Iteration 1

For the first iteration, I designed 3 variation on the theme of the interlocking triangles, with different size and positioning of the cuts so I could evaluate the design. The design was created on Rhino for Mac, a program I've been familiar with for a while.

For decorative purposes and in line with the inspiration, I added an internal triangle positioned upside down from the main one.

Here is the final result of the 3 different designs. As you can see from the outcome, the first one creates quite a big opening in the middle of the triangles, the second one is quite balanced yet the cuts are too deep, and the third one is a bit cluttered.

The second design was considered to be the most visually appealing due to its balance between empty and filled space, so I decided to choose that. However the cuts vere too deep, causing the felt to break. Also I still had to put hinges in order to make the interlock stronger

Iteration 2

Once I evaluated that the design n.2 was the most visually balanced of the 3, I decided to create the hinges to make this strucutre solid ad pull-resistant. I went about it by creating a sort of “arrow” shape at the points of the triangles, so I could slide them in and make it harder for people to remove them.

The material used to cut the triangle seamless pattern is felt, about 1.5 mm thick.

The setting used in the laser cut are the following:

Power: 12

Speed: 35

The stress test demonstrated that, although indeed the triangles were bound together pretty tightly, the cuts in the arrows could be made deeper in order to ensure a tighter fit.

Iteration 3

I went back on Rhino and made the cuts creating the interlocking arrow longer, allowing for a more stable fit. The trick is to not make them too long, which would make the interlock weak again, but on the opposite side. In the photo below, you can see the left arrow is the second iteration, with shorter arrow cuts, while the right arrow is the third one, with deeper cuts.

The stress test demonstrated that the interlocked pattern is more resistant than before :)

Unintended - yet pleasant - byproducts

The first batch of triangle patterns are useless in regards to their ability to interlock. However, they proved to be a nice design for earrings :)