A Suspended Daft Punk Sculpture That Was Never Supposed to Be Built

Armin Hesampour

24 hours ago

3 min read

The story behind a personal 3D design that became a full-scale suspended sculpture — and eventually took on a life of its own.

3D render of a suspended Daft Punk sculpture concept with a glowing moon

The Idea Behind the Suspended Sculpture

This is one of my older projects, and looking back at it now, the story behind it still makes me smile.

A few years ago, back home, I wanted to design a character that felt suspended in space — almost weightless. My main focus was the anatomy, the pose, and finding a way to make the body feel like it was floating rather than simply hanging.

Daft Punk actually had nothing to do with the original idea.

At the time, though, I was completely stuck on Veridis Quo. I remember listening to it over and over again while I was working on the design.

Funny enough, that's actually why I'm writing about this project now.

This morning, Veridis Quo randomly came on while I was driving. I hadn't heard it in years, and suddenly this whole project came back to me.

By the time I finished the character, I guess Daft Punk had been living in my head for long enough. For no particular reason, I modeled one of their helmets and put it on the character.

That was it.

There was no plan to turn it into a physical sculpture. It was simply a personal 3D design.

From 3D Design to a Full-Scale Daft Punk Sculpture

Then a friend saw it and wanted the piece for his home.

So I built it.

Turning the 3D design into a full-scale suspended sculpture brought a completely different set of challenges. The piece had to stay lightweight while still being strong enough to support the pose, and the suspension points had to be carefully planned so they wouldn't distract from the feeling of a body floating in space.

The DaftPunk sculpture was fabricated using lightweight composite materials, with the helmet finished in metallic gold.

And strangely enough, the space where it was eventually installed felt almost made for the pose. The suspended body worked naturally with the height and architecture of the room.

The Moon That Never Made It Into the Installation

There was one part of the original concept that unfortunately never made it into the final installation.

In the render, I had placed a glowing moon above the figure. I really wanted to recreate it in the actual space as a light. I still think that at night, with the figure floating underneath it, it would have completely changed the atmosphere.

My friend didn't want the moon.

I still think he was wrong. :)

When the Design Started Appearing Elsewhere

Some time later, I started seeing versions of this sculpture appearing on different pages online — pieces that were very clearly based on the same concept and pose.

Some were... let's just say, more successful than others. :)

The funny part wasn't really the copying itself. It was thinking back to how this piece started.

I was just sitting there in my spare time, listening to Veridis Quo on repeat and designing something simply because I enjoyed it. I had no idea that one day other people would actually reproduce the idea and build their own versions of it.

There's something strangely funny — and maybe a little flattering — about watching a random personal experiment take on a life of its own.

Sometimes the Opportunity Comes After the Work

Looking back, though, this project left me with something I've carried into other work.

At the time I designed it, I didn't know whether I would ever build it. I didn't have a place for it, a client for it, or even a reason to make it beyond wanting to explore an idea.

But I made the design anyway.

Eventually, the reason to build it found me.

Not every experiment needs to have an immediate purpose. The hours we spend actually making things — even the ones that seem to lead nowhere — have a strange way of accumulating.

Sometimes the opportunity comes after the work.

Daft Punk is referenced in this article solely to describe the inspiration and history of this personal art project. This project is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially connected to Daft Punk or its rights holders.