Nissan Juke: Folded In Britain

To mark the 5th birthday of the Nissan Juke, Owen Gildersleeve approached us to help him create a life-sized, origami inspired paper car, to tie in with the company's Japanese roots.

Paper Iron Man

Another impressive collaboration with mighty talented Owen Gildersleeve. We were approached by the organisers of the Silicon Valley Comic Con to create a life-size paper sculpture of Iron Man to help them promote their next event in Tokyo.

The model was built in separate parts in London over a four week period and then the individual components were shipped out to San Jose, California, where we pieced the model together live at the show over the course of the three day event.

60,000 people passed through the San Jose Convention Centre over the weekend and the response to the Iron Man sculpture and performance build was amongst the best we've ever had.

To help support the paper net shell of the sculpture, we used computer aided design software to devise an inner foamboard framework, that would flat-pack, enabling it to be posted over to the American convention centre before the event, ready for assembly onsite. The model also housed an Arduino driven lighting circuit, which we designed to make the "heart reactor" pulse and the eyes flicker. You can see an example video on Owen's Instagram.

You can see more making-of shots as well as some of the amazing costumes from the show on our Instagram.

K-2SO Silicon Valley Comic Con

A wonderful continuation of our exciting collaborative adventures with Owen Gildersleeve and team. After the hugely positive response to our Iron Man build in 2016, the organisers of the Silicon Valley Comic Con asked us back for a second year, to develop a new paper sculpture to wow the crowds in 2017. With the recent release of the new Star Wars film Rogue One, we all decided that it had to be the incredible new humanoid robot K-2SO!

We used a selection of CAD programs to design and create a usable "life-size" model (measuring in at 2160mm tall) and then to break it down into it's paper net parts, so that Owen and team could set about cutting and assembling this insanely complex jigsaw puzzle of a sculpture.

Due to the robots slim joints, we also needed to devise a new type of framework that could not only hold the paper shell of the model firmly in place, but that could also be dissembled for shipping to the event in San José, California.

To add some life to the model, we also set about prototyping a bespoke mechanism and 3D printed parts, which could be attached and screwed to the paper head form of K2SO, all carefully designed so that the sculpture can also be dissembled and serviced.

We fitted custom-built electronic lights into the head for eyes and a pan/tilt servo motor mechanism into the neck so that the whole head could move, which we then wrote a uniquely coded computer program for, to give it uncanny and unpredictable animation.

Wall Street Journal: Apple Car

The wonderful folk at The Wall Street Journal approached Thomas, to develop a playful concept model, to help illustrate ideas in a video article they were creating about Apple's potential move into the electric vehicle market.

Taking inspiration from old concepts of the future, such as The Jetson's and Ford's visionary Atmos, Thomas used recycled iPhone parts in combination with other custom designed parts to create this charming little vehicle. The model was made using a host of modelling techniques and technologies, including CAD drawing, 3-axis CNC milling, 3D printing and vacuum forming.

As well as the model car itself, The Wall Street Journal also featured Thomas in their video article. This can be found on the WSJ website and Youtube channel.

Oh! My GIF Toys

Fuse London Ltd brought Thomas in as part of a core team to take on CAD design, mechanical engineering and prototyping for a number of these amazing "Oh! My GIF" figures by Moose Toys. These adorable tiny collectables all contain mechanisms and moving parts, which means that they not only look great, but are also great fun fidget items.