The "Craft Vs Digital" dilemma represents a very difficult and irreconcilable quandary for many contemporary artists and creatives. New technology has indeed introduced innovative machines and materials on the market that are quickly turning into indispensable tools.
Technologies such as CNC routing, water-jet and laser cutting, 3D printing and rapid prototyping machines have become an important part of the maker's journey as they allow to create complex pieces that previously could have not been made by hand.
An exhibition currently touring the UK (until yesterday it was at the Barony Centre in West Kilbride, a small craft town in Scotland, but check out future exhibition dates here) is exploring these new technologies, wondering in which ways craft practitioners can manipulate them without being constricted by the limitations of machines and without threatening more traditional craft processes.
Curated by Max Fraser, "Lab Craft: Digital Adventures in Contemporary Craft" is a collection of different objects, including furniture, textiles, functional-ware and jewellery, created by differentUK-based artists and designers who are experimenting with new industrial technologies in their studios or in research units at British universities.
There are pieces for everybody's taste, but what's even more important is that there are items made by employing the most advanced techniques, including 3D CAD modelling (Shelley Doolan), laser-cutting (Tord Boontje) or Automake, a software platform that combines computer-based generative systems with digital production technologies (Justin Marshall).
The production processes are split into two categories, additive (depositing new materials layer after layer to gradually create an object) and subtractive (sculpting away materials from a block of granite, wood and so on, using manual or automated tools).
Examples of these techniques are “Information Ate My Table”, a conceptual piece inspired by our complex relationship with the quantity of information we receive everyday, by Zachary Eastwood-Bloom made using digitally informed design, cutting and milling processes, Daniel Widrig's “Cloud Like”, a piece inspired by the formation of the clouds and made with a CNC milling machine driven by a computer, or Gary Allson and Ismini Samanidou's study “Woven Wood” in which the designer and the textile artist explored the possibility of employing digital making methods to translate magnified textile weave structures into timber.
Textiles are actually among the most interesting pieces included in the event: Philippa Brock applied her research to the structural possibilities that CAD/CAM indutrial-woven-jacquard-textiles can offer, creating richly textured works based on paper-folding techniques and made with hand looms and new technologies; Jo Pierce collaged digital images coming up with innovative compositions; Ismini Samanidou manipulated filtered photographic imagery in a specialist weave software to develop special thread constructions woven on a computerised jacquard loom and Melanie Bowles reinterpreted the traditional Shibori art manipulating complex mathematical graphic geometries to create light effects, folds and blends that call back to mind the essence of Shibori, and digitally printed them onto fabric.
Jewellery remains one of the fashion-related fields currently benefiting from the use of advanced techniques as proved also by 1234 lab that turned experiments in 3D sound mapping into a necklace made using rapid prototyping production.
In some cases new technologies are employed in conjuction with more traditional techniques such as wax casting and hand-finishing and polishing: inspired by the marks made by the rapid prototyping machine, Jo Hayes Ward designed rings and brooches with densely textured surfaces, while Lynne MacLachlan's jewellery collection mimicks delicate bubble and foam structures but it's created with computer and digital generative techniques.
Visitors interested in interior design will find a wide range of pieces, from tables (Gareth Neal), chairs (Timorous Beasties) and armchairs (Lazerian) to wallpaper (Chae Young Kim), small objects for the house such as lamps (Assa Ashuach) or ornamental vases inspired by ancient Chinese hu but incorporating the encoded information of a QR (Quick Response) code (Michael Eden).
While it is obvious that many questions regarding the “craft Vs digital” dilemma will remain unanswered (the curator wonders in the booklet that accompanies the exhibition if the software's toolset erodes the autonomy of the individual or if the intervention of technicians in the making of these objects somehow blurs authorship), "Lab Craft" is a small yet well-researched exhibition that confirms that craft may have entered a new era and that - like it or not - digital technologies are by now totally ingrained in our lives.
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Green building is also becoming a strong component of the contemporary style. Architects today are placing more emphasis on energy efficiency; they also are using sustainable, natural, and recycled materials, thus creating eco-friendly houses. Contemporary homes are also often thoughtfully integrated into their natural surroundings.
Posted by: school architects | September 02, 2012 at 02:28 PM
These are beautiful. I especially love the first photo.
Posted by: Matrox Graphics | April 27, 2013 at 11:46 AM
With using of 3D technologies big Advantages i find. Within in Short time you can Introduce product. If we talk about Past enought time for creation a new product. Mean after comming up of 3D Printing Human Effert Decrease and Machinical Production Increase.
Posted by: Rpprototype.com | May 01, 2013 at 01:00 PM