Wallet Hardware

Hello after a brief hiatus! This post is the first of a few that I'm going to make about some of the design work I did at my wonderful internship with Tumi this summer. I'll keep the introduction brief but I'd like to express how grateful I am for all the experience and technical knowledge I gained working with such talented minds this summer. Getting paid to learn the things that other people pay hundreds or even thousands to learn, like Photoshop, Illustrator, and SolidWorks, was an absolute privilege. I loved being a part of the process; getting to pull back the curtain and experience the madness and creativity behind a beautiful finished product reminded me why I love this work and inspired me to pursue it further. And I must add that working primarily in menswear opened up a whole new side of the fashion/lifestyle goods industry to me. The thought and detail that goes into each piece is truly extraordinary.

That being said, I'm excited to present a little bit of the process behind one of my first projects using SolidWorks this summer, which was a real trial and error process, I'm not going to lie. I was instructed to create a 3D rendering of a small logo plate to be put on the front of wallets and/or other small leather goods. It was really interesting to work on such a small scale because what might seem like minuscule changes became a lot more noticeable. I was first given a basic 2D idea of the piece that I then reinterpreted. Here's a look at that, made possible by the incredibly talented Mike:

This was also my first time working with a curved surface and having to deal with radii and surface knitting and more complicated extruded cuts. I also learned a new favorite tool: debossing (cue hearts floating above my head). It's like virtual engraving and it is the coolest thing ever, especially on a curved surface. Anyway here's a look at one of the final versions:

I say one of the final versions because I made a few at first with sharp corners instead of round, or a top surface that had too large of a radius, etc. These were all easy fixes so I don't feel the need to include photos of these.

As you can see from the photo, I was asked to reduce the height of the piece by .5 mm. This is what I mean when I talk about attention to detail. It really makes me value the pieces I'm producing when I see a height difference of .5 mm being negotiated for a tiny plaque on the front of a wallet. Even though most of the work I did as in intern was small scale projects like this, it was this attention to detail that made me feel like I was still contributing to the larger aesthetic of the piece.

Here is a look at the final version. Yes, I know it looks very similar to the picture above but hey, it's all in the details!

And of course once this was approved I had to spec it out in Illustrator again, which proved more difficult than I expected. SolidWorks, fortunately, does a lot of the measurement work for you when you want to turn your part into a drawing, but unfortunately it doesn't catch every measurement I need. Therefore I had to add my own measurements in Illustrator, which was its own challenge. But at the end of the day I got to see my name on the "Prepared By" section of the spec sheet for the first time, which was a small but exciting triumph for a design rookie like myself.

Next time I'll talk a little bit about the design research and work I did for some of the wallets themselves, can't wait!