Flexible Ear Cuff
In my senior fall at MIT I took the class 4.031 Design Studio: Objects and Interaction. For this class, we were tasked with creating a wearable. For this project, I wanted to create an ear cuff that can open and close around the ear. The idea was that the piece is decorative, but you can also use it to close yourself off, such as when you’re studying in the library and do not want others to speak with you. Another thought that came to mind was the possibility of it keeping your earbuds in your ear and the cuff could affect the audio the wearer was listening to. With the audio concept in mind, I thought of using wood, which could bounce the sound around. To make the wood flexible, I attempted to lasercut living hinges that could fold around the ear and insert themselves into slots to close. My first attempt at this was made incorrectly, and the cuff fell apart, but I did learn that the shape around the ear held well. My next attempt was successful, but I realized the hinges were not as flexible as I would have liked, and would not be able to fold over the ear. I began to think about what material I could use that could hold a shape, but still be flexible enough to fold or curve around. I decided to instead 3D print the ear cuff using a flexible resin. While the petal-like decorations around the cuff successfully folded over, I had some trouble with the cuff staying closed. The front of the cuff had slots in which the ends of the petals could be inserted, but the portion that slots were in was very thin and would break off frequently. In the end, I added rings to the ends of the petals that would slide on to the front portion, keeping the petals closed. While in the final piece, the front piece broke off again, I was able to still use it to hook the rings and keep the ear cuff closed. This can be seen in the video below:
