Case for prototype is crystal clear

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Feb 6, 2002

WaterClear resins played a key role in the design of a tiara for the recent Dutch royal wedding.

To a unique day, a unique creation was needed.

This was the challenge that Marcel Wanders faced in response to the competition organised by the Dutch Museum het Kruithuis for the wedding of Prince Willem-Alexander to Ms Maxima Zorreguieta.

Thanks to his sensitive perception and unique capability of uniting high technology with design, Marcel Wanders presented a stunning tiara that showcases unexplored advantages for new designs using ProtoFunctional technologies.

Among the activities for the majestic wedding celebrated with phenomenal enthusiasm by the entire country, the Museum selected 24 of the most influential and inspiring figures in contemporary design to create a unique model of a royal crown for the new princess.

Among those invited to participate was the design studio of Marcel Wanders (Amsterdam, Netherlands), whose creation was nominated into the finalists, chosen by two consecutive juries: a first jury in charge of appreciating the ideas that inspired the crown designs, and a second jury for the prototypes presented in the second classification.

The final selection for determining the winning design will be held in the weeks following the wedding.

Taking inspiration from nature, Marcel Wanders Studio designed a delicate and crystalline tiara that invokes the sensations of water so important to the Dutch culture.

The diadem was conceptualised from the effect of a 'splash' of water and demonstrates the magnificence that can be created from this element's natural and graceful transparency.

"We selected the theme of water because of its close historical link to the Dutch culture, to unify this ceremony to the roots of the country's history and to represent an eternal symbol to this union.

The symbolic value was also significant to emphasise Prince Willem-Alexander's importance in our country's environmental concerns.

The creation is homage to the Royal Family and to this essential natural element", explains Marcel Wanders.

For the presentation of the prototype to the jury, Marcel Wanders Studio desired a material that allowed them to communicate the intention behind the design.

With an attentive study of the techniques and solutions available, Wanders chose the use of WaterClear ProtoFunctional resins by DSM Somos: "The choice of WaterClear for the prototype was very natural, not only because of the material's name - which was almost a premonition for this project! - but primarily for the characteristics and feeling that this material offered.

The prototype of the crown in this important phase of the jury selection expressed the surprising delicacy of water; while on a technical level, the stereolithography material used allowed the high precision needed for this thin-walled complex design.

The ability to use WaterClear was a determining factor for this part of the project".

For the definitive silver cast model that would be presented in the finalist round, a silicone mould was needed.

Wanders requested the Belgium service bureau Materialise to create a new prototype for this mould which could demonstrate how the use of unusual materials could confer a different feeling to the crown, compared with the model realised in WaterClear.

The white prototype that Materialised offered to create in Somos 9100 inspired Marcel Wanders with the idea for rendering the silver crown with an aesthetic feeling softer than that of polished silver, more in tone with the delicateness of the design.

The finalist creations were unveiled the day of the wedding to the Royal Family and near 2000 members of accredited press in the Beurs van Berlage, the former merchant stock exchange in Amsterdam where the ceremony took place, and to the general public the following day.

Those able to view the crown discovered it floating on a transparent base that Marcel Wanders chose to realise directly in WaterClear.