Tiltceramicp l a n t e r

Design IntentTo create greater awareness of Viktor Schreckengost through design inspired by his process and work.

Viktor Schreckengost was a designer and artist whose career spanned from the 30’s until the late 70’s.

Viktor was among the few fathers of industrial design, creating a wide range of work from ceramic dinnerware, to bicycles and pedal cars. He has designed for American Limoges, Salem China Company, White Motor Company, Murray, Sears, and General Electric to name just a few.

Practicality and function were high priorities in Viktor’s design work. Some examples of these values include the first cab-over-engine truck configuration and using sheet metal waste from vehicle manufacture to form his iconic pedal cars.

Many of Viktor’s designs are well known but the man behind the design is much less familiar.

Who is Viktor Schreckengost?

how do you successfully design during a depression?

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Initial research consisted of an interview and tour with the curator of the Viktor Schreckengost museum.

Our curator provided my peers and me with not only a great overview of Viktor’s life and career but access to countless original examples of his work.

ResearchUsing these resources, we created various timelines mapping out his two dimensional, ceramic, and design work.

We used these as visual references as well as a tool to help interpret how Viktor might design today.

faceted design, clear plane breaks

leaning gesture suggests motioncubist inspired artwork

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Initial ThoughtsInitial forms were inspired by Viktor’s pedal vehicles and ceramic animal sculptures. At this stage the function ranged from pitchers to desktop squid speakers to positional planters. While I was leaning toward ceramic as a material, the function was still undecided.

conical base pivots

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RefinementOnce the planter concept was chosen, I continued to further refine the form.

The final design had to have the appearance of a ‘seedling’, had to be small enough to be held in the palms of one’s hands for an intimate interaction and had to be multi-positional.

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PrototypingFirst sculpting the design out of clay and ren board, a multi-part plaster mold was cast around the original.

Then, a terra cotta slip was created for casting. The slip-casting process allowed me to rapidly produce multiples in order to study the design in plural.

terra cotta slip is in a liquid state

plaster mold cast from original model

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sprue and flashing to be removed

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TiltTilt gets its name from the three different resting positions enabled by the simple faceted base.

When two or more Tilts get together, a small family is created, encouraging interaction and attention to the plant.

exposed terra cotta permits water to flow and plant to breathe

small porcelain trays capture excess water

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