Main Project Plans and Alternatives – Spice Rack

When ideating on what I wanted my main project to be, I had the thought that I want to create something that will be practical for me in the future. I am a senior, and will be graduating in a couple of months and have started considering this such as furnishing my own place. (I have always lived in furnished campus housing while at CU). The result of this thinking led me to land on creating a simplistic spice rack, that I want to fit into a minimalistic aesthetic. I have not nailed down all the exact materials that I will use, but my initial thoughts are to use some 3D printed components in addition to plastic plates and some bearing to give a multilayer rotating spice rack. My vision is to have the 2 or 3 layers, stacked on top of each other with a painted piece of PVC pipe or some other supporting material in the middle. I think I will 3D print the base to hold a bearing, and allow the entire tower to spin for easy access. To embrace this minimalist aesthetic, I want to not get to fancy with intricate details, or bright colors. I want it to looks smooth and simple, and preferably be a matte pastel type color that isn’t too bright and doesn’t stand out too much. The below image shows the general type of rack I am going for, however, I plan on having one middle support pillar, and will not be using bamboo.

Figure 1: An example of the type of spice rack I am considering (Target)

Two wildly different aesthetics for this project would be from a Victorian aesthetic as well as my aesthetic from the upcycle project rustic.

Figure 2: My project designed to fit a rustic aesthetic (Me)

To fit the rustic aesthetic, I changed a couple of things about my design. First, I changed the material from a smooth simple plastic, to a rough wood. I also decided that the “bins” would feel more rustic if they were squares rather than circles, again due to the added roughness feel that it would bring. The grain of the would specifically is what I feel makes this an opposite aesthetic to my plan, and yet is still one that you would likely see very commonly in homes all over the world.

Figure 3: Victorian style spice rack (Me)

The other opposite aesthetic I thought of was a Victorian aesthetic. The changes that would be made to fit this style would include eliminating the sides that I used for the rustic one, and replacing them with thin wire/metal that would be bent into small and intricate patterns. There would be lots of curves and patterns to give the piece as much detail as possible. I would likely use black for the wire, giving the rack a feel that is very different from my practical and simplistic approach.

References:

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