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LOTUS


                                                        

Lotus is the culmination of my Design Principles II class’s Form and Manufacturing projects. The Form project called upon students to reference an object from RISD’s Nature Lab and bring its form elements into a set of three handheld products. The Manufacturing project then pushed us to select one of our three products and manufacture it identically, five times over.

My selected Nature Lab object was a lotus root, native to my parents’ home province of Hubei, China. I elected to design a tea set in honor of my cultural heritage, and manufactured my teacup with plastic silicone molding.

Physical Product
Molding/Manufacturing




Problem Statement: Modern teaware often prioritizes uniformity and minimalism, leaving little room for forms inspired by organic beauty or cultural symbolism. This project reimagines the teacup through the lens of the lotus root—celebrating natural geometry and transforming a daily ritual into a moment of reflection.





Sketches & Mood Board



The form project begun with the selection of my Nature Lab reference object, the lotus root. I drew observation sketches, then assembled a mood board that highlighted the elegant and organic forms I saw. After many more hand sketches of potential products, I settled upon three final objects in my teaset, which I rendered by hand.





Sketch Models


The next step of my design process was physical iteration by hand, based on my original hand sketches. With air dry clay, metal wire, and foam, I created sketch models that allowed me to refine the forms that spoke to me and narrow down to an object I could manufacture.





3D Modeling and Printing







After settling on my teacup design, I modeled it in SolidWorks and sent the STL file to the 3D printer. I then primed this 3D print and sanded it to get rid of ridges, as it would be what I built my mold around (see drawn diagram for mold method).





Moldmaking Process












After building walls around my 3D printed piece, I poured my first layer of silicone to create the outer shell of the mold. I poured my second layer of silicone, in the blue, after my first layer of silicone set and dried. I had to elevate a thick slanted rod into my teacup prior to pouring the second layer of silicone, such that there would be a large cavity in the blue shell for the mold to collapse into itself, enabling me to remove my middle teacup after both shells of the mold had set.






Manufacturing Process

Now that my silicone mold was complete, I could take liquid plastic and pour five identical teacups. After pouring and setting, I had to clean up the lips and imperfections of each cup to be presentation ready.


Final Photos & Product Rendering