Wallet Design

At Redfox we often encounter non-engineering design, what we term as ‘fluffy’, design that looks nice on screen and allows for a bit of creative input.

One example of this was a customer requiring a wallet, something different, and something that will be rugged and last. The requirements were as follows:

• 90mm x 120mm each side approx. 10mm thick depends on how thin the walls could be rounded edges on the outside and square cut recess inside
• A rubber 'O' ring style seal on one side
• A magnetic catch that is recessed into the sides
• A cylindrical hinge joined to both sides with cut-outs to interlock and held with a long pin
• A clip on one side of the wallet which will hold the notes
• Some sort of device on the other side to hold cards
• A monogram machined into the outside
• Brushed exterior finish

The customer had a good idea of what they wanted already, initially they had also suggested that we use Stainless Steel or Alloy. After this initial consultation we were immediately able to advise the customer that Alloy would be both cheaper and lighter making it the more obvious choice. Along with this we also offered other materials and approached the possibility of using Ivory, Tortoiseshell, Horn and Abalone alternatives.

We try to offer as much choice as we can and using our database of material suppliers we can sometimes suggest something that the customer would not have initially thought about.

Another aspect of the design was to place a leather insert into the inside of each side of the wallet. This time rather than using CAD we designed the wallet using material, it gave a much more realistic interpretation of size and feel. Once the design was established we sourced a leather supplier who was able to supply leather, cut too size and bond it to the wallet. 

We were now able to produce a 3D CAD model to show the customer what the wallet would look like and also what the wallet would look like in different materials.

By liaising with the customer through each stage of the process we were able to gather enough information to cost and price the job from design to manufacture.