Month: April 2024

For our assignment, we drew inspiration from Studio Drift’s Shylight installation and decided to create something similar but with an upside-down. Our goal was to mimic the elegant motion of a blooming flower. We began by constructing an umbrella-like form using six wires and a plastic piece with six holes, allowing each wire to pass through and form the flower’s petals. We then added a cone-shaped structure through which the flower would bloom outward, creating a visual effect and attached another wire as the peduncle.

Next, we connected the wire peduncle to a linear actuator to test its functionality. Once we confirmed that the mechanism worked, we enhanced the aesthetics by adding LED strips and additional layers for a more appealing visual. Lastly, to house the linear actuator, we built a cardboard box. 

In this assignment, we made three paper karakuri mechanisms with distinct repetitive movements. Working in pairs, we built one mechanism that produced a repetitious vertical motion, another that generated a repetitious horizontal movement, and a final one that swayed back and forth using a linkage mechanism. Throughout the process, we realised the importance of precise measurements. Every millimetre and fraction mattered as we crafted these mechanisms using card stock paper. Accurate measurements became evident as we wanted flawless synchronisation and fluid motion in our Karakuri creations. Overall it was an interesting assignment to build paper mechanics and understand how each mechanism works.