RELINK
PRIVATE PROJEKT
The partnership between horse and rider has probably existed for 5,000 years. The quest to become one with the horse is just as old. For roughly half of that time, the saddle has been an indispensable aid in maintaining balance between human and animal. And despite the possibilities offered by custom manufacturing processes such as 3D printing, this interface is still not individually tailored to the horse and rider.
PROJECT PROCESS
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Background
STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS
A deep dive into the world of equestrian saddles. Overwhelming at first but necessary for the understanding of the product and the potentials. -
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Ergnonomics
CONTACTPOINTS
Given that a saddle not only has one ergonomic contact point to a living being but two an ergonomic concept is key to the wellbeing and the success in cooperation of both horse and rider.
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Prototyping
MINIATURES
The prototyping included form as well as structure studies of the saddle padding. The question in mind was how is it possible to have a padding concept that molds to the horseback while still being printable on a regular scale 3D printer. -
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Programming
GRASSHOPPER
Based on my earlier findings I went into Rhinoceros Grasshopper and started to programm a tool that allows to adjust the saddle padding to the needs of the individual horseback.
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Testing
ON THE HORSEBACK
As soon as I had a first set of the 3D printed padding I went to work and modified an old Grandeur riding pad. The modified pad was the testing rig for several iterations of padding forms, densities and attatchment methodes.
