Infinity Mirror

A light sculpture that reads as a clean geometric mirror, right up until you turn it on.

Client: University of Washington
Year: 2025
Role: Design, fabrication & firmware
Timeline: One quarter, concept to finished lamp
Status: Live

The Infinity Mirror is a light sculpture I designed and built from scratch: hexagonal mirrors, a 3D-printed internal structure, and an ESP32 microcontroller, all fitted inside a 12×12″ shadow box. Half-mirrored glass facing a full mirror bounces each LED’s light back and forth, so the surface opens into a tunnel of light that seems to recede into the wall. Off, it’s a clean geometric mirror. On, it’s the most interesting thing in the room, quietly.

I wanted something that balances engineered precision with ambient warmth, a piece that earns its place in a living space rather than demanding attention from it.

What went into it

Hexagonal mirror geometry, laid out so the reflections tile cleanly instead of fighting each other.
A 3D-printed internal frame that holds the glass, LEDs, and electronics in alignment, with no visible fasteners and no extra supports.
An ESP32 running ESPHome, so the lamp joins the home network and can be controlled, updated, and repaired like something built to last.
Multiple light modes, from a slow ambient fade to animated color sweeps.

How it turned out

The finished lamp delivers the effect I was chasing: clean reflections, even lighting, and a solid structure. Watching it power on for the first time was the best kind of payoff: digital design, fabrication, and light all agreeing with each other.

It’s also the project that started something bigger. I’m now developing the infinity mirror into a small made-to-order product line under Layered Logic, built and documented as repairable systems, not sealed novelties. Real product photography is coming as the first production units finish.

GALLERY

Fusion 360 render of the internal frame corner, showing the LED channel and mount — Modeled in Fusion 360: the internal LED channel and frame.

CAD x-ray view of the internal compartment with mounting bosses and a port cutout — Mounting bosses and the port cutout, designed before anything was printed.

The lit 3D-printed hexagonal structure assembled inside the shadow box on the workbench — The 3D-printed hex structure, lit and assembled on the bench.

Macro of the lit hexagonal surface, individual cells glowing cyan, blue, and magenta — Up close: each cell of the surface glows its own color.

The finished mirror mounted on a wall above a houseplant, glowing blue — Mounted and running, quietly holding a corner of the room.

The mirror displaying a custom University of Washington W in glowing blue — The pattern is swappable, here lit as the University of Washington W.

TAKEAWAYS / WHAT I LEARNED

Modeling the internal frame in CAD before printing meant the glass, LEDs, and electronics all lined up on the first physical assembly, with no visible fasteners.
Building on ESPHome instead of one-off firmware turned a novelty into something updatable and repairable, which is exactly what let it grow into a product line.
Getting the off state right mattered as much as the lit effect. A piece earns its place in a room by being calm when it is doing nothing.

BUILT WITH

Fusion 360
OrcaSlicer
ESP32
ESPHome