SUFCo Freyr - A modular gardening trellis

Industrial Design, Mechanical Design, Design Engineering, Prototype Development, Production Development, & Project Management

SUFCo is a Seattle, WA based company that focuses on constructing and maintaining edible gardens for individuals and businesses throughout the local area. Their first foray into products, the Freyr garden trellis was envisioned as a way to elevate the art of vertical gardening. The client came to Pillar Product Design wanting a high-quality product that could support 200 pounds, was modular, easy to install, and could be left in place or removed as the user saw fit. What seems like a simple product proved to be a more complicated design path, involving work on the materials, finishes, threading, part engagement, and part interfaces. On this project I handled the initial kickoff, industrial design concepts and refinements, mechanical design, prototype collateral, prototype testing, production collateral, and some production management and technical coordination.

See the product at Seattleurbanfarmco.com

I worked with the client from the initial project kickoff, developing the industrial design system concepts, refining them based on the client’s feedback, then implementing the chosen design through mechanical design in Solidworks CAD, developed prototype collateral, tested the prototype, then made modifications, and finally sent production collateral to the manufacturing facility. Then I helped manage the project production, making changes as necessary to the design, an ensuring the quality control of the production run.