Prehistoric Tree Silhouettes for the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

In 2017, I was hired by the design team in charge of the creation of the new Deep Time Exhibit of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. The project involved the creation of cut-out silhouette of prehistoric trees in vector format, to use as models for the construction of life-size metal tree cut-out sculptures. The challenge here was to design silhouettes that would be recognisable as specific species of prehistoric trees while following strict guidelines, such as number and minimum size of cut-outs, minimum segment length and no sharp angles, to accommodate for the technical limitations of the metal cutting machine. 

The Deep Time Exhibit was inaugurated in June 2019. The illustrations below show the original design and the final sculptures installed in the exhibit.