Koi Pond Coaster Set

This project was created for my product design class (IPD 5110) final project, where we had to design and fabricate 24 of a single product.

I pitched a koi pond themed coaster set with clear coasters that stack to create a pond scene when viewed from above, with a matching coaster holder to complete the scene.

After a class vote, my idea was chosen as one of the projects to be fabricated! My amazing group members (Joshua Ren and Bailey Campbell) and I created the coaster set on the right!

Making the Coasters

First Iteration

To make the coasters, we laser etched different layers of acrylic with our design and fastened them together. To the right you, can see our first design iteration.

We loved how the etching on clear acrylic looked with the layered offset designs, but we didn’t like how the coaster feet turned out (they were super chunky and we weren’t a fan of the black color). We also loved the fish design, but thought the lilypads and flowers weren’t quite on the same level.

So we began to iterate on the coaster feet and the lilypad and flower designs.

Second Iteration

To make the coasters, we laser etched different layers of acrylic with our design and fastened them together. To the right you, can see our first design iteration.

We loved how the etching on clear acrylic looked with the layered offset designs, but we didn’t like how the coaster feet turned out (they were super chunky and we weren’t a fan of the black color). We also loved the fish design, but thought the lilypads and flowers weren’t quite on the same level.

So we began to iterate on the coaster feet and the lilypad and flower designs.

Making the Holder

To create the holder, I first sculpted the original holder out of paper clay (first picture to the right). Bailey and I also tried a few other approaches (some using real rocks embedded in the clay), but we found that this was our favorite approach.

Then, Bailey created a silicone mold of my sculpt (second picture to the right).

We poured cement into the mold to create more copies of the holder, using a toaster oven to speed up the setting process. Cement was the perfect material because it felt exactly like rocks, which was perfect for our theme. We then hand sanded each one to remove imperfections and added furniture feet to the bottom.

Original holder sculpt

Holder mold

Final Set!

Final Sale

Our final sale was super successful! We made around $335 (after subtracting material costs). To the right are pictures of our final inventory and our booth for the class sale.

We were also selected to do a popup sale at a store in old city called Art in the Age, which was a super cool experience!

Overall this was one of the most fun and rewarding projects I’ve ever made :D