Dior - Kinetic Backdrop
For this project, I joined Fiction Factory to create a total of 12 kinetic installations used as backdrops for Dior jewelry in flagship stores throughout Europe. Each backdrop consisted of hundreds of gold-colored metal tiles that can swivel left to right to create organic motions.
One of the final installations
Approach
The tiles were controlled by camshafts that pushed directly against them to tilt. Every row in the installation had an individual camshaft with a stepper motor to control its position. This enabled a lot of interesting animations by varying the speed and position between the rows.
My responsibilities
Within this project, I was responsible for both the electronics design and the firmware to create and run the animations.
For the first prototype, a hand-soldered circuit board was made to quickly test the setup. When this proved to be successful, I designed a custom PCB to easily scale up the project.
The firmware development consisted of two parts: the installation had to work from a technical standpoint, but creating impactful animations was just as important.
First prototype of the motor control PCB
Final version of the motor control PCB's
Camshafts in action
The fully assembled installation
Prototype during testing
Photograpy by Fiction Factory and Pim Swinkels