Designing for Play and the Natural World
Born in Flagstaff, Arizona into an art and engineering family, Zinnia has spent her life exploring different materials, such as: bottle caps, wood, yarn, chainmail, PLA, aluminum, and more. She draws much of her inspiration from fantasy and playful interaction with the world, especilaly the outdoors. Zinnia is now finishing her degree in Design at Stanford University and hoping to create sustainable and impactful products. She is also making a concious effort to leave this planet better than it is now.
These are projects that took a significant period of time, or that showcase skills that I spent time improving and am proud of the results.
Projects inspired by fantastical places or things I wish were real
This press was CNC milled to fit large scalemail scales. The inside pieces can be removed and replaced for different patterns and fit precisely into the well of the press. Once a scale is placed between the pieces, pressure is applied to the press and the scale is imprinted with the veins of a leaf.
Pierced 1.2 mm sheet silver. I was given a 1in square piece of material, and had to figure out how to cut both earring shapes out of it. I soldered 8x10mm bezel cups to them and set the onyx cabachons. They were then sanded, engraved, and pin finished for the final textured look.
A self patterned fantasy top, made to my measurements. It's made from approximately 300 brushed aluminum scales and even more individually placed jump rings. The construction style is similar to a European 4:1 chainmail pattern.
A combination of knitting and scailmail. The scaled are directly knitted into the basic knit stich every other row to create a fabric which can then be patterned into anything. I chose handwarmers for the simplicity of the pattern for this first attempt.
This is a card game made with several other students in Design for Play, a class that teaches about game design. The game plays off the Apples to Apples style of judging games, but uses more of an improv slant. Players pick an adjective and noun pair to act out for the judge, competing for a "Bloobie Award."
My first foray into chain and scailmail. This is a small piece experimenting with the interaction between mailing and clothing. It's designed to be attatched to any jacket with a small strap on the shoulder.
A stylized version of the Star Wars currency. I combined multiple artist renditions for the final pattern on top, then modified the shape in order for them to be stackable. I printed about 120 of these in black and white for a personalized poker set.
3D printed replicas of Han Solo's lucky dice from Star Wars. This was my first project using CAD and 3D printing. I taught myself enough to use references from shots in the movies to create the unique shapes for each side of the die.
Projects made to catch the eye and evoke a sense of wonder or curiosity
This pendant was CADded and 3D printed in castable wax before becoming a silver part. The design was created for casual everday wear, and inspired by stylized caligraphy letters.
Originally carved in wax, this ring was vacuum cast out of silver in the foundry at the Stanford Product Realization Lab. After casting, I used files to create the rocky texture and patinated some of the surfaces to complete the mountain range.
The center body of this pendant is cast silver from a handcarved wax form. The outer wing shape is created from flat silver wire soldered to the body, with the chain attached through soldered jump rings. The inner twists were made using Navajo filigree and soldering techniques.
My first silversmithing project, and an introduction to the technique of piercing. Pierced out of 1mm silver sheet, the design was inspired by the animated show Avatar: The Last Airbender. I was challenged by the difficuly of piercing the center swirl evenly in one go, but I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out.
I sewed this cloak for a friend (pictured). In order to make it as long as she is tall, I drafted a pattern that split the cloak into panels. However, this created a secondary difficulty of matching the fabric patterns on each panel to make it look more seamless. This was the second of five cloaks that I've made, though the rest were with non-patterned fabrics.
A dress I sewed for a ball at my Stanford dorm. I wanted to make an elegant dress that fit me well, so I found a pattern I like and tailored it to fit better. This was one of the more challenging fabrics I've worked with, and I found making it look nice enough for formal wear required a high degree of precision.
An exercise in mechanisms and precision with imprecise materials. The challenge was to create an automota out of foamcore that incorporated at least 4 different mechanisms, and still could be decorated in the same thematic genre. While time consuming to make sure that it worked, I really enjoyed the simple complexity of foamcore construction and paper crafting decorations.
Projects that create treasure out of trash or that speak to the value of the natural world
Along with a team of Stanford students, I conducted analysis on the lichen population in Jasper Ridge, a conservation area near Stanford Campus. We were attempting to determine the effect of a parasite on the lichen in the area. We spent a couple of weeks collecting samples at the preserve, and several more doing lab analysis on the tissues and writing out our findings.
One of many planters that my family and I made for the Flagstaff Recycled Arts show in 2011. We spent weeks collecting caps, pounding them flat, and cleaning them. My job was to trace the petal shapes and later help arrange and glue them in place. When the planters were presented at the show, the head of the local arboretum told us that he could identify many of the flowers from across the room.
For the 2015 Flagstaff Recycled Arts show, made with my family. There were four boxes of bugs, each from a different planet. We used many different materials, including electronic parts (featured heavily here), watch gears, natural findings, and more.
My family created this chess set out of recycled bottles, crushed glass sand, and thrifted fabric. My dad and I spent many hours dumpster diving for the best bottles (and getting strange looks). Each bottle has a turned wooden cap representing it's position, as well as a sandblasted insignia. The pieces are partially filled with sand to give them weight.
One of my family's traditions is that we make our own Christmas trees. Last year we decided to make a reusable one that we could modify in the future. This tree consists of a large wooden dowel, and 22 different sized "leaves." Each leaf is held separate by a spacer and can be moved around the tree for different formations, or removed for easy transport.
Hobbies, Education, etc
I grew up in Flagstaff, and have always enjoyed building things with my hands. With two engineering parents, and several artists in the family, there was never a shortage of things to make and projects to fiddle with. Once in high school, I began focusing more on STEM fields, and graduated from the AP Academy of Flagstaff High School. My graduation during Covid allowed me to take a gap year, and I got lucky enough to spend several months in Sevilla, Spain during that period, studying Spanish and living with a host family. At the start of college, I had wanted to go into Chemistry, but ended up finding the PRL and becoming a bit obssessed. I switched into Design Junior year and have been creating things since.
I love to play strategy games; I have quite the collection and will happily talk about my favorites to anyone who will listen. I'm always inviting my friends over for game nights and to try new games I've gotten, as it's my favorite way to create community in my home. I also love to cook (especially noodle dishes) and read (especially while cozied up with some tea). Hiking, Ultimate Frisbee, and Jugger are how I get outside and move my body, which I find to be very important to both my physical and mental health. They also have been great ways for me to find community and friends!
