Beer Cup, Plate and Cutlery inspired by the Cubes Houses in Rotterdam

Rotterdam is the second largest city in the Netherlands and it has few elements that represents this beautiful city. One of these elements is the iconic Cube houses located right in the heart of Rotterdam Blaak. 5 years ago when I first came to Rotterdam from Turkey with my family for vacation. One of the fist things I saw in Rotterdam was these Cube Houses. I first was trying to understand the design behind it and I always found them very outstanding and interesting since I've never seen any architecture comparable to the Cube Houses. After years I came to Rotterdam again and one of the very first memories I had in Rotterdam was in one of the Cube Houses since a friend of mine started living there. These uniquely designed houses have always been an important figure of Rotterdam for me. Also other than that the Cube Houses are one of the first things that attract the attention of tourist who come to visit Rotterdam. These are the reasons why I picked Rotterdam Cube Houses as my inspiration.

Introduction

For my Family of Products I was asked to make 3 products that create a family and are inspired by Rotterdam. I first was thinking of making 3 mugs that had other important elements such as the Erasmus Bridge placed inside each one of the mugs. But then I came to the conclusion that my idea wasn't original enough. So instead of focusing on different structures in Rotterdam I decided to pick the most important one for me and use it as my main theme. I first wanted to make my products out of clay but when I went to the clay workshop I was told that in order to get perfect squares from clay, I have to have a mold first and it wouldn't be done in the given time if I attended to make my products out of clay. Learning that working with clay takes that long, even though I went there almost 3 weeks prior to my deadline surprised me. This is something I deifinitely will have on my mind for the next projects. I was told that using the Digilab could be a better option. After thinking about it for a bit I came to the conclusion that it could actually be a good idea to 3D print my work since it would be a challenge for me. I never worked with CAD before so using this opportunity was a step to learn and improve my CAD skills. I worked on my models online and after some practice I believe I managed to use CAD and passed this challenge for myself. In order for my products to be more original and interesting and decided to pick green and white as my initial colors. So the cup and the cutlery are green and the plate is white. This is because when they are all put together they create the flag of Rotterdam

My Target Audience

One important thing about Rotterdam is that it is a student city and has a lot of bars and restaurants in it. I decided to pick restaurant and bar owners as my target audience. My family of products can be sold to bars and restaurants in Rotterdam. Tourists or normal visitors can use Cube Houses inspired beer cup, plate and cutlery. I believe that my target audience fits my family of products. Having Rotterdam inspired dishes in a restaurant or a bar can be a nice gesture for tourists and visitors.

My work on CAD

Pricing

Pricing didn't go as well as I thought. I didn't know that 3D printing can be quite expensive. The cup cost me 57 euros, the plate was, 45 and the cutlery was 34 euros. I know it is a lot but I wanted my products to look and feel good so I had to go with this option. If I were to have more time, I would probably use my 3D printed models to make a mold and make my initial products from clay which would be significantly cheaper.

Packaging

For my packaging I of course had to use the cubes as well. I first thought of making one big packaging for all three of my products but then I realized that not every bar or restaurant would buy all 3 of my items so they should be able to be sold separately as well. Sİnce all my products are in different shape and size I first wasn't sure how to use the cube idea. But then I came up with the idea of having 3 different packaging but when put together it forms a shape of a cube. So the customers who would like to buy all three of my items can still get their products in a cubic shaped packaging. When I got some feedback about my product I was told that the green and white cubes not necessarily represent the Cube Houses, so I thought maybe making the packaging from yellow so it would be more visible that it is the Cube Houses rather than just regular cubes.

My Products

Resit - New Project

For my resit, I have decided to change my project completely. So I started searching for a new thing about Rotterdam that inspires me. One thing I realized was that Rotterdam is a city with a lot of ongoing construction sites. It is a city built and being built on concrete. This has a lot to do with the fact that Rotterdam was unfortunately bombed and severely harmed during the Second World War by the Nazi forces. A big portion of the city was rebuilt due to this. In order to have a good project, I went outside and made material research at the nearest construction site to my house. I went there and collected scrap materials that were left on the ground and thought about how I can use them for my products. I decided to use cement as my main material for my products because it is very durable, suitable for products that doesn't need to be portable and it gives a construction look. For my family of 3 products I decided to make a desk lamp, a pen/pencil holder and a cup holder.

For my first product I decided to make a desk lamp. In order to make this I made a reservation at the wood workshop and made a mold for my lamp. After I was done with my mold, I went home and made a hollow shape by cutting plastic cups and taping them. After that, I placed the cup inside the mold and hot-glued some materials I found at the construction site on the sides of the mold. I cut off a piece of foam and glued it at the bottom of my mold so that I can take it off after the cement is dry and it would allow the cord of my lamp to go through. After being done with everything inside the mold, I mixed and poured the cement inside the mold. I added my final materials and let it sit to dry.

After it dried I took out of the mold and attached the light socket by using hot-glue. I added the light bulb and smoothen the edges.

For my second product I made a pencil holder. In order to make it, I went to the wood workshop and made a mold. After that I placed a plastic cup inside the mold, added materials I found at the construction site and poured cement in the mold.

The paper cup didn't work the way I wanted it to so I decided to wrap my water bottle with baking paper and use it instead. I let it dry and and once it was dry I took the mold off. I took the bottle out of the pencil holder and made the edges smooth.

For my third product I made a candle. First I made a mold at the wood workshop. Then I cut up a plastic cup and formed it into a hallow shape. I first put a little bit of cement at the bottom of my mold and then placed the cup in the middle. I hot-glued some materials that are used in construction sited and then poured my cement into the mold. After I was done with it I started melting the candle. I boiled water and placed the candles inside a bowl. I made the bowl float on the boiling water and waited for it to melt. Unfortunately this didn't go the way I wanted it to because the water would fill up the bowl and make the bowl sink into the boiling water. So, I tried melting my candles by putting them inside a microwave. After 5 minutes the candles were melted and were in a good liquid form.

Later I scraped off all the excessive candle and cut the wick shorter.

Other models

For one of my models I made a flower pot but unfortunately it didn't go the way I wanted it to. I still think it was good in terms of research because I learned that I can't use thin layers of concrete otherwise it cracks. So since my flower pot cracked, I used hotglue to fix it.

For another model I made a coaster. I made a mold at the wood workshop and poured cement in it. I placed few materials in there and used a jar cap to give a dent in my product so glasses or cups can be placed on it easily.

Some sketches

Pictures of my Products

Poster

Information sheet that comes with the products