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Digital crafting: a new frontier for material design
Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of the potentials of employing computational design methods and digital fabrication tools for the creation of novel, material-based design. Just as in the early days of architecture, when the master builder was responsible for all areas of building, these new technologies allow a return to the exploration of experimental design methods and the direct exchange with different materials. Designing for and through digital production techniques thus shifts the focus from formal design representations toward the physically realized. As such, material and tectonic thinking are reintroduced as the very base of the design approach. Due to this a new type of design becomes possible with a formerly unknown degree of complexity—both on a formal and on a functional level. This chapter gives an overview of the history of design, speaks about the so-called “digital continuum,” highlights the benefits of customization and individual production, stresses the nuisance of new esthetic formalizations and the importance of education to mediate such understanding to students of design and architecture.
... Significant advances have been made in the integration of digital tools with craft practices and emerging materials design and its applications (Kretzer, 2021;Moyer et al., 2024;Romani et al., 2021;Sauerwein et al., 2020;Veen et al., 2019;Yogiaman et al., 2020). This study recognises such integrations and explores them through a different lens, an international workshop. ...
Combining craft and design processes with technologies and digital tools creates a positive tension in which a hybrid approach emerges. This approach can be recognised by the fusion of analogue and digital perspectives. This combination has demonstrated great potential in design research with and for new materials. In the experimental process of materials design, where the final aim is to foster responsible design, this practice is becoming more popular. It is argued that combining material tinkering, crafts practices and digital tools can expand the possibilities of emerging materials design and future materials applications, fostering local materials' cultural and economic values. This argument is supported by the resulting pathways from an international collaborative workshop organised by the National Taiwan Craft and Development Institute (NTCRI). The results reveal the potential of this combined creative practice by using a local biobased material from fish scales and 3D printing as a manufacturing method. Two pathways' narratives describe how this hybrid practice can be unfolded, highlighting the use of local materials and a collaborative, explorative approach. To conclude, recommendations for this hybrid and collaborative practice of materials design are elaborated based on the reflections of the workshop.
... Within this context, digital fabrication tools have mainly been studied at the intersection with CE, resulting in different strategies and approaches to put its principles into practice, i.e., through repairing, distributed economies, upcycling, and recycling initiatives from local waste streams (Colorado et al., 2020;Despeisse et al., 2017;Mikula et al., 2021;Oyinlola et al., 2023;Ponis et al., 2021;Sauerwein et al., 2019;van Oudheusden et al., 2023). Moreover, the discipline of material design is demonstrating its crucial contribution to spreading the use and knowledge of new materials linked with digital technologies, especially by experiencing materials and envisioning them into concrete artifacts through speculative design approaches (Clèries & Rognoli, 2021;Galloway & Caudwell, 2018;Kretzer, 2021;Pedgley et al., 2021). However, designers' awareness of using these new circular materials and sustainable technologies is not fully achieved yet Romani et al., 2021). ...
Despite the spread of new circular materials and digital technologies, designers’ awareness of how to practically implement them is not fully achieved yet. Therefore, new ways to foster digital craftsmanship skills and experiential knowledge should be implemented. This contribution aims to reflect on digital technologies, especially 3D printing, in speculative design approaches with circular materials through the development of the materials library from the FiberEUse research project. This “materials and product library system” is an adaptive experiential tool that goes beyond merely collecting physical materials samples. It also includes possible products, speculative applications, and non-textual content, merging physical and virtual learning experiences. Its physical section comprises a materials library with flat samples of the materials and a product library with applications or cut-offs of some meaningful details of products.
By analyzing the library’s development path, three incremental phases emerge in terms of interaction with circular materials and 3D printing for speculative approaches: experiencing materials, technology, and products. The first phase aims to preliminary explore the potential and qualities of materials through traditional craftsmanship skills. The second phase deals with the first experimentations with the technology, understanding the limits and influence on the expressive-sensorial qualities. The third phase is oriented toward new applications, investigating the possible outcomes from a formal point of view. As a synthesis, the tinkering process emphasizes the active role of experiential tools in spreading the use of circular materials and digital technologies, helping acquire new skills through an experiential approach. It also adds a further level to the exploitation of materials libraries, paving the way for new possible uses, i.e., distributed replication, participation, and implementation. As a result, materials libraries assume a more active role in the experiential knowledge transfer even during their development, representing a practical path to building new skills. Hence, a new model of materials libraries may emerge as a replicative learning and speculative design tool.
