The son of a carpenter 🪵
The small family carpentry shop in the middle of the countryside was the cradle for this event, the result of a great passion for wood and design.
My father always looked ahead imaging new products, but he was far from the digital age. A true master in the art of carpentry, but alien to modern technology.
One day a friend offered him a computerized numerical control (CNC) machine, rarely used in a carpentry, but seeing the potential accepts the offer!
After five years of trying, my father puts the machine in a corner hoping to use it in the future...
A spark that lights up the night 🌃
I have always loved working wood, in particular pyrography, an ancient manual technique that uses a burning tip to indelibly mark the wood where touched.
One day comes the request to make a trophy for the local games of a village event. The trophy was to represent the castle of Agliè in large size (70x50cm), with a natural touch, beautiful and had to be reused in subsequent editions.
Given the passion and the request received, we proposed to use the pyrograph on an oak table to have a durable product with the elegance required.
The proposal was immediately appreciated but... how to make such an extensive work ensuring a high quality of the product?
The main problem of pyrographed plates is the high risk of error during manufacturing and the low quality of the final product due to the human nature of the technique used.
Having heard the problem my father did not miss the opportunity exclaiming:
"Let’s try to use the CNC machine! "
The solution seemed simple, automating the realization of the plate thanks to the punctual control that allowed the machine bought many years before!
We soon realized that the idea was not a simple process, it required work on several fronts to arrive to a prototype.
We were in big trouble!
🛠️ My father had no computer skills to understand the operation of the machine
📚 I was a first-year engineering student at the Polytechnic of Turin
😔 The carpentry shop did not have the financial resources to have external advice on the subject
🤷🏼♂️ No one had a guarantee that the idea would bear fruit
Though all uncertainties I accepted the challenge!
Leave for the unknown 🚀
Having clear the characteristics of wood and pyrograph I analyzed and evaluated several softwares present on the market dedicated to the control of a CNC machine.
Considering the flexibility, efficiency and licensing costs, we finally decided to create a new proprietary software that would allow and simplify the following functions:
Turn a color image into a binary image composed of white and black pixels
Have a simple way to set CNC machine parameters to reduce manufacturing time
Specific tool parameters
Width
Height
Depth
Temperature
The optimization of the number of movements requested by the tool to perform the work
Solution A
Solution B
This is the first version of the proprietary tool that has few features but that allows the delivery of the first Ellipsis pyrographed plate having a great success!
Used every year during the days of the village event, the plaque is exhibited at TEDx held in the same castle of Agliè 4 years after its realization.
A potential star ⭐
What had been an isolated request soon turned into a new opportunity!
My father had always kept the cutouts from workmanshig hoping to use them in the future. After so many years I had found a way to give new life to these pieces!
Why not create custom pirographed plates keeping the cutouts’ original shape?
From this great adventure was born Ellipsis, a project dedicated to the recycling of waste material coming from precious processes to create elegant wooden pyrographed plates entirely sustainable!
The study to reach it 📚
But the project had to be structured and a greater understanding of the outside world was needed to develop everything necessary around it!
Ellipsis is not only the set of technical skills, but it is the result of multiple values that nourish the project from the beginning, and we wanted to give space and visibility outside by presenting a purpose within the products made.
Core values have been the starting point from which the brand has developed, the reason why today Ellipsis has specific features. Every detail has been studied to enhance the initial values.
How to fit the brand into the real world?
To answer this question we used several tools including the business model canvas that helps to have a broad vision of the project and think about possible strategies.
Ellipsis - the name of the mission 🏷️
We had a lot of material to work on but there was still a name to this great project that was gradually being created!
Several days to propose names, acronyms without success, in the end we returned to the origins, the technique of pointillism to make the plates. Pointillism is based on the use of many dots that side by side create homogeneous areas and looking in the dictionary we found:
The ellipsis ... (/ɪˈlɪpsɪs/, also known informally as dot dot dot) is a series of dots that indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning.
This term immediately struck us for the strong link he had with the project and for this we chose Ellipsis!
The star reveals a constellation ✨
A production line was available, but how to make the product unique?
You wanted to create an added value in every plate realized and this is achieved by manually stamping each Ellipsis with a single code that identifies and distinguishes it from every other in the world!
Ellipsis Signature
Ellipsis Family
Ellipsis Brand
Ellipsis Customized
How to share the new discovery?
The project was officially accepted as a master’s thesis. Currently, we are exploring new development opportunities, consolidating our position in the field and contributing to future academic and professional progress.
Finally, we wanted to collect the keywords that people who came into contact with the project used to describe Ellipsis. We are very proud of the comments received about the high quality, elegance and durability of our product, consolidating our reputation in the market.
How to stay in touch?!
We launched Instagram and Facebook pages to share the successes of the project. Follow us to stay updated on our adventures and discover the latest news!
To conclude...
After so much effort today I look to the future with enthusiasm. We are ready to embrace new challenges, aware that our commitment will lead us towards even more ambitious goals.
What happened next?
Find out what happened after this great project! Keep following the stories to learn about the latest developments and upcoming adventures.
