Hasta La Ideas

Istanbul Design Biennial: this project by Antwerp design studio Unfold explores how 3D-printed objects created from identical digital files can be as varied and unique as hand-made objects (+ movie + slideshow).

Above: objects produced by Unfold. Photograph by Kristof Vrancken

Called Stratigraphic Manufactury, the project involved designing a range of bowls and vases on a computer and sending the digital files to small-scale producers around the world, who then manufactured them in porcelain using open-source 3D printers.

Above: objects produced by Unfold

“We sent out seven of our designs,” said Dries Verbruggen of Unfold. “They weren’t allowed to touch the data but they could choose the materials and machines they used.”

Above: objects produced by Eran Gal-Or

The resulting objects, which vary according to the type and consistency of porcelain used and the accuracy of the printer, are on show at the Adhocracy exhibition at the inaugural Istanbul Design Biennial.

Above: objects produced by Jonathan Keep

Verbruggen compared the flaws and idiosyncrasies of the digitally-generated objects to the “unique tool marks” left by a craftsman.

Above: object produced by Unfold

The producers who took part were Jonathan Keep from the UK, Eran Gal-Or from Israel, and Tulya Madra & Firat Aykaç and Mustafa Canyurt, both from Turkey. Unfold have also collaborated with local Turkish ceramists to operate a manufacturing unit and shop at the biennial.

Above: object produced by Eran Gal-Or

The project was commissioned by Joseph Grima, curator of the Adhocracy exhibition and editor of Domus magazine. In an interview with Dezeen about the show, Grima said that open-source technologies like 3D printing amount to a “cultural revolution“.

Above: objects produced by Jonathan Keep

The biennal continues until 12th December.

Above: objects produced by Unfold. Photograph by Kristof Vrancken

Unfold was founded in 2002 by Design Academy Eindhoven graduates Claire Warnier and Dries Verbruggen.

Above: objects produced by Jonathan Keep

We previously featured a virtual potter’s wheel designed by Unfold and we also filmed a movie in which Verbruggen explains how it works.

Above: 3D printer. Photograph by Kristof Vrancken

We’ve reported on a number of projects involving 3D printing recently, including 3D printed vessels distorted by computer algorithms and news that gun enthusiasts are 3D printing open source weapons.

See all our stories about 3D printing »
See all our stories about Unfold »
See all our stories about ceramics »

Here’s some more information from Unfold:

Unfold is pleased to announce its participation in the inaugural Istanbul Design Biennial. The Biennial opened on October 13 and will run till December 12. Joseph Grima, curator of the Adhocracy exhibition, invited Unfold to present Kiosk 2.0 and commissioned a new project featuring Unfold’s continuing work on ceramic 3D printing and its implications on design and manufacturing: Stratigraphic Manufactury.

In Stratigraphic Manufactury, Unfold builds on its Stratigraphic Porcelain series started in 2010 with its internationally acclaimed installation l’Artisan Electronique and explores methods of manufacturing and distributing design in the dawning era of digital production. Stratigraphic Manufactury is a new model for the distribution and digital manufacturing of porcelain, which includes local small manufacturing units that are globally connected. One that embraces local production variations and influences.

A set of digital 3D files of designs presented last spring in Milan by Unfold has been e-mailed to various manufacturers around the world who have acquired the 3d printing production method that Unfold pioneered and open sourced in 2009. They were instructed not to alter the digital files but were free to incorporate personal and local influences and interpretations during the production.

These new sets will be presented in Adhocracy in the context of a local manufacturing shop. In collaboration with Turkish ceramists, a manufacturing unit will become operational for the duration of the Istanbul Design Biennial: Stratigraphic Manufactury Istanbul, estd. 2012.

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by Unfold appeared first on Dezeen.

London Design Festival: Curator, author and furniture designer Suzanne Trocmé has created a 3D-printed ceramic bowl and egg cup based on the continuous form of a Möbius strip.

The pieces were made with Staffordshire ceramics company 1882 Ltd using ceramic powders in a process that combined 3D printing with traditional firing methods.

1882 Ltd. was formed last year by Emily Johnson to continue her family’s ceramics legacy. The company is named after the year in which the Johnsons first began producing ceramics at Stoke on Trent Potteries.

The collection was launched at an exhibition hosted by 1882 Ltd during the London Design Festival until yesterday, alongside Plates by Emily Johnson and Crockery by Max Lamb.

