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About this project

What this is:
I'm raising money to start a production line of these demure, contemplative little lamps. I sculpted this spaceman after he became a recurrent theme of my sketchbooks and just had to get him out of my head. I want to get a mold professionally made of the sculpture, make duplicates, design and print my own custom packaging, and create a limited series for anyone to purchase.

You can see an awesome video by designer See Ming Lee here

You can see more photos of the little spaceman here

Who I am:
I'm Matthew Borgatti (Portfolio / Facebook / Flickr / Twitter / Vimeo) and I like to make things.

What it's about:
I once had the opportunity to work with NASA engineers designing new concepts for returning to the moon. I learned from them a certain awe and respect for the monumental task of solving the problems of space. Every object taken into space is designed, planned, weighed, and engineered to the finest degree of detail. Every person is scrutinized and trained to the limits of human endurance. And yet the biggest battle in exploring the near reaches of the cosmos seems to be against the waning public interest. Space travel no longer thrills and inspires most people. Without this enthusiasm there is no longer the budget for ambitious plans like bringing astronauts to Mars. With the failures of Challenger, Colombia, Soyuz, the massive expense and minimal scientific progress incurred by the Shuttle missions, the botched installation resulting in a myopic Hubble telescope, the future of human beings in space is tenuous. When you consider that each probe and robot we've launched at Mars has had a less than a fifty percent chance of reaching its target it seems like our technology needs some time to mature before we're setting foot on a Martian surface.

This makes me think of a generation, just a few decades away from our first extraterrestrial walk, that will grow up and possibly grow old without seeing another spaceman. As robotic technology develops we are able to test and estimate the effects of zero gravity on systems without the need for a human operator. We won't need another astronaut. We're running out of experiments that people can do in orbit. It makes me think of the last person out of the ISS, turning off the lights as she goes. It seems as though as we look around our planet the near horizon of space is too near, and the far horizon of Mars is too far. I can't imagine how that last cosmonaut will feel.

I made this sculpture in response to those feelings.

Where you come in:
I'd like to raise $2500 to pay for molding, materials, casting, packaging, promotion, and shipping to try and reach as many people as I can with this sculpture. I have an artist lined up to make a mold for me to the tune of $650. I will have enough money left to make 30-50 castings. Each person that sponsors me at the $250 level and above will get a sculpture. If I reach my funding goal without having reserved each of the sculptures I will sell the rest. If there is substantial interest in the project after the first run have all been claimed I may create additional runs.

Here's what you get:

$5 - I will tweet your praises on http://twitter.com/gianteye

$25 - I'll send you a nice postcard featuring the lamp and also praise you on the interwebs

$100 - Everything above as well as a 20% discount on a lamp once the final version arrives

$250 - ONE FREE LAMP

$1000 - To the generous person who pledges a thousand dollars to the cause I will send a personally hand painted model with my utter and sincere thanks

Everyone gets access to the production blog where I will post details on the process of making, molding, casting and selling these awesome little lamps so other folks with similar ambitions can take advantage of what I learn.

Project location: New York, NY

10

Backers

$1,140

pledged of $2,500 goal

19

days to go

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Project By

Matthew Borgatti

New York, NY

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Matthew Borgatti was born with a painfully overactive imagination, grew up a perfectionist and will probably die on a runaway carnival ride. He went to the Rhode Island School of Design and took summers off to build movie monsters in Burbank beginning with Snakes on a Plane and working his way through Aliens VS Predator II: Requiem. After graduating with his degree in Industrial design he moved out to California to make his fortune. Although this didn't exactly work out he spent his time there interning at Instructables, building boats for Makani Power, publishing a book called Show Me How, running industrial robots for a show called Prototype This! and helping everyone from independent inventors developing their first product to artists working on giant sculptures for Burning Man through Instinct Engineering. He once wore a tshirt so witty that people thought he was both sarcastic and sincere at the same time. The paradox stretched the fabric of spacetime so thin that he was able to high five himself. He's currently working at Eyebeam, developing prototypes for and directing the filming of Diana Eng's project Fairytale Fashion.

1. sinbox.org
2. flickr.com