Speculative objects
Kintsugi Upgrades
Historical vessels reimagined as objects from an alternate future.
- Client / studio
- Card79 — internal project
- My contribution
- Industrial design, with the Card79 team
- Project status
- Digital concept collection
Begin with an existing object
Kintsugi Upgrades is a collection of digital artifacts developed at Card79. It began with 3D scans of historical vessels. The team digitally fractured and reconstructed these objects, adding imagined technologies and new functions.
The collection takes inspiration from kintsugi, the repair of broken pottery with visible seams. Here, the repair becomes a way to connect an object's existing character with an invented future. The original vessel remains recognizable, even as its possible use changes.
Make the unfamiliar feel plausible
The design process involved choosing which fragments to preserve, where to introduce a new element and how the two would meet. Historical forms and surfaces supplied the starting point; the added components suggested functions that could not be realized with present technology.
The work used familiar industrial-design questions about proportion, material and detail in a speculative setting. Each object needed enough coherence to be understood, while leaving room for an unfamiliar use and a story beyond the image.
A digital collection
The resulting pieces were presented as an NFT collection. They were designed for a digital setting, rather than as proposals ready for physical manufacture.
The images and animations bring the objects into view through their surfaces, scale and movement. The collection is a team project from Card79's internal practice, exploring the role of object design beyond a conventional production brief.
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