I designed and engineered a flower with internal LEDs, then helped install 2,500 of them in a Honolulu park.

Design

I worked with our industrial designers to ensure the flower would mimic nature without falling into the uncanny valley.

The overlapping layers of petals looked elegant, but posed a significant molding challenge. I solved this by splitting the petals into five identical pieces, with three petals on each, avoiding any troublesome undercuts.

Flower Garden
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Fabrication

I traveled to Shanghai to watch the first parts come off the tool. We did assembly testing, and then we tuned the texture and pigment until we were satisfied with the look of the flower. We had to consider both daytime and nighttime aesthetics.

Flower Garden
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Installation

I flew with the team to Honolulu, where we spent two weeks assembling, debugging, and perfecting the flower garden. The end result speaks for itself.

Images and video copyright Symmetry Labs 2019.