CURRENT

printers designed to be shared—modified and re-shared—aim to bring high quality, low cost printing to anyone [6, 5]. Meanwhile large industry players, commercial manufacturers, continue to compete by absorbing competitors and other manufacturers into higher verticals on a regular basis [2].

All of this activity has created a broad understanding of the technology and a wider base of engagement. There is a highly diversified field of opportunity that ranges across: how content is made (modeling software, user interface, output technology type), what our relationships to products and markets are (shared, co-de- signed, disposable, customizable) and how production is defined (made at home, made locally, or made offshore). Like the freedom of complexity found in the virtual 3D space, each of these elements are scalable, they can address the individual and/or large collec- tion of allied individuals, small industry with a local mandate or large industry with considerable geographic reach.

WHAT IS IT WE DO?

The Material Matters research centre at Emily Carr University of Art + Design is actively exploring these new digital properties in tandem with traditional methods and material production. “As 3D printing becomes less expensive, more powerful and more perva- sive it diffuses into a wider range of opportunities” [7]. As hybrid forms of methodology and processes emerge they intersect with established means for making and knowledge transfer for students and faculty alike. “Material Matters examines these intersec- tions with an emphasis on four interrelated components: material research and development, lateral application, partnerships, and knowledge transfer” [7].

CRITICAL THINKING IS CRITICAL STRATEGY

What does it meant to identify as makers in contemporary soci- ety? What does it mean to re-situate and to re-contextualize our

knowledge of making and craft? Contemporary reflective practices in both Design and Material Practice act as a means to identify

an evolving connection between new digital processes and estab- lished material practices. How we approach our craft and Craft’s implicit relationship to the individual, ultimately affects the way objects are perceived.

This raises numerous opportunities for exploration: Process knowledge—3p printing at a large scale is a relatively new field with a multifaceted workflow. In order to adequately engage the technology multiple skill-sets must be implemented; Design Meth- odology—as 3D printing redefines production pathways objects take on the very character of their design parametrics, influencing the complexity of material practice and production while affording variables in ever increasing diversity; and Knowledge Mobilization through distributed Social/relational Forums—social forums are at the ready, offering an immediate call out to expertise.

MATERIALS MATTER

We are developing alternate pathways to object making that conflate the new digital workflow with the inherent strengths of legacy processes like Ceramics, like Foundry. Collaborations in material research with teaching faculty and students enrolled in studio courses, both in fine art and design, have lead to a greater integration and enabled forums for reciprocal knowledge transfer between what we recognize as the distributed processes of making (the craft) and the artisanal (the Craft). Our research and peda- gogic activities have us casting directly into 3pP forms and objects in “true-life” materials in the foundry, forms that are originally conceived and iterated in digital modeling software and printed as a void of the true materiality of the intended outcome. The tensions that are found in this translation between this conflagration of “true-life” material properties drive discovery and new insights [10].

oe

Figure 1. 3D Printing offers access to design development to an audience that was previously unaware of it.