Our in-house holiday build: a Christmas tree made entirely from PCBs, where the boards are both the circuit and the structure, with lights and sound.
To close 2025, we built something just for us: a Christmas tree made entirely from PCBs, complete with lights and sound. A small project, but a fun exercise in everything we do every day.
PCBs as structure
In most products, the PCB sits inside an enclosure. Here, the boards are the product. That changes the design approach:
- Mechanical design in the PCB tool. Board outlines, slots and interlocking joints define the tree's shape, so the mechanical drawing and the electrical layout are the same file.
- Connections that also hold it together. Joints between boards have to be mechanically solid and carry power and signals.
- Looks matter. Solder mask colour, silkscreen and component placement are part of the design, not an afterthought.
Lights and sound
The tree is lit with LEDs across its boards and plays sound, with an embedded controller tying the light effects and audio together. Lighting effects and audio are where firmware turns hardware into something people smile at.
Why we build things like this
Side projects let the team try new ideas quickly, from board-as-structure designs to new assembly techniques, without the constraints of a client project. They sum up what we enjoy most: creativity, electronics, and turning ideas into working hardware.