Calvin Henderson - Industrial Designer

KEYCAP

Render Weekly Season 7/Week 5, RW x HIBI

Featured as part of the Render Weekly collaboration with HIBI, an Australian designer and manufacturer of mechanical keyboards, keycaps, and accessories.

I'm a big fan of how soft spherical profile keycaps feel - so I introduced gentle curvature to the tops and sides of the keycap design to communicate a welcoming tactility.

The top surface serves as a perfect platform for showcasing laser-etched graphics, allowing for highly customizable options that won't fade with use like pad-printed legends or necessitate separate tooling for each key. I used a mixture of procedural textures to explore different patterns on the anodized aluminum.

Client
Personal exercise

Role
Industrial Design

Phases
Concept Development, Visualization

Status
2023 Design, Concept

Manneken Pis

Irreverent souvenir.

Submission for Souvenir Shop show hosted by Orchestra Studio. Participating designers were tasked with developing an elevated souvenir during the lockdowns of 2020. I chose Brussels, one of a few cities I grew up in.

Behind waffles, chocolate, and beer, Manneken Pis is one of the many iconic symbols of Belgium. The 15th century statue of a urinating boy was once used as a drinking fountain, but now serves as a monument to the unique spirit of the Belgian people. The statue is regularly dressed in various costumes during events in the city, and on occasion the fountain is hooked up to a keg of beer.

To create my souvenir, I took inspiration from some of the amazing and often irreverent PCB artwork that has started to adorn small batch electronics projects. The souvenir utilizes four layers of the circuit board (fiberglass substrate, gold-plated copper, black solder mask, and white silkscreen) to add artwork. The board is powered by a replaceable coin cell battery, and a switch on the bottom of the souvenir turns on LEDs which illuminate the eyes. A small hole at the top can serve as an attachment point for a key chain or ornament hook.

Client
Souvenir Shop

Role
2D Design, PCB Layout

Phases
Concept Development, Manufacture, Assembly

Status
2021 Design, 2021 Release.

I was fortunate enough to return to Brussels in the summer of 2023, bringing my souvenir along with me.

DEADBLOW

Render Weekly Season 1/Week 43, Hammer

During my research, I discovered a common trend of dead blow hammers with overmolded polyurethane peeling away from from the steel shot or sand filled core, effectively ruining an otherwise intact handle and head.

DeadBlow features a pair of replaceable striking faces which separate the most abused areas from the internal core. The non-marring polyurethane on one side and stainless steel on the other allow for use across automotive, aerospace, woodworking and metalworking applications.

I also explored moving away from the traditional solid orange to a more refined materialization. Text call outs, radial machining details, and a macro-textured grip area help DeadBlow to feel precise and honest.

Client
Personal Project

Role
Industrial Design

Phases
Research, Concept Development, Visualization

Status
2019 Design, Concept. Featured in Render Weekly's "Best Of" series.

Nike Blazer Utility

Classic silhouette, modern materials.

Due in large part to collaborations with labels such as Off-White™ and sacai, the classic 1972 Blazer basketball sneaker has seen a resurgence. This concept analyzes other silhouettes that have been re-imagined under Nike’s “Utility Collection” with a focus on weather resistant materials and other visual indicators of performance.

Client
Personal exercise

Role
Industrial Design

Phases
Concept Development

Status
2019 Design, Concept

Spatula

Render Weekly Season 1/Week 33, Spatula

Spatula with flexible silicone overmold around a rigid core. In addition to providing colorway options, the removable head is designed to screw off in the event that it becomes damaged or frayed. Inspired by my own utensil that was slowly deteriorating due to exposure to high heat.

Client
Personal exercise

Role
Industrial Design

Phases
Concept Development, Visualization

Status
2018 Design, Concept