Digital Craft Scene in the UK

This post is a modifided version of a piece of assessment for the Master of Digital Design, University of Canberra.

The Field

Digital craft, the application of digital tools to traditional craft activities, is an active scene in many countries. There is plenty of evidence of the application of digital technologies to crafts such as ceramics, textiles, and metal-smithing in the US, the UK, Europe and Australia.

Many of these crafts have required the same skills and tools for hundreds of years and so the application of modern digital methods is not without controversy. The practitioners in the field will argue that the machine aesthetic adds to their work in unpredictable ways and that the blend of the traditional and ultra modern becomes personal and expressive.

The digital processes that have been applied to traditional craft can be broadly classified as input based and output based.

Input based (3D scanning, computer aided design) relates to the design stage.

Output based technologies include 2D (such as digital textile printing and laser and water jet cutting) and 3D technologies and relate to the physical production. The 3D technologies can be further categorised into computer numerical control (CNC) milling and routing (subtractive fabrication) and rapid prototyping or manufacturing (3D printing – additive fabrication).

The Scene

Lab Craft: Digital Adventures in Contemporary Craft is a touring exhibition showcasing digital craft organised by the UK Crafts Council . It includes work by 23 makers and three groups who combine traditional craft skills with digital technologies. Lab Craft was the starting point for the choice of ‘scene’ for this work.

This survey focuses on a small group in the UK actively experimenting, researching, producing and exhibiting digital craft. The field has been narrowed to focus on those group members who originally worked in ceramics and are now using additive fabrication in at least some of their work.

These designers are sharing their experiences with digital technologies to assist the wider community in their traditional craft field.

The group are linked through Lab Craft and through teaching and research activities. As far as the author can tell, none of them are frequent users of social media, although a number have blogs, websites and Flickr accounts. Even with this infrequent use of social media it appears that Nervous Systems is on the radar of a number of the chosen practitioners.

Details of all the makers is available at the Lab Craft website.

In the UK the London Metropolitan University, the Royal College of Art and University College Falmouth are active in the field of digital craft.

Ceramic/Pottery Trained Digital Crafters

Justin Marshall

Personal website: www.justinmarshall.co.uk
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/
Academic: University College Falmouth
Practice: www.autonomatic.org.uk
CV: www.justinmarshall.co.uk/cv.html

Justin Marshall is crafter and academic. He started as a ceramicist, completing and BA in Fine Art and an MA in ceramics. His PhD involved an investigation into the role and significance of CAD/CAM technologies in craft and designer/maker practice. Marshall teaches at University College Falmouth.

In his personal statement on his website, Marshall includes in his list of interests:

• Collaborations between artists/craftspeople and industry
• The impact of CAD/CAM technologies on art and craft practices

“His current projects have concentrated on using digital technologies not only to extend aesthetic possibilities, but also their role in building new relationships between independent makers and industry, and to challenge the relationship between maker and consumer.” [www.autonomatic.org.uk]

A research project of Marshall’s took the form of a collaborative project with an ornamental plasterwork company. Marshall’s interest was not only the productive potential of digital technologies, but also their role in creating new forms of sustainable practice for independent makers (see The Design Journal, Volume 10, Issue 2).

Marshall has used Design Expert software to design his pouring bowls which were produced rapid prototyping technology. The company making this software is better known in the statistics field.

In other work, Marshall and two other academics created Automake, a web based tool that allows the user to explore generative systems, and ultimately ‘manufacture’ unique items. A paper on the project was presented to the Generative Art International Conference in 2007.

“Automake is about combining generative systems with craft knowledge and digital production technologies to create a new way of designing and making objects that blurs the boundaries between maker and consumer, craft and industrial production.” [www.automake.co.uk/about]

This is further explained in the diagram below.

The software used to create automake is Virtools, normally considered game authoring software, and was chosen partly for the lack of hard coding required, and for its strong user community. The software was created a number of years ago and is not as sophisticated as some other interactive fabrication tools (eg Nervous Systems on the web and the similarly aged yet amazing virtual potter’s wheel – L’Artisan Electronique).

Tavs Jorgensen

Personal website: www.oktavius.co.uk
Twitter: @tavsjorgensen
Academic: Research Fellow University College Falmouth, Part time tutor Royal College of Art
Practice: www.autonomatic.org.uk
CV: www.oktavius.co.uk/profile.html

Danish born Jorgensen undertook a four-year pottery apprenticeship and studied 3D ceramic design at graduate level. He is a freelance designer and research fellow at the Autonomatic Research Group (described below). In addition to his commercial work and research practice, Jorgensen also teaches on the Ceramic and Glass course at the Royal College of Art.

Jorgensen’s research is predominately focused on investigating how user interfaces can facilitate more personal and expressive aesthetics in objects created using digital tools. Recent projects have also explored the combination of 2D and 3D drawing using CNC technology.

Jorgensen is a member of the Rhinoceros online community and follows @openprocessing on twitter.

Marshall, Jorgensen, and four others form Autonomatic, a research cluster sponsored by University College Falmouth. The cluster has a covetable “kit“, including 3D scanners and printers. The group hire the equipment to facilitate access by a wider group of creative practioners. The group aims to inspire other designers and makers to approach digital technologies with a creative mindset.

Michael Eden
Personal website: www.edenceramics.co.uk/diary.html
Academic: Manchester Metropolitan University
Practice: www.edenceramics.co.uk

Eden was a studio potter for 20 years before completing post-graduate study into the integration of digital technology with tradition craft at the Royal College of Art. Eden is best known for his 3D printed ‘Wedgewoodn’t‘ range of lacey vessels. DeZeen Magazine and an excellent write-up and images of his work.

Eden, Marshall and Jorgensen all spoke at the RepRap rapid prototyping conference – Inside Out: Art and Design in the Digital Age (2009)