Ikabana Vase Sketch Models

Just a few of the sketch models I've made in deciding what design to pursue for my final piece. The models are made out of foam core and chip board which is laser cut and then either glued or pinned together.

In these models, the foam core represents the reservoir of the vase and will be made out of Rockite and the chipboard represents stainless steel which will be water jet cut and bent into shape around the Rockite.

Iterations of two designs I'm working with.

The first design is a tall reservoir with a stainless piece of steel straddling the Rockite. I wanted to create a strong, grounded receptacle rising out of a light, kinetic form drawing the eye upward to focus on the flowers using the vase as a way to focus the viewer on the natural beauty of the arrangement. The tab of the stainless steel on the top of the vase would act as a divider between the heavier plant material and the more delicate flowers and would reinforce the upward motion of the vase.

This design will be 8" tall, with a 3" x 2" reservoir.

The only difference between these two iterations is that the model on the left has a shorter piece of chipboard which creates a smaller foot at the bottom with a straighter line as it travels up the Rockite.

This is the other of the two designs I've been working on. This is a much more rectangular, low to the ground vase. I wanted to be able to spread the flowers of the arrangement out horizontally and create some arcs with the plant material. This is a much more static vase, sitting only 1/2" off the table surface and with a horizontal rather than vertical flow of the lines.

The bottom of the two, short feet support the vase and two longer tabs support the base of the Rockite reservoir. This design really focuses the attention of the vase on the stainless steel as it wraps the Rockite almost completely. The Rockite is viewable from two 1/2" strips along the top of the vase and on the small ends of the vase. I wanted the Rockite to simply peak out from the steel.

I prefer the skinnier of the two low vases. It would be only 2 1/2" wide versus 4" wide for the larger version. I felt the increased size of the larger version would create to large and cumbersome of a base for the delicate natural plant material. The final piece will be 8" long x 3" tall x 2 1/2" wide, with a 2" deep reservoir.

I've decided to move forward with the low, horizontal Ikabana vase as I appreciate it's simplicity of form and simplicity of materials in manufacturing. A theme for me in this class has been designing for ease of mass production and I hope to produce these vases on a larger scale if possible after this semester is done. The simpler form and straight lines of this vase lend themselves to reproduction. While there is always value in the one off hand made object, the challenge of reproduction on a large scale interests me as a designer looking to soon move into the work force.

This week I will be milling a mold out of MDF to cast the Rockite in and water jet cutting out my stainless steel piece.

Thanks for reading!