Final Project _ Product Strategy

My philosophy is to offer a versatile multifunctional piece of jewellery which is aimed at the men’s market, a market that is currently untapped. My range is versatile in the sense that it can be worn as a ring (main purpose), around the neck as a pendant as well as the wrist creating a bracelet.

The direct translation of the word “Venzini” is “petrol” in Greek.  I was inspired to use this name to brand my collection as the concept of petrol speaks to my philosophy in life. i.e. Petrol is a combustible fuel that creates kinetic energy, which is the driving force behind my collection

My target market is males starting at the age of 18 onwards. My product caters for a range of income types as we are able to manipulate pricing through metals and design choices.

My initial range of designs has been coined “R1M”. It was inspired by the concept of mag wheels and should appeal to the “petrol head” in every man. I strongly believe that customers will opt to buy my product because it is different to the commercial stuff out in the market these days and it gives men the opportunity to wear something unique.

Fuel Wheels Revolver_FWR 1/2/3

 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/467178161320659926/ 

 

For this design, I literally just used the round cut out as my inspiration for creating the FWR1 Ring, after some experimentation on rhino, I found the design more interesting to let the tubes protrude. 

FWR1

 

for the next design (FWR2), I used the little bolts as my inspiration and thought it would be cool to have detail on the inside of the ring

FWR2

 

for FWR3 I decided to a comfort fit band whilst trying to retain the slight ''v shape"' on the outer part of the reference. instead of leaving the 'bolt like' feature like my previous ring, I decided to Boolean difference it.

 

FWR3

Monster Inspired Rim _ MIR

 

 

 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/467178161320659949/

 

For this Design, I decided to use the side profile of the Monster rim design as my reference for creating this ring. I liked the way the design was concaved inwards and tried to create the same effect on my ring.

 

 

 

 

Compmotive Ring _CRR

 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/467178161320712219/

 

I liked the way there was a definite gap between the actual rim and the P symbol, I decided to create a ring that would have an ovalish shape (inspired by the P) protruding to create a design on the ring

 

 

 

 

Final Project _ Competitor Analysis

I decided to embark on some “mystery shopping”. I found that most of the leading jewellery houses host an extensive range catering for woman whilst the men’s range is limited and lacks uniqueness. House hold names such as Browns, Charles Greig, Shimansky etc. do not cater effectively for the gents market. The range that they offer is limited and the price point caters toward a high net worth individual. Brands like Edgars and Sterns offer a low end range however the designs are mass manufactured and lack creativity. This confirmed my initial assumption that there is a gap in the market in terms of the type of gent’s rings that are available. The product I am looking to take to market is unique, trendy and easily transforms from a ring into a pendant and a bracelet.

Solidscape part 2

After a very very long wait....My print is finally done! but the process isn't quiet.... once the print is done, you have to take the build plate out of the very sensitive machine and heat it up to exactly 110 degrees before you are able to scrape it off. However the pieces still look like blue and purple blobs....in order for you to remove the supports of the pieces without damaging them, you then put them into a mineral oil and methylated spirit mix and leave on the hot plate to dissolve the supports. Problem with this step is all your hard work could literally disappear right in front of your eyes if you leave it in for too long as if the mix is hot enough it could dissolve your entire print. It was my first time ever experiencing a 3D printer in this case it happened to be a Solidscape... and I was astonished at the amount of steps there was to get one print done. This experience made me like the Roland cutter a lot more than I initially did. I hope the other 3D Printers are better....

 

The  Printing bed being heated so that we can remove the pieces

The supports for my piece being dissolved in the mix

My ring after the lengthy process

 

Final Project _ Internet Research / Surveys / Focus Groups

After conducting intensive research on the internet I realized that there was a gap in the market in terms of the jewellery items that cater for the male segment. Being part of “Generation X” I can see a rise in metro sexuality amongst my male counter parts, myself included. I have seen a significant rise in male grooming and I see more males looking to spend money beautifying themselves in terms of their taste in clothing, hair styles, grooming. This led me to believe that there was an untapped market in terms of jewellery products / accessories available to men.

I decided to explore this hypothesis and conducted focus group sessions with men between the ages of 16 and 50. The results supported by hypothesis. Men between the ages of 16 and 35 have no problem spending at least 20% of their income beautifying themselves. This includes spending lavishly on jewellery accessories. I also discovered that some men over the age of 45 have no desire to splurge on grooming and would much rather prefer to pursue hobbies i.e. sports and socializing.
 

Trying to Print : Solidscape

So with time almost running out for me being at Design@50 I decided to play a little, I am on the verge of printing one of the rings that I designed towards Mercedes Benz Fashion week. The 3D printer I will be using first is called Solidscape. This Printer prints a blob of supports intertwined into the piece being printed, which is perfect for jobs that have a lot of  'floating' detail etc....

Above is an image of the Ring I will be printing

 

Solidscape 3D printing machine

Solidscape busy at work

Inene Roland Cut : Complete

Very pleased to see that the Roland cut out the prototypes perfectly, time to cut them off the base, clean them up and show the clients.

 

 

 

 

Final Project - Presenting to Jenna Clifford

Today, we were given our final project. looking at the brief, we are given roughly two months to work on this, in conjunction with our usual work detail.

The aim of this project is for us to apply research theory to design and develop a signature collection of commercial jewellery for a specific retail market.

This project is a rather exciting one as I am allowed to do this project in such a way that it ties up with my B-tech scheme of work, as well as us presenting to a local designer that has become a success in international markets, Jenna Clifford.

Inene Product Developmet - Cutting on the Roland

So I am going to prototype the products for Inene but I m trying to work as smart as I possibly could due to printing being expensive especially if there is no definite order.....I learnt about a resin mix called F16. this allows you to cut out your piece and vulcanize it straight without having to cast it in a metal. I have decided to use the Roland Jwx 10 machine to do this job as it is quick and inexpensive compared to the other machines.

 

What I found really cool about this machine in particular, is that it is set up to do a flip cut;what this basically means is you are able to have detail on both ends of the product provided that there are no undercuts.

Inene Product Development Meeting 2

Below are the revised designs that were presented to the owners of Inene. They have asked if I am able to make a model of what I designed as they cant grasp sizes of the products etc on a computer screen. Its finally that time where I get to play with the machines at Design @ 50

Inene Product Development Meeting 1

Today I had a Meeting with the owners of Inene, below are some of the design ideas which I pitched to them.

Zip Pull Tabs:

Bag Buckle:

Cufflinks :

 

 

The client settled on 3 items, a pair of cufflinks, a pull tab and a bag buckle. They also asked for minor changes to be made.

 

Cufflinks needed to be the same size as a 20c coin

 

Bag buckle needs to be thicker and more rounded

 

Find a way to attach this to the zip pull tab



Building a car using Rhino

I was recently given a demonstration on how to create a surface using a network of curves on Rhino. after trying to create parts of a small model airplane, I felt brave enough to try and design a car in my spare time. Below are screen shots of my progress thus far.