BWC Intern Project, Cabinet and Benches

Now that summer is officially over, we really should tell you about our summer intern, Abigail. While she was here she was able to design and fabricate multiple pieces, from a large cabinet to some small bench prototypes. The cabinet was a basic design that needed to store some items we have in the shop space, but we decided to go to town with the doors. Abigail had fun designing them, and learned a ton about our workflow here at Because We Can.

Here is what Abigail says about the project: This cabinet was my first experience using Revit to design a furniture piece. Previously I had considered Revit to be strictly reserved for modeling larger architectural models but was both pleased and surprised to discover how intuitive and efficient Revit was at modeling not only the overall furniture mass, but also the joinery details as well. After completing the Revit model, I exported the doors of the cabinet into Adobe Illustrator where I was more easily able to design the decorative motifs. From designing and building this cabinet, I believe I gained a greater understanding of the impact modeling programs have in aiding design and fabrication.

Next Abigail worked on a bench prototype for our Burning Man camp with The Serpent Twins. She made several prototypes to make sure the design would be sturdy and easy to assemble.

About the benches Abigail says: I took a similar approach to designing the Winged Benches as I did the cabinet unit. I first designed the overall mass within Revit and then exported the model pieces into Illustrator where I drew the decorative profiles and winged back. It was fun to design such an animated piece with such a simple configuration. Designing this flat pack bench that assembles without any additional hardware only further confirmed for me how digital fabrication enhances both design and production.

Thanx Abigail! Good luck in school!