From digital concept to a physical object

There are many digital objects and concepts that are not meant to get physical incarnation.

This project is a collaboration with Surreal, a company developing a mobile app to interact with NFTs. Both the company’s core product and Surreal impressive visual product design exist only in the digital space and were never intended to become part of the physical world.

One such digital object created by the company is a futuristic-looking iPhone case.
In this collaboration, we decided to bring this bold design to life.

Since the original design only shows the front panel, it was necessary to come up with what the back of the case would look like. The design process began with hand sketches to decide on the direction. A particular challenge was to come up with a design that would not only be similar in spirit to the original case but also retain as many of the iPhone’s features as possible, for example, not covering up the camera module.

One of the most exciting elements of the original design is the cord threaded through the case. The idea was to make this element functional. This led to the concept that the case could consist of two parts, slipped over the top and bottom of the iPhone, and held together by the cord itself. 

Special attention had to be paid to the digital model of the iPhone in order for the final product to properly fit the phone.

Although the basic idea had already been developed, the creation of a 3D model is a continuation of the product design process, during which the final forms of the design were developed.It was important to think through the assembly order of all parts of the case. The design was constantly changing during the modeling process, gradually acquiring its final shape.

Resin 3D printing was chosen as the manufacturing technology for this prototype. 

This type of 3D printing allows you to achieve the highest level of detail in the shortest time. By adding dyes to the resin, it was possible to achieve the material color close to the original design, without resorting to painting. The Salomon Quicklace system was used as the cord. The mechanism allows you to tighten and lock the cord in one motion. The final product was assembled and placed in custom-made packaging.