Year: 2015   Location: Bristol, UK

Both a donation box and an interactive sculpture commissioned for Bristol Museum’s M-Shed, Making Waves echoes the engineering and maritime roots of the city and the museum as a focal point of Bristol’s harbourside.

When a coin is dropped inside, this gleaming brass and steel automaton whirrs into life. Its mechanical parts rippling like waves under a shifting sea of coins.

Background

Making waves started as a wood proof-of-concept mechanism. Once full design and fabrication began, simulations were used to fine tune the exact motion of the final mechanism. Allowing the complex cam profiles to be refined before ever being cut in metal.

The Donations box stood in the main entrance of the M-Shed for three years, inspiring tomorrows engineers.