As I said in my intro: I've never used any kind of fabrication or design software before! At best, I've used some Canva, but as a former consultant, my life was on powerpoint and whiteboards. This week has been an adventure in what to use - but also what not to! I explored 3 AI tools for ideation and code support (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity), did hand drawings on Notability on my iPad, used Pinterest for inspiration on vinyl cutter designs (but want to use Inkscape in the future), and used Fusion for parametric design for the laser cutter.
I chose to start with a slightly more complex design: a silhouette of a lily (my mom's favorite flower!). On the plus side, it came out mostly neatly and lent itself to a cool negative-space sticker (shoutout to my section mate Carlotta for that idea). But we did face a few challenges: a leak in the lab led to the roll being wet and the test not running properly, and this design is quite intricate, so some of the lines didn't close (i.e., didn't yield a closed petal shape).
I wanted to make something that was modular, practical, and personally significant to me. So I decided on a modular "masala dabba" (spice box) - a kitchen staple back home in India. Traditionally these are steel, with cylindrical boxes fit into a larger round box (see the picture below). I wanted to make a more modern version - one that grows with you as your cooking abilities improve (so you could start with just salt and pepper boxes, and then go up to 10, 15 etc.), and that allows for variable stacking depending on how much space you have to work with. So I chose a hexagonal base, because these look pretty even when you arrange them side by side in a honeycomb structure. But you can also place them one on top of the other if you're short on shelf space.
I struggled with two things: 1. Translating what was in my head to what will actually exist in the world (i.e., thinking about the component pieces, how they'll interlock etc.) 2. Once I'd done that, translating my scribbles and drawings into Fusion renders.
For now, I'm focusing on getting as much practice as possible with Fusion before printing and stacking these. I'll update this site later in the week with learnings from printing! In the meanwhile, laser cutting training was helpful.
Figure out the lid design and vertical stacking; use the cutter and assemble