Succulent Planter

Intention

The goal of this project was to create a 3D-printed holder. I'm an avid succulent collector (mostly due to my black thumb), so I decided to create a succulent planter for this project to use in my room.

Context

Succulent planters are usually small and either plain or a simple geometric pattern. Many of the 3D-printed planters out there today follow this pattern. I wanted to create something more fluid than the designs that exist today. I was looking to design a planter that looked different and interesting from every angle. I also wanted to create something that was more visually exciting than the regular succulent planters that you see day to day.

Process

I began the project by browsing existing designs for succulent planters. My initial designs were more geometric and simple. I was researching planters that looked better in groupings like this one:

versus planters that looked better on their own (due to their more complex nature) like this one:

. I decided that I wanted to create a more intricate design for my planter so I decided to focus on just one. 

I noticed that the base of planters are usually a hexagon-type shape. I started with this shape and used Fusion360 to create a shape that looked like a hexagon had been twisted and pulled upright. This would show movement and fluidity in the design. 

At first this design was much more complex than I was used to with Fusion360. I spent the first few days playing around with different functionalities of Fusion360 so that I could find the best way to create my planter. Eventually I decided to make hexagons on different offset planes and use the loft functionality to fuse them all together into one fluid shape. I shaped out the center for a space for the succulent and then pulled the upward-facing side up even further to give the shape more of a twist.

This is the finished design in Fusion360:

Product

I used Fusion360 to create my final version of the succulent planter. The planter was printed with the Hunt Library Ideate Lab 3D Printer. In real life the planter is about 4.5" wide and 3" tall. 

The final product is a design that demonstrates fluid motion in a usually stiff, geometric object such as a planter. The planter appears different from every angle the user looks at it and appears to have a never-ending spiral to the design.

Below are images of the final product:

Reflection

This process was a challenge with Fusion360. I drafted up many ideas of what I wanted the planter to look like and realized the design was too complex to match my knowledge of Fusion360. Looking back on the process, if I had more time, I would have spent that time on training myself more on the smaller, more obscure "Create" and "Modify" functionalities of Fusion360 in order to create the more complex planter design that I was looking for.

Overall, I'm proud of my progress for the class - I believe the planter came out with smooth and well defined lines and curves giving the planter an elegant look and feel.