Engineering the Celestia Crown: Storage & Transport System
Designing the Celestia Crown Storage & Transport System
The Challenge: When the Crown Was Complete, the Engineering Wasn't.
The Celestia Crown was never designed around conventional dimensions. At approximately 27½ inches long, 17½ inches wide and 6 inches deep, its dramatic profile presented an entirely new challenge: how could a one-of-a-kind couture art piece of this size be safely stored, protected and transported?
For its original journey from California to Atlanta, the Celestia Crown had to travel by FedEx in a specialized protective container because it was too large for conventional carry-on luggage. Once it arrived home, however, a more permanent solution was needed.
Commissioning a custom wooden case or a 3D-printed solution was considered, but both options proved expensive. The challenge remained.
What if?
That simple question had already guided so much of the Celestia Crown's development. This time, the answer would lead to another act of engineering:
If the right storage system did not exist, I would build it.
Re-engineering the Storage System
The solution began not with a custom-built container, but with an existing suitcase whose dimensions offered the foundation the Celestia Crown needed.
At approximately 28½ inches tall, 20 inches wide and 13½ inches deep, the case provided enough overall space to accommodate the Crown while remaining mobile and practical for travel. But fitting inside the suitcase was only the beginning. The interior had never been designed for an object with the Crown's unusual proportions.
Before anything could be built, the original interior lining was removed, exposing the suitcase's structural components and revealing exactly how much usable space was available. Only then could each side be evaluated and assigned a specific purpose.
The left compartment offered the space required for the Celestia Crown itself. Its existing zippered nylon divider was deliberately retained, providing an additional protective barrier against dust and debris.
The suitcase had been found.
Now its interior had to be engineered around the Crown.
Engineering Around the Constraints
Every Inch Had a Purpose
With the interior exposed, the next challenge became clear. Although both sides of the suitcase provided approximately 6½ inches of depth, they did not offer identical usable space.
The right compartment contained the structural cradle for the suitcase's collapsible handle. Rather than remove or compromise this mechanism, it was retained so the completed system would remain practical and easy to transport. The new interior therefore had to be engineered around the suitcase's existing structure.
Every available area now had to be considered according to function: what needed protection, what needed immediate access, what could be stacked, and how each component could remain secure while the case was moving.
Lightweight foamboard became an important part of the solution. A custom tray was constructed to fit snugly within the available compartment, providing structure without adding unnecessary weight to an already substantial transport system.
The goal was no longer simply to make everything fit.
Every space needed a purpose.
Engineering the Crown Compartment
From Open Space to Purpose-Built Compartments
Expose the Structure Before Engineering the Solution:
Before the new interior could be designed, I first needed to understand the structure that already existed.
The original lining was removed from both sides of the suitcase, exposing its underlying framework. This was more than a step in the construction process. I needed to see the skeletal structure of the case, identify its limitations, understand the available space, and determine what could be re-engineered around what needed to remain.
Once exposed, an important difference between the two sides became clear. Although both compartments offered the same overall depth, the left side provided the most open and unobstructed space, making it the optimal location for the Celestia Crown. The right side contained the structural cradle supporting the collapsible handle, which had to remain intact for mobility and therefore limited the usable space available on that side.
Rather than working against those limitations, they became part of the design criteria. The existing structure determined where the Crown would reside and how the remaining components of the storage system would eventually be arranged around it.
This approach reflects something that has followed me throughout the development of the Celestia Crown: before I can solve a problem, I want to understand what exists beneath the surface. And this answered the question.
Where should the Crown go?
“I am not an engineer, but I think like one.”
— Tamara Rivera
Engineering the Right Compartment
Designing Around the Constraints
Unlike the open space available on the left, the right side of the suitcase presented an immediate structural limitation.
Although both sides provided approximately 6½ inches of overall depth, part of the right compartment was occupied by the structural cradle supporting the suitcase's collapsible handle. That mechanism needed to remain intact so the case could retain one of its most important practical functions: easy mobility during transport.
Removing the handle structure simply to gain additional space would have solved one problem while creating another. Instead, the challenge became: How could I engineer around what was already there?
The answer was to treat the obstruction not as wasted space, but as a fixed boundary around which the remaining storage system could be designed.
With the Celestia Crown assigned to the unobstructed left compartment, the right side could now become the organizational center for many of the components that travel with her: the Crown's documentation, award, clutch, jewelry, Cyclops eyewear, black-and-gold shoes, remote control and original concept prototypes.
Each available area had to be evaluated individually. Some objects could occupy the deeper spaces surrounding the handle structure, while smaller purpose-built compartments could take advantage of areas that otherwise might have gone unused.
The objective was not simply to make everything fit. It was to make the limitations of the existing structure become part of the solution, and answer the next question. How do I make everything else work around this structure?
Designing the Components
Every Space Engineered for a Purpose
With the Celestia Crown assigned to the open left compartment and the structural limitations of the right side understood, the next stage was to design the individual components that would transform the suitcase into a complete storage and transport system.
The challenge was no longer simply one of available space. Each component needed to answer a specific requirement: What would it hold? How would the object be protected? How could it remain secure during movement? And how could the available space be used without adding unnecessary weight?
For that reason, foamboard became one of the primary construction materials. It provided enough rigidity to create custom trays, dividers and supporting structures while remaining lightweight, an important consideration for a system intended to travel.
Rather than creating a series of generic compartments, each space was engineered around the dimensions and function of the object it would hold. The jewelry required individually shaped recesses. The shoes required separate compartments. The remote control and Cyclops eyewear needed accessible protective spaces, while the concept prototypes and archival materials required larger dedicated areas.
This became a three-dimensional puzzle in which every available inch had to contribute to the whole.
Nothing was placed simply because it fits.
It fits because a place had been designed for it.
Securing the Celestia Crown
A Layered System of Protection
Designing the Crown's compartment required more than creating a space large enough to accommodate her dimensions. The system also needed to prevent unnecessary movement while the case was being transported.
Fabric-covered Velcro safety straps were incorporated into the compartment to gently secure the Celestia Crown within its fitted space. The soft covering provides an additional protective surface where the restraint system comes into contact with the Crown.
But the straps are only the first layer of restraint.
One of the existing features of the left compartment was a nylon lining with a zippered divider. Rather than removing it during the re-engineering process, it was deliberately retained. Once zipped closed over the Crown, the divider creates an additional barrier that helps contain the art piece within its compartment while also protecting it from dust and debris.
This became another important reason the left side was selected as the Crown's permanent compartment. It offered not only the most open and unobstructed interior space, but also an existing protective feature that could be incorporated into the new design rather than discarded.
The result is a layered system:
Fitted compartment → fabric-covered safety straps → zippered protective divider. Each performs a different function, but together they help keep the Celestia Crown protected and contained during storage and travel.
Sometimes good engineering isn't about replacing what already exists. It's recognizing when an existing feature can become part of a better solution.
