Trio’s moon obsession is more than a phase: Designers smash £25k target to produce 3D globe
The Moon light - Credit: Archant
A bunch of science-obsessed designers have obliterated their funding target and raised more than £60,000 to launch a pioneering project to make 3D models of the moon.
The team behind Moon - Credit: Archant
Upper Clapton designer Oscar Lhermitte, London Fields man Peter Krige, and Alex Du Preez, all 29, were hoping to raise £25,000 to make the first 50 prototypes of the world’s first ever topographically accurate lunar light globe, complete with mountains, craters, bumps and ridges based on Nasa data.
Costing £450 for a 1:20million replica, it has a light orbiting the sphere – linked to an inbuilt clock – to recreate the phases of the moon as seen from the Earth.
They launched their project, MOON, on crowdfunding site Kickstarter last Wednesday at 2pm, and the target was hit just over 24 hours later.
One week on and 245 backers have pledged more £61,000.
Prototypes for the Moon project - Credit: Archant
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Oscar, whose studio is in Prout Road, came up with the idea four years ago.
He said: “We were expecting it to go well, but not like that. I’m very happy – it’s been such hard work on the project that it’s really nice people are having a good reaction to it.
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“Most globes use pictures, but this is 3D. It’s expensive because everything is made in our studio. We designed a computer for it.
“It’s definitely for some nerds, but also for anyone interested in astronomy. It’s a great tool for education – you instantly understand how the moon works and you see some of the craters up close. It’s also a design piece.
“I’m obsessed with science and astronomy. It’s just a work of love – I spent so much time on it.”
The group, who met studying design at the Royal College of Art, hope the project will be commercially viable to sell online and in shops.