Project Overview

JIX is a multifunctional construction system designed to work with standard drinking straws. It is intended for kids and adults. With JIX you can build everything from ambitious room-sized structures to intricate table-top sculptures. All you have to do is add straws. JIX is a fun and educational toy, and a great way to create spectacular art, interior design, set design projects or even furniture.

Organisation

Blank Bubble

Team

Designer: Patrick Martinez
Technical support: Thomas Gerhardt

Project Brief

JIX is a construction system comprised of small modular elements that are specifically designed to allow standard drinking straws to be connected together.
The connectors come in flat grids which easily snap apart, intersect, and lock into place. They can be used as single elements or they can be snapped together to create 3-D star shapes, which allow for more complex structures.
The flat design helped simplify the industrial process, therefore reducing the production costs and allowing the product to be put on the market at a competitive price.
The JIX connector design presents the advantage of allowing infinite, highly organized geometric arrangements and free form tangles. Also, By cutting, bending, weaving or using multiple colors of straws, the possibilities are endless. It is a great way to create spectacular art, interior design, set design projects, and even furniture. JIX can also be used as a fun educational toy that inspire creativity and give children an opportunity to develop their motor and spatial skills through hands-on play.

Project Innovation/Need

My interest in product design is closely related to my artistic practice and stems originally from a question on the status and methods of distribution of artworks.
In my recent projects as an installation artist and sculptor, I wanted to build gigantic structures that would bring a sense of density out of fragility.
I settled on drinking straws as a building material, because they are mostly filled with air.
In order to hold those straws together, I came up with JIX.
I also wanted to extend the project to other people, like the principle for an ever expanding sculpture project, and liked the idea that the connectors I used for my own creations could also be purchased easily and used by everyone else.
I consider JIX not just as a product, but also as a system that inspires creativity and brings the construction game experience to a whole new level.

Although it has inspired others since, JIX is the first construction system designed to accommodate standard drinking straws. It transforms the way we perceive mundane objects such as drinking straws and somehow helps develop awareness about the necessity of recycling/reusing objects.

Design Challenge

With JIX, I wanted to create a construction system that would be affordable, versatile, and simple. One of the challenges was to create a shape that would accommodate most standard straws.

Then, I strived to find a connector shape that would offer many different construction possibilities and authorize space-filling tessellation.

The early prototypes of the connectors were formally very complex and too expensive to mass-produce. We had to simplify the process: we came up with the idea of designing two flat shapes that could intersect to form a 3-D star shape. This design also allowed for the connectors to be attached to one another in the shape of a flat grid, which reduced the production costs drastically, and almost eliminated the need for packaging.

Finally, I had to test many different kinds of recycled plastic before selecting one that had the right physical properties in terms of aspect, strength and durability.
Getting the elements to intersect perfectly was also tricky.
We had to make sure that the lock in system was strong enough and yet, not too stiff, so that a 6 year old kid could perform the task easily..

Sustainability

It is my priority to make JIX as sustainable as possible.
The connectors are made out of recycled post-industrial plastic in the USA, and come in the most minimal of packaging. Additionally, JIX are designed to be manufactured with little or no waste, and I am involved in every step of the process to ensure socially responsible practices. 

As a direct consequence of the development of JIX, I am aiming to develop a straw recycling/reusing business that would be truly sustainable (both virgin plastic and bio plastic industries raise major environmental concerns). I am seeking partners in the recycled plastic/paper industry and I am planning on launching local programs in New York, whose purpose would be to collect, clean and reprocess used straws.

Also, I am convinced that carrying out a strong message about sustainability starts with education. For that matter, I would like to continue bringing JIX into schools. It is an opportunity to address environmental issues while helping children develop their motor and spatial skills through hands-on play.

Running a business, however modest, is a good place to encourage responsible practices and redefine the notions of growth and consumerism.