Bookends

I knew my book situation had become a problem when I started avoiding certain books because they were too hard to get to. I wanted to design a solution that not only allowed the books to be more accessible, but I also wanted to place my books in locations where they were most likely to be used.

Designing the bookends

While I typically jump into my sketchbook and work through my ideas first, with this design it was if I had the solution in mind before I realized I had a problem. Maybe my subconscious had been working on the design for a bit while I was procrastinating but in any case, I jumped right into Autodesk Fusion and created a sketch to build the 3D form from.

I really liked the spring-like feeling the final sketch was giving off. To me it looked like the bookends were actively working towards pushing the books upright. It was time to select a color, render the design, and look for any obvious issues before printing them out.

Printing out the design

At this point I was absolutely loving what I was seeing and a bit impatient to print so I went ahead and started printing right away.

I think the prints came out absolutely perfect. They really do have a bit of a springiness to them while being incredibly sturdy for even my biggest books. Also, there is something magical about designing a functional part that is ready right off the print bed without the need for assembly.

Love from the community

The best part about designing and sharing a project, however, is seeing the community print their own versions out. Some of the colorways people chose really made me question my own choices.

Print your own

I have some more revisions in mind after having used my bookends for a while now but I am quite happy with the end result and if you decide to print yourself a set, I hope you are too!