Nicole Kirk

DICE

A handmade wooden die with a snap-fit lid and a hidden chamber for small valuables.

Queen Mary University of London · 2025

The brief

Design an engaging object which uses an interlocking mechanism, which only utilises wood.

Interlocking mechanismA system designed to physically engage with one another in a way that prevents unintended movement or separation unless a specific action is taken to unlock or disengage them.

Render of the wooden die with its lid lifted on two dowels, casting a long shadow on a grey ground.

Opening it

  1. 100mm

    A cube, made only from wood.

    A line drawing of the cube with each edge dimensioned at 100 mm.

  2. Closed

    Shut, it is a die like any other.

    Render of the closed die: pale wood with dark pips, the lid sitting flush.

  3. Lifted

    The lid comes away on its snap-fit, and only when you mean it to.

    Render of the die with its lid lifted: two dowels with arrow-shaped tips hang under the lid, and curved spring arms wait inside the box.

  4. Inside

    A hidden inner chamber component for keeping small valuables.

    Close view into the open die: the empty chamber between the spring arms.

Interlocking development

Pencil sketches of a latching system: a hook profile catching under a ledge, pulled by a string, with notes on simple actuation and keeping it discreet and flush.
Latching system: a hook profile to connect. Its issue: it could be unlocked by movement in the Z plane.
Pencil sketches of a snap-fit mechanism: a central post with curved spring arms from flexible wood, held in vertical slits, and a twisting mechanism.
Snap-fit mechanism: spring arms from flexible wood, then the supports removed.

Iterative testing to optimise shape of least pressure

A plywood test piece held in a hand: a dowel post down the middle and two curved strips of thin wood running between corner dowels.

Snap-fit mechanism using airply wood

A later test piece: the central dowel now ends in a triangular wooden tip between the two curved strips.
A further test piece: the tip is rounded, with a small dowel stopper on either side of it.

Adding stoppers for satisfying click

Handcrafted wooden Die

The finished die: a pale plywood cube with drilled pips, on a blue-grey backdrop.

Mitre joint for flush look

Decorative conversation piece

Desk object

A hand lifting the lid off the finished die, the two dowels with arrow-shaped tips sliding out of the box.

and fidget piece

The die held open on its side, showing the hidden chamber inside, with the curved spring arms and dowel stoppers at the top and bottom.

with a hidden inner chamber component for keeping small valuables