Gradient is a pattern of circles that, seen from a distance, appears as a gradient of two types of wood fading into each other. Different combinations of colours and types of wood can be coupled together for different effects. When used together with plain sheets of the same essence the Gradient panel can be used as a transition from one to the other, with interesting effects both on flat surfaces and on the different planes of 3d elements.

A very simple Grasshopper script is used to generate the pattern, made by a series of circles gradually varying in size. This can then be used to create two complementary laser-cuts, to be cut from two sheets of two different types or colours of wood and then applied to FSC® certified non-woven fabric to create the final panel.

The idea of using a script is that the sheets can be very easily customized just by varying chosen parameters changing the pattern to adapt it to different scales and applications. For example, by varying the input of the height of the pattern, here set to coincide with the height of a standard panel, the pattern can be customized to be either condensed onto a smaller portion of the standard panel, or streched onto a number of consecutive panels.

POSSIBLE FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS

To create a simple regular pattern, the script is set to use the bottom edge of the standard panel as the “attractor curve” for the pattern in order to create a constant, regular gradient. This means that the radius of the circles changes regularly according to the distance of the circle from this curve.

Setting up the script this way means that simply by changing the part of the script that defines the curve a completely different pattern can be created. Future developments could be to propose custom designed patterns by simply changing the attractor curve to any desired irregular curve adding infinite potential for personalization into more dynamic gradients.

Francesca Rogers