Well, it's final project time in Architecture of Objects. We were supposed to do a furniture piece, but I really felt interested in a wall storage product and Shaun let me explore it.
So, I'm working on a storage solution for keys and mail. The product will go beside the front door and would magnetically hold keys on it's front and hold the mail in a curve created by the supporting metal structure. It's sort of a J, placed on the wall.
Below is a sketch model, affixed to my fridge because I didn't want to nail the sketch model to my wall. The keys pull the cardboard down a bit, so the front is not vertical like the final metal model will be.
The cardboard here is going to be powder-coated steel and the foam core will be routed out fin-ply covered in a birch veneer and stained with a light shellack.
The curve in the metal provides a nice 8" x 5" x 2" slot for storing mail, and is deep and wide enough to support magazines, newspapers and small packages. Above the mail slot there is a large 10" tall by 7" wide metal area perfect for notes and reminders held by small magnets. The smooth Birch front is the perfect place to store your house keys with the embedded bank of neodymium super magnets holding them securely with out the tangle of hooks. Simply hold your keys up to the wood and let go, the magnets will do the rest.
I've gone through a few different names for my product, I feel that this is really one of the first products I've worked on that needs a name that describes what it does. My possible list includes,
Home Organizer (all ready used)
Key Base
Wall Organizer
Key Home
Wall Store (all ready used)
Home Base
Home Store
Wall Base
Store
Home Store
Right now Home Base is the front runner. I was thinking the packaging could read,
HOME BASE
Your Families Mail, Key and Message Board Base
Or something like that. It needs work.
I'm starting routing right now, initial routing tests were mildly successful. I've made the product as a whole 1" wider, providing more room on the metal for messages and more room on the wood for keys. It also provides a wider place for the mail to sit so that it dosen't easily fall out if it's not centered in the slot.
Routing the rough pass.
Routing the finish pass.
After the finish pass. I'll take this to the table saw and cut off the excess stock.
So that's were I am currently, on Thursday I'll be spending the afternoon routing out the new wider pieces. In the mean time, cutting out the metal and bending it. Then it needs to be taken to the powder-coater for finishing. Step by step.
I'm making multiples (I'm thinking 3) since they are quite simple and with a smaller object multiples really read nicely.
Thanks for reading.
