As the origin of an increasing proportion of cultural touchstones, so too has the Internet spawned its own genre of memorabilia. Inspired by "the way designers showcased their work by holding it in front of them," Nadia Ahmad's "Handvas" is among the more successful examples we've seen—a clever way to display a poster or print, modeled after a popular trope of product photography.

In fact, Ahmad isn't a product designer by training or trade: the Sydney-based art director works in advertising by day and simply wanted to make her idea a reality. "I didn't have the skills or knowledge to produce it," she noted by e-mail. "So I went in search of a company that could help [me] bring my idea to life."She eventually teamed up with local design agency Vert Design, working closely with principal Andrew Simpson and industrial designer Eric Siu, who introduced her to 3D printing. It took them nearly a year to bring the concept into production—they experimented with plaster and casting along the way, but Ahmad ultimately concluded that 3D printing offered the highest degree of quality and detail.

Vert Design elaborated on their working relationship:Nadia came to us with such a fun and playful concept that we fully embraced the idea. We begun by creating an articulated model of a human hand which was then digitally manipulated until we were happy with the clamp of the fingers and wrists. This was integral to the outcome as the designs could have been done in a multitude of ways but to stay anatomically true to how a designer would actually hold the posters we employed the digital model.

To produce the final outcome, we 3D-printed the models to ensure all of the detail would be retained and were really pleased with the outcome. We're looking forward to working together with Nadia on more projects in the future.

Handvas is available now at Handvas.com.

Artwork throughout by Luca Ionescu