... Today, the increased influence of digitalisation on the creative processes of the artistic fields challenges the role of haptic knowledge and analogue environments in teaching and acquiring basic design skills. Thus, the extended transition away from analogue methods and towards digital tools in most design education programmes has moved the focus in teaching from haptic to visual media of expression and has challenged the use of conventional design methods (Kretzer, 2021). Consequently, digitalisation has lessened the importance of experiential knowledge and tactility in the process of artefact-making by amplifying the importance of vision and digital craftsmanship within creative processes. ...
The transition to digital design tools challenges the craftsmanship of textile and fashion designers as part of the product value chain, opening for reflection on how textile craftsmanship should be taught in education due to the current trend of digitalisation. By looking at new forms of craftsmanship, this research expands on the idea of teaching students transdisciplinary methods which connect analogue and digital tools within textile and fashion design education.
Based on analysis of a number of case studies, we propose a framework of different strategies for teaching textile craftsmanship in the digital design age, with the aim of integrating textile-specific digital environments — which have been designed primarily to maximise the efficiency of industrial processes, rather than to enhance design development with regard to artistic expression — and non-textile digital tools on the basis that these are exploratory in nature and open to more creative design practices.
... Within this context, digital fabrication tools have mainly been studied at the intersection with CE, resulting in different strategies and approaches to put its principles into practice, i.e., through repairing, distributed economies, upcycling, and recycling initiatives from local waste streams (Colorado et al., 2020;Despeisse et al., 2017;Mikula et al., 2021;Oyinlola et al., 2023;Ponis et al., 2021;Sauerwein et al., 2019;van Oudheusden et al., 2023). Moreover, the discipline of material design is demonstrating its crucial contribution to spreading the use and knowledge of new materials linked with digital technologies, especially by experiencing materials and envisioning them into concrete artifacts through speculative design approaches (Clèries & Rognoli, 2021;Galloway & Caudwell, 2018;Kretzer, 2021;Pedgley et al., 2021). However, designers' awareness of using these new circular materials and sustainable technologies is not fully achieved yet (Pedgley et al., 2016;Romani et al., 2021). ...
Despite the spread of new circular materials and digital technologies, designers’ awareness of how to practically implement them is not fully achieved yet. Therefore, new ways to foster digital craftsmanship skills and experiential knowledge should be implemented. This contribution aims to reflect on digital technologies, especially 3D printing, in speculative design approaches with circular materials through the development of the materials library from the FiberEUse research project. This “materials and product library system” is an adaptive experiential tool that goes beyond merely collecting physical materials samples. It also includes possible products, speculative applications, and non-textual content, merging physical and virtual learning experiences. Its physical section comprises a materials library with flat samples of the materials and a product library with applications or cutoffs of some meaningful details of products.
By analyzing the library's development path, three incremental phases emerge in terms of interaction with circular materials and 3D printing for speculative approaches: experiencing materials, technology, and products. The first phase aims to preliminary explore the potential and qualities of materials through traditional craftsmanship skills. The second phase deal with the first experimentations with the technology, understanding the limits and influence on the expressive-sensorial qualities. The third phase is oriented toward new applications, investigating the possible outcomes from a formal point of view. As a synthesis, the tinkering process emphasizes the active role of experiential tools in spreading the use of circular materials and digital technologies, helping acquire new skills through an experiential approach. It also adds a further level to the exploitation of materials libraries, paving the way for new possible uses, i.e., distributed replication, participation, and implementation. As a result, materials libraries assume a more active role in the experiential knowledge transfer even during their development, representing a practical path to building new skills. Hence, a new model of materials libraries may emerge as a replicative learning and speculative design tool.
Parametrisches entwerfen
- F Böhm
Die fabrik der zukunft
- L Clifton
Digitales werken. Über die einflüsse und entwicklung der digital produzierten, modularen ausstellungsarchitektur
- Sachs