ANIMALS

There’s a recurring joke in my family that all I want is a plastic zebra. The story goes that, as a child, I asked for a plastic zebra for the holidays. When my brother asked for a water gun or a Gameboy or some such fancy toy, I wanted nothing more than the $2 injection molded animal from our nearby toy store. It didn’t even have articulating limbs.

My interest in simple toys has followed me down the line. As soon as I got access to CAD software in college, I modeled and 3D printed a giraffe (pictured below). I made a few more animals. Then a few more. I wanted to strike a balance between organic and geometric: smooth edges and repeated patterns on common primaries. I kept exploring this idea of minimal animals on and off over the next several years, yielding an apartment that looked like a high-end toy store — the kind that called itself a “shoppe” or a “boutique.”

At this point, I’ve used CAD for more complicated mechanisms and multi-part assemblies, but I keep coming back to these as favorite 3D designs. Something about them retains an organic humanity and gentle touch that reminds me just how much can be evoked using standard solids modeling tools.