An injection-molded bucket with a handle with style inspired by the Lamborghini Huracan. 

I have been fortunate enough to do some design work on recycling and compost bins that will be injection molded right here in Ontario. Unfortunately, I cannot display those projects in my portfolio because finalizing, making, and shipping the mold takes a long time.

So, just for fun, I decided to take on a design exercise and answer the question: can you take the design language from a Lamborghini and put it in a pail?

It seemed like a fun clash: the styling of a high-end luxury item in a simple object. Thankfully I had a model of a Lamborghini Huracan on my desk to use as a reference.

I started by sketching rough forms in my notebook. When I had a good idea of the form and function of the bucket, I turned to my Microsoft Surface sketch tablet and Clip Studio Paint. There I drew a scale correct sketch of the front, side, and top.

I imported those profile sketches into Solidworks. I used surfaces to model the complex curvature I was after for the bucket. Once I had the surfaces that worked, I knit the surfaces together, blended them, and used a thicken feature to make the body. I added the feet and strengthening ribs to the base.

I took a more straightforward solids-modeling approach to the handle but designed it in the assembly so I could get a perfect offset of the rim.

I validated the design by doing a volumetric study; digitally “filling up” the bucket to see if it was close to 8 gallons. I adjusted the model and reran the study until the bucket had the capacity I was after. Lastly, I used the Draft Analysis in Solidworks to make sure all the surfaces were adequately drafted; I had been thinking about the draft angles the whole I was modeling in 3D, so this passed with flying colours.

This is the result! Does anyone want to license the design? Call me.