edge is designed higher than the glass mirror to avoid friction from different layers effectively. The base part is made of marble with brass in the middle, so the slot fits perfectly to the mirror and helps the user find the lock position more easily. At last, there is an additional layer of felt below the base part to avoid scratches on the table. All the marble, brass sheet and glass mirror components are cut by water jet machine.
Specifications/Technical Properties
Jewelry stand set: 290 mm x 185 mm x 340 mm
Mirror part: 150 mm (diameter) x 3 mm
Small stand part: 90 mm x 90 mm x 160 mm
Big stand part: 125 mm x 125 mm x 320 mm
Base part: 255 mm x 125 mm x 25 mm
Tags
Jewelry Stand, Sparkling, Marble and Brass, Beauty, Reflection, elegant, Motivating, High-end, Necklace, Bracelet
Research Abstract
In the early user research, I found that a lot of people have trouble organizing jewelry. For instance, they cannot find a suitable place to put them, the storage place is not near the mirror or the jewelry stand is not beautiful enough and so on. In the design, I tried to solve people's complaints about jewelry stands in the past and bring a highly customized jewelry stand to meet users' needs. Meanwhile, the research on Spark also focuses on material selection and production. After studying samples of different kinds of marble, I finally decided to use Carrara Pietra Marble Honed Marble which matches the brass perfectly. The construction adhesive was selected as the base part adhesive in multiple tests.
Challenge
For creativity, the first challenge is to integrate the shape of the scattered sparks with the function of the jewelry rack. Secondly, the sparkling shape is also challenging for manufacturing. For aesthetic purposes, the joint point for the sparks is designed as a small scale and brings a problem for welding the other rods on it. Therefore, a connector at the center of the radiation is more favorable for assembling the rods together instead of welding them. After several times of prototyping and testing, the connector that best keeps the appearance of the original design is achieved. For the base, since all the raw materials of marble are thicker than expected, which impairs the desired product effect, so the marble tile is finally utilized.
A' Design Award Winner
In 2020, Yike Liu won the Bronze A' Design Award in the Furniture, Decorative Items and Homeware Design Category for her project Spark.
