Through user research it became clear that the user is selective of what gets permanent floorspace, so I developed two alternative placement options: a ceiling placement and a ceiling corner placement. The ceiling corner placement is a bit more conceptual of course, exploring new ways of exploiting space.
Materials:
The Zero-Gs challenges the use of plastic, and are instead made of recycled, anodized aluminum and Organoid. Organoid provides carbon neutral products made from up-cycled, quickly renewable raw materials, mainly European agricultural waste, such as stems, shells, and flowers. The user can choose from a selection of materials which can easily be replaced later.
One unique feature of these materials is that some of them comes with their natural smells and scents. The hay will smell fresh summer grass from Austrian alps, while the coffee shell material will smell coffee. Some materials are also scent free. All the materials are tested and proved allergy friendly.
On the purifier the scents might be filtered away, but on the humidifier it will replacement the aroma box.
Assembly:
The user will have to screw the spokes into the main shape, and the outer ring to the spokes themselves due to transportation and packaging optimization. The many parts of the Zero-Gs are not permanently fixed or mixed together, keeping the circularity and replaceability of parts.
Process:
The first thing I did was to do a shape analysis to understand the shape language of Wilfa. Here I understood that straight, confident lines, rounded corners and some sort of contrast through cuts, or materials was characterizing. After a shape study I figured geometric, circular shapes and cylinders could fit for this project. I wanted the shape to be proud, creative, fearless, and futuristic as these words are translated from the Wilfa values.
This process was different from what I have done before. This time I made a concept without any restrictions in the very beginning, and then worked on bringing the concept back. I tried to make the product more Scandinavian and realistic while keeping the core of the concept. The concept was of course validated early on before choosing this concept.
Modelmaking:
As part of the process, I took the internal components measurements and made several mock-ups in cardboard to see what the optimal placement of the components would be to achieve the right proportions and dimensions on the product. I also made a visual model in the end made from steel and pressed and glues hay with a high degree finish. This was helpful as I was conscious of the material use and efficiency. Also, several design and production choices came to light during the modelbuilding. To me this was a highly effective method to bump up the design quality.
