Penny Piggy Bank

Press Kit

Unique Properties

Penny is a coin container whose aesthetics resembles the symbolic image of a broken piggy bank, commonly used as the representation of a financial crisis or an economic crash. Unlike other piggy banks, Penny provides an enjoyable way to access the loose change: Penny can be broken into pieces and reassembled in thousands of ways while retaining its essence and functionality.

Dimensions & Packaging

The complete piggy bank has a diameter of 127mm, and each part measures 75 x 75 mm. Penny comes in separate pieces in a small packaging of 100mm per side, allowing the enjoyment of immediately assembling the bank after is unboxed. As a Lego set, this way of containing the piggy bank saves time and cost in the assembly line, shipping, and warehousing space.

Tags

piggy, bank, savings, broken, cracks, penny, coins, coin, crash, fall, economy

Production Technology

Penny piggy bank is composed of 12 PVC injection molded parts, 7 unique parts: the ears and the empty parts are repeated. The parts are injected using simple side to side pull angles. The material used in Penny provides a wide range of benefits for this type of application: high resistance to impact, as well as excellent design qualities and finishes. On Penny, the surface finish has a fine textured and matte to conceal marks and scratches from falls or strikes.

Neodymium magnets function as the attaching elements.

Design Challenge

To achieve the initial vision, it was necessary to create and experiment with a computer algorithm using parametrical software to tessellate a sphere into equally chaotic-looking parts, giving the impression that the object was once broken. These modules also needed to be interlocked in any direction, posing an even bigger challenge. It was also important to dial the geometry and the material, work with tight tolerances, simple pull angles, sizes and thickness to create the perfect fit between the parts, as well as keeping a low production cost.

Project Duration

From ideation to product development and manufacturing. The Project started in April 2020 and it was completed by December 2021. Penny is expected to be in the market by the end of 2022.

Operation Flow

Penny provides the users with different and fun ways to access the coins after they have been stored. Penny can be broken into pieces and reassembled in 95.040 ways, while retaining its essence and functionality: It can be thrown onto the floor or hit with a hammer, or it can be assembled and disassembled piece-by-piece.

Also, as in traditional ceramic piggy banks and vinyl toys, Penny serves as a tri-dimensional canvas for customization. The new creations become even more intriguing, unique, and personal after the piggy bank is reassembled in one of the other thousand ways.

Research

Literature Reviews and Archetype Research were part of the initial Discovery work. The goal was to set the symbolic archetype to store coins, as well as looking for memorable ways to access them. Based on the research, most countries in Latin America, Middle East and Africa and many countries in Europe and Asia, still use cash as a daily currency, and going cashless is far from attainable due to cultural predispositions. The use of cash remains above average in these areas. Piggy banks also are the simplest and most effective way to save loose change, and provide a meaningful and educational way to teach children about the importance of this habit.

Inspiration

After seeing the loss and hardship suffered by millions of people during the pandemic, Penny is a representation of what is lost and broken, can also be recovered in unique and unexpected ways. A message about resilience, of how life can be rebuilt even after the effects of a hard fall. The Japanese tradition of Kintsugi also served as the perfect reference: finding uniqueness and beauty in the brokenness and imperfection by highlighting the cracks as the crucial aesthetic element.

Image Credits

Image #1: Photographer Liliana Cervantes, Penny Piggy Bank, 2021.
Image #2-4: Photographer Liliana Cervantes, Penny Piggy Bank, 2021.
Video Credits: Editing Camilo Narvaez, 2021.
Music: Ballerina by Yehezkel Raz. Artlist License Number - 852264.

Patents

Copyrights belong to Dario Narvaez, 2022

Colors of Penny Piggy Bank