428 Candleholder

In sculpture, one of the challenges artists face is to find a way to integrate a base for their structures (when the artwork cannot support itself) that will also blend with their artwork and will not stick out too much. This project was a study to see how something that starts from a basic primitive can transition into a more complex one while retaining a seamless nature.

This object started off as a geometrical study. We wanted to achieve a tall candleholder that was not just a basic cylinder but rather has so much interplay and looks quiet architectural.

We would like to release metal versions of this object. We have had one made for ourselves and we like how it’s looking.

Starting from a basic primitive, in this case a square, we wanted to progress to a more complicated one, while passing from all the in-between equilateral n-sided primitives without making the transitions obvious. All the shape transitions were solved in the 3D programme before any prototype was printed. To connect each shape with their neighbouring shape we have evaluated several curve progressions and decided on the most aesthetical results. While the transformations wouldn’t look as pleasing if the curves transitions were very linear, so we have later added some more twists in the direction of the curves midway throughout the progression.

The design’s concept evolving from a geometrical progression is giving it the architectural look. The Candleholder stands like a tall maquette of an architectural form. Initially, the design process started as a study. As the study evolved thoughout time, it made sense to assign this design to a candleholder for a tall candle, firstly because of it’s vertical form and secondly because it’s cubistic nature contrasts the candle’s soft and round form nicely.

Initially, the object was made out of polyurethane resin without a brass cup. Although we were making our customers aware (by using stickers with warning messages on the product) to not let the candles burn all the way till the very end, we had a few examples where this did happen and the tip of the candle holder ended up darkening from the candle’s flame. In order to prevent this from happening in the future, when we switched to Jesmonite as our choice of material, we decided to also incorporate a brass cup in order to prevent any damage from occurring to the candleholder’s tip finish. When switching to the second version with the brass tip we designed a mold that allowed us to insert the brass cup into it before the casting process.