Hasta La Ideas

Over the next months we will be highlighting award-winning projects and ideas from this year’s Core77 Design Awards! For full details on the project, jury commenting and more information about the awards program, go to Core77DesignAwards.com

Designer: Nick Santillan
Location: Surrey, BC, Canada
Category: Speculative Objects/Concepts
Award: Student Notable

RedBlueCNC

RedBlueCNC is a modular CNC system that can be easily rearranged to suit specific tasks. Hobbyists and developers can experiment with CNC technology while bypassing the complex learning curve needed to build complex CNC machines. Red Blue CNC promotes experimentation to further develop new types of CNC and tool heads.

I set out a way to minimize the complex machines to simple modular units that more people can comprehend. This allows for people to experiment with different setups, they are no longer restrained by how the machine is designed by allowing them to redesign the machine quickly and easily. By designing an intimidating machine to be more approachable, I wanted to develop a base in which others can push the technology forward to ways others have not thought of before. Hobbyist can focus on new tool heads instead of worrying about how to make everything else work.

Core77: What’s the latest news or development with your project?

The prototype is functional but requires a larger motor to make it fully operational. Instead of upgrading it, I decided to make a new design all together, one that suits me specifically rather than a mass audience as the original was designed for.

What is one quick anecdote about your project?

I had problems overcoming how to simplify a complex machine. I looked at Gerrit Rietveld for inspiration and found his L40 lamp has 3 planes much like a typical CNC machine. That’s when I decided to separate each axis to my design. After that it was just screaming to use Rietveld’s Red Blue Chair color scheme.

Read on for full details on the project and jury comments.

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