For this project the initial motivation was to create something out of unused ski equipment that i had access too. This motivation is soured by the fact that i am on the CU ski team and skiing has been part of my life for 20 years. When i began thinking of ideas to create for this assignment i was asking my roommates for ideas and searching the internet for some cool things that can be done with old ski equipment. Some of the initial ideas that i was coming up with are pictured below.

left to right:

http://www.forestfurnituretahoe.com/products/ski-wine-rack.html

http://www.recycledskis.com/tables.html

http://www.recycledskis.com/tables.html

Looking past these ideas i was thinking about a way to incorporate some ski poles and other skiing related items into my project. Some of these ideas which incorporate ski poles are shown below.

left to right

http://unofficialnetworks.com/2015/12/ski-pole-plunger-the-perfect-gift-for-a-skier-with-a-good-sense-of-humor

http://www.artfactory.com/table-vintage-ski-pole-table-mlet596-p-7289.html

These two ideas were something that i was mulling over in my head of what to incorporate in to my design. I had envisioned cutting up some skis and manufacturing something that i could use from these. This was initially supposed to be something that would serve a purpose in our house and remain around for a while. The wine rack which was pictured above was on the top of my list of things to make. The idea behind this would be something that has a bit of a novel aspect where there are other wine racks that can be made out of other materials but bringing the ski into it shows a little part of myself in this project.

I was envisioning this project in my mind and sorting through some old ski equipment that i could use in order to make something like this. I chose the skis that i was going to use and then set them aside until i was going to have time to make this project. Things were all looking good to make sure that this would be completed and on time and then i ran out of time to make sure that this would get done as my trip to Alaska came up on me sooner than i expected and the project was due the day i was getting back from Alaska. This forced me to completely change my design ideas due to the lack of materials  available to me and equipment to machine them. The design process associated with this is displayed below.

The final product is this wind chime that i was able to make out of components which were only in the garage in Alaska, where we were staying. One of my team members had broken a pair of poles the first day we were there so there were plenty of pole pieces available. The top support is made out of a swix spare pole tip container and the poles are held on with a cut up pass laniard. These are all held onto the top central piece by some CU ski team pins which were available.

Second iteration of central piece.

After building this part i wasn’t completely satisfied with how the central hanging piece on my wind chime came out. Upon my return from Alaska i laser cut a new central piece to give it some more personality that related back to myself.  This was done using some leftover acrylic and a laser cutter, replacing the pass laniard, ski basked and kick wax. I was pretty happy with the way that this came out based on using only materials that were skiing related and items that we had brought with us to AK. I would still like to make the original wine rack out of skis and potentially another wind chime. For a future version i would like to have a sturdier top support which is more circular. Overall it was cool to see what i could do with such minimal supplies.

The aesthetic of this design is simply using only skiing equipment to make something that takes a new form with new purpose. The overall function of this design is relatively ineffective but the idea behind the aesthetic is clear and shows the intent of the design.

Video of the presentation can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a8KoHBcuvY