Italian Book Nook for mom

Getting Started

My Italian-inspired book nook was created for my mom, who is my maker. She is a proud Italian-American and an incredible cook of the cuisine, so I wanted this book nook to be an ode to her recipes and heritage. Growing up, my mom and I would bond over cooking Italian food from recipes passed down throughout our family, as well as coming up with some of our own. Every meal she makes is made with love, and I wanted to recognize that and give it back to her with this gift.

My parents converted the little closet under the stairs in our house into a “wine room”, where I want this book nook to be stored. The wine room has shelving made of wood that supports the wine bottles, so I wanted the wood of this book nook to match, which is why it is primarily made out of laser-cut wood.

There were many pieces of wood that needed to be cut out to create this book nook. I organized my illustrator file into 8 pages of compiled pieces, double-checking which parts would be scored and which parts would get cut all the way through. An initial challenge of using the laser cutter was becoming accustomed to the GlowForge software since I have only used the laser cutter at Murray. Once I understood how this laser cutter worked, I found that it was actually exceptionally easier to navigate! The UX of the software was amazing — I inputted the material type and uploaded my artwork and GlowForge was smart enough to differentiate between the red designs and black designs, which made cutting much easier. Another thing that I loved about the GlowForge software was that I could drag my designs and make them fit on the wood since there was a camera on the laser cutter. With the laser cutter at Murray, I would’ve had to change the layout in illustrator and then re-upload it, which is very time-consuming!

A minor setback of using the laser cutter was that I should have peeled the sticker off of the wood before I cut it. I didn’t do that, and I ended up having to peel the sticker off of each little piece individually. And since GlowForge’s cutting settings relied on using certain materials (I used light maple wood), I could only use that material to cut out 8 pages of designs, so I had to be efficient and hope that the Equity in the Making Lab had pieces of wood large enough for me to use!

Once I understood the GlowForge software, it was extremely easy to use the 3D printer. I have struggled with using 3D printers in the past, but this interface was much easier to understand and my design only took 30 minutes to print and 5 for me to figure out how to use!

Putting all the pieces together was very challenging because when I laser cut the wood I had forgotten which materials were important and which were scrap. It was like putting together a 300-piece puzzle where some of the pieces wouldn’t even be used! Working piece by piece and panel by panel really helped me in this process. Overall, it was a very relaxing activity and I had lots of fun assembling it all!

The origami animals came last because I wanted to ensure that they would be an appropriate size, and I wasn’t sure where they would look best in the design. The lights were also a more last minute addition since I didn’t know where I wanted to put them at first. My original idea was to have a circuit that connected them to the hanging lanterns, but that proved to be too complicated to pull off. I opted for putting them behind windows and openings.

Technologies

The 3 technologies I used for this project were the laser cutter, 3D printer, and paper crafts. Throughout my time in INLS 690, the technology I have most enjoyed learning about was the laser cutter, so I wanted to challenge myself to construct the book nook almost entirely out of wood cut by the laser cutter. I also took a graphic design course last semester where I learned how to use Adobe Illustrator, and I wanted to maintain the skills I learned by working with the software again this semester. In addition to wanting to challenge myself, I also wanted the project to match the aesthetic of the wine room. I chose the 3D printer because it was something I initially struggled with at the beginning of the semester. My 3D printer flash project had many setbacks and did not come out well, so I wanted the chance to correct my mistakes with this project. I wanted to use origami instead of 3D printing the animals because I didn’t feel like I got to work with origami enough during the semester. I found a really cool YouTube video teaching me how to make animals, so I was excited to give it a try!

User Experience

By having multiple layers to the book nook with some “buildings” jutting out, the user can easily view intricate details of the book nook in both the front and back. To replicate a night-time Italian alleyway, I included the lights that came with the book nook into sections that jut out to give the appearance of life in the buildings and depth around the corner of the alley. Since this project is intended to be placed in the wine room, I have a sign that says vino (wine in Italian) at the front of the book nook. I also included a sign that says “home sweet home” with stairs leading up to a doorway with the address 1971, which is the year my mom was born. In addition to adding lights to make it seem more “life-like”, I also included an origami dog to make it more realistic.

Class Connections

When I began making this project, I wasn’t sure if a cook would count as a “maker”, but this course and our discussions brought to light the nuances of making. One of our earlier readings talked about making as a form of survival, from patching old clothing to repairing appliances. Cooking food for my family with love is my mom’s form of making and is central to our family’s culture. Having the chance to combine different technologies that we’ve worked on over the course of this semester was very exciting, and allowed the design to feel more life-like.

The reading on human-centered design discussed the importance of understanding what you are designing and the purpose before diving into a design, which was really valuable going into this project since there were so many complexities. Considering the UX helped me figure out how I was going to combine all of the elements, like putting the lights in the back to make it feel more realistic, having the 3D printed clock be the centerpiece, and the vino and the 1971 signs. If I had started by designing, I could have easily gotten lost in all the pieces!