Bronze Furniture Design · 2020
Tamsa Money Bank
by Jose Roca
- A' Design Award 2020 Bronze Winner in Furniture Design
- Awarded April 15, 2020
- CLIENT: Jose Roca Studio
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 16,330
- Verification code 55BBA250C3 · Verify this award
About Tamsa Money Bank
Tamsa is a coin bank designed for the home. Tamsa consists of two parts, a vase that stores the coins and a dish that acts as a lid. The dish is held in place by three neodymium magnets and can be repositioned to change the appearance of the piece. The vase is made of black matte clay, and the dish is made of steel with an electrolytic bath that gives a brass-like finish. A rubber cover inside the vase protects the product from falling coins. The overall size is 250 mm by 250 mm by 90 mm. The form recalls the El Dorado legend and the offering ritual of the Muisca culture.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Tamsa's main purpose is to serve as a case for those coins we collect in our day by day journey in the most elegant and display full way. While most of the money banks are made to hide their purpose, Tamsa becomes a center piece that encourage the owner to make an offering to his savings.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- The main dimensions for this project are: 250 mm x 250 mm x 90 mm, decomposed into two main components, the base that is made out of black matte clay which dimensions are 244 mm x 244 mm x 80 mm, and a dish made out of steel with an electrolytic bath that give the brass finish, it's dimensions are 250 mm x 250 mm x 60 mm.
- Tags
- elegant, savings, offering, collect, essential, decorative, contemporary, home, ceramic, interior
- Production Technology
- Tamsa's main material are clay and galvanized steel with a electrolytic bath that give it's brass alike finish for its two main elements (the dish and the vase). But in addition this project count with other two additional elements that appeal more to the function, one of these is the rubber cover inside the vase, set there to protect the product from the coins that will be falling in, and second, a set of three neodymium magnets that help to fit the dish with the vase, making the product more safe in its manipulation.
- Design Challenge
- The main challenges in the development of Tamsa was defining the best way to abstract and represent many concepts of a culture that merge with myths and bring them together into a timeless context with a piece that results intuitive and meaningful to the user.
- Project Duration
- This is a project that starter as an idea back in May 2018, was left as a simple sketch until June 2019 when the prototyping started after multiple tests, back and forwards, the product is starting production by October 2019.
- Operation Flow
- Tamsa consists of two parts, the vase where the money is stored and the dish that works as a lid that protect the valuables. This second is secured with a magnetic system that allow to reposition it over the vase to create different aspects of the same product depending on the environment where is placed.
- Research
- To develop Tamsa, the main focus was to create a product inspired in one of South America most important pre Columbian cultures, the Muiscas, yet transcendent in a way that can be placed in any context and still be understood in its meaning and function. Analyzing multiple aspects of their culture, myths, legends and traditions through comparison tables was determined that the El Dorado legend could be the best reference to start working. With the help of focus groups and checking on traditional manufacturing methods Tamsa was born.
- Inspiration
- Tamsa means offering in Chibcha, a South American tribe that had a ritual where the heir to the throne got covered in gold and emeralds to then get washed in the guatavita lagoon as an offer to the gods. The Spanish conqueror Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada was the first to witness this, giving origin to the El Dorado legend, a city covered in gold. Tamsa is a memory between the ritual and the myth that recreate that act of offering for a better future in the most elegant way.
- Image Credits
- Jose Roca Studio, 2019.
Colors of Tamsa Money Bank
Design Interview about Tamsa Money Bank
The main idea behind this design is to make a memory over our heritage as Colombians and reflect on our past and traditions.
I wanted to create an object that challenge the normal perception or conceptions over it. That is why I decided to create a money bank that will be displayed wide open and not hidden and shy.
Start production right away and promote it in my country.
The main concept took around two weeks. Refining it with its proportions and materials took around three months.
This design was born from a personal need of getting an object where I could place the items I carry on my pockets when I get home.
By the moment I am producing it by myself. But I am open to anyone interested in getting the production rights.
The need to be organized.
I look for tons of references of money banks, to filter what I found interesting on them and how could I make it better, also check on the pre-Columbian crafts that can be found in Museo de Oro in Bogotá, Colombia.
Anyone who want a decorative item that tells a story, to open room for a dialogue that goes around heritage, myths and history.
This object is not just a money bank. This is a tribute for heritage.
Tamsa is the Muiscas term used to refer to offerings or tributes, a term that is coherent with the main purpose of this object.
At the beginning I made use of the classical pen and paper. After this used different resources as CAD and paper models to define proportions and dimensions. Also where made play and wood prototypes.
Is an unexpected object. As seen for the first time, this cannot be directly related to a money bank. So it creates a surprise effect when discover its main purpose and relationship with the myth that inspired it.
I had help of a local workshop called Casa de Barro where the molds and first pieces where developed.
This is a mixture of handcraft and machinery, since the vase is made by hand and the dish is made through an embossing process.
Expert surveys where made to define the most pleasant proportion, materials and finishing combinations and assembly methods.
The main challenges appeared during the production face, where some parts and olds had to be remade a few times to get the final and proper dimension.
I was motivated by some colleagues who had made part of this competition in the past and helped me understand all the benefits of making part of this selected group.
Helped me being more organized and efficient in the creation of new projects.