Marteria M Inflatable

Prototyping

Structural inflatable design & material illusion study

Can something filled with air read as solid concrete? For Marteria's stage, we set out to turn his iconic M logo into a monumental inflatable. Its hard edges and right angles are the natural opposite of anything pneumatic. Air always wants to round things off, so every 90-degree corner became a construction problem in its own right. We modelled and simulated the form in 3D, studying how internal pressure, structure and seam placement could keep the geometry crisp and true.

Research

Year

2026

Category

Prototyping

Render of the giant concrete-look M inflatable, front view

Technical drawing of the Marteria M inflatable, front elevation with dimensions

Technical drawing of the Marteria M inflatable, side and top view

Technical drawing of the two M halves with internal supports and measurements

Cutting pattern of the concrete-look fabric panels for the M inflatable

Fabric panel layout for the concrete-look M inflatable

Render of the M inflatable split into two parts, a person for scale

Render of both M halves side by side on a dark stage

Perspective render of the concrete-look M halves towering over a person

Low-angle render of the two M inflatable halves

Internally, we used 3D-printed scale models to judge proportions and edges in physical space before committing to full size. In parallel, we developed a concrete finish that had to hold up on a live stage under show lighting, turning soft fabric into the illusion of raw, heavy material. The result is a sculpture that plays with expectation: brutalist in appearance, weightless in reality.

Research