The project
Built in 2024 for a photoshoot of a new ECCO shoe collection, made together with RAL7000 Studio, these are two large sculptural structures used as props in the images. Their shapes carry symbolism and logo forms from the collaboration behind the collection. The deadline was short, which meant the production method had to be settled before any part could be started.
The approach
RAL7000 Studio supplied each structure as a single solid 3D model, which is how a designer works but not how anything gets built. Both had to be sliced into makeable parts, and the two shapes wanted opposite answers. The branching organic form suited machining from sheet material, while the smoother form suited printing. Choosing a different method for each is what allowed both to reach the same finish quality in the time available.
How it was made
The first structure, around 70 cm high, was 3D printed in PETG in many smaller pieces, assembled, then filled, sanded and painted until the joins vanished. Its metallic finish was built up with metallic paint, sanded back, and coated, to get a surface even enough to read as solid metal in a photograph. The second, around a metre tall, has legs CNC machined from MDF, joined with 3D printed connectors and metal pins running through them. Its smaller details, including the spheres, were 3D printed. Both were assembled so that no fixing is visible anywhere on the outside.
Where the same approach works
A prop for photography is judged on one thing, which is how it holds up in the frame. The finish carries the image, so most of the hours go into filling, sanding and paint rather than into geometry. The same approach suits set pieces, window displays, exhibition sculpture, and brand installations where a shape has to look manufactured rather than made.
