Hasta La Ideas

Royal College of Art graduate Julian Bond unveiled an interesting casting machine at his graduate show this year. But his working model casts vases in a series of unusual, pixellated shapes…

Bond’s casting machine has two opposing faces, each one constructed from a series of “sticks”, 22 wide and 30 high (1,320 in total). The plaster sticks aren’t mechanically fixed which enables them to be moved easily. This also apparently reduces the time it takes to shape a mold to around 20 minutes.

“Slip casting moulds are usually fixed,” explains Bond on his website, “[and] each new design needs a new mold to be made. This project was about giving anyone the ability to engage with the slip casting technique and allowing them to create a one-off design. The machine is designed to engage with the user, allowing them to understand the form they are creating. This is a rapid manufacturing tool, not rapid prototyping, each piece that is made can be fired and glazed as a final product.”

Lots more images of the vases Bond has made to date can be found at his site, julianfbond.co.uk.