See all our stories about ceramics »

Here’s some more information from the designer:

Bone China: New works by Max Lamb, Suzanne Trocmé & Emily Johnson
London Design Festival 2012

In 1882 the Johnson Brothers began producing ceramics in the heart of the Stoke-on-Trent Potteries. 130 years later, 1882 Ltd continues the Johnson legacy with the launch of two collections of fine bone china: Crockery by Max Lamb and Plates by Emily Johnson. Joining them is Suzanne Trocmé with her inaugural collection, Aspirals.

Aspirals is based upon the möbius, a continuous form which is not unfamiliar but usually exists sculpturally rather than as a functioning object because it is almost impossible to manipulate it into a useful form.

The bowl and egg cup have been made in 3D printed ceramic, a sintering process that has its own challenges in ceramic powder. The Aspirals have been experimental for three years, when Trocmé first worked with the möbius form and tried to design a form that could have a base but still retain the illusion of the continuum. At first she tried to make the form using lost wax out of metals, but the process proved too difficult because there always had to be a way to hold on to the piece in manufacture.

When putting together British Bone last year with Emily Johnson, Trocmé decided to see if the forms could be made somehow in ceramic. The pieces are fired at 1200 degrees, so produced in a combination of ways – rapid prototyping and traditional firing methods.

Currently in bone white and a soft black, the black resembles a finish Trocmé used to produce many years ago with pieces I made at the wheel in pot, and then burnished with a spoon and fired in an underground home made peat kiln.

The post Aspirals by Suzanne Trocmé
for 1882 Ltd appeared first on Dezeen.

London designer Max Lamb used stonemasonry tools to hand-carve the models for this crockery collection from lumps of plaster.

The resulting forms were used to make plaster moulds from which jugs, bowls and mugs were slip-cast by Staffordshire ceramics company 1882 Ltd.

While the exterior surfaces have been left raw, the interiors are glazed for practical use.

The collection will be launched at an exhibition hosted by 1882 Ltd. during the London Design Festival next month.

Bone China will be open from 14 to 22 September at 169 Draycott Avenue, London SW3 3AJ.

Other products by Lamb we’ve featured on Dezeen include a bronze chair cast from hand-carved polystyrene and furniture cut from solid rock.

See all our stories about Max Lamb »
See all our stories about ceramics »

Here’s some more information from 1882 Ltd.:

Crockery by Max Lamb for 1882 Ltd.
Fine bone china tableware, made in Staffordshire, England.

A collection of fine bone china tableware slip-cast from plaster models carved by hand, with glazed interior for functionality and raw exterior reflecting the modest surface texture of the plaster original.

The process of slip-casting begins with the creation of a three-dimensional model of the design known as a ‘master’ by a professional model-maker, from which the production mould is cast. Crockery bypasses this process by placing the responsibility of both designer and model-maker in the hands of Max Lamb. Using the tools of a stone mason Lamb chips and carves a solid block of plaster to make a jug, bowl or mug, the design of each formed quite simply out of their own making.

1882

In 1882 the Johnson Brothers began producing ceramics in the heart of the Stoke-on-Trent Potteries. 130 years later 1882 Ltd. continues the Johnson legacy with the company name evoking the deep routes of the family heritage. 1882 Ltd. was formed in 2011 by fifth generation Emily Johnson and her father, Christopher, who has worked in the industry since 1958. The first collection for 1882 Ltd. were the much heralded lights entitled ‘Bone’ – bisque and rumbled white bone china vessels offering a diffused illumination which celebrate the translucency of the fine bone china.

1882 Ltd’s mission is to champion inventively designed ceramic products from lighting to domestic ware whilst employing the manufacturing heritage of North Staffordshire and promoting the British ceramic industry. In collaborating with exceptionally talented designers to realise their interpretation of a very traditional material and craft, 1882 Ltd. will bring innovative ceramics to a wider audience while supporting a valuable UK resource.

Max Lamb

London-based Max Lamb was born in Cornwall, England, an upbringing that imbued him with a love of nature and a creative spirit which have manifested in his practice as designer and maker. He graduated from the Royal College of Art, London in 2006, was named Designer of the Future at Design Miami/Basel in 2008 and continues to both produce and exhibit his work internationally.

Lamb is known for creating beautifully crafted pieces that have materials and traditional processes at their core. He looks to design products that stimulate dialogue between maker, product and user through a visual simplicity that effectively communicates the obvious.

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for 1882 Ltd. appeared first on Dezeen.