If the world of human-made artifacts more closely resembled the world of nature, we wouldn’t see huge batches of identical, mass-produced goods that sit on shelves for an entire season before being replaced, after careful market analysis, by a completely new set of products. Instead, each individual object would deviate slightly from the rest, through mutation. GeMo is a Kickstarter project that seems to explore this concept.
Mehran Gharleghi and Amin Sadeghy, of studio INTEGRATE, have used an algorithm to design “an army of” 500 vases, to demonstrate the possibilities of 3D printed design and mass customization. See, every vase in the GeMo series is altered slightly, so that all are unique, but still resemble one another. In the artists’ parlance, they are “genetically modified”. To showcase 3D printing’s ability to mass manufacture objects that are customized for the individual, studio INTEGRATE will display their 500 GeMo vases at an exhibition in London. There’s only one problem: money.
In order to actually turn their 3D designs into 3D prints, the designers have turned to Kickstarter. By backing the Kickstarter campaign, you will have your name inscribed on one soldier in the army, which will then be shipped to you after the exhibition is complete. Depending on your loyalty to the army, you can back at the campaign at various levels to receive a specific vase. The vases will be made in three sizes, ranging from 10 cm to 40 cm in height, and from four different materials: stainless steel, resin, ceramic and nylon.
I definitely like the approach taken by studio INTEGRATE, even if they mix their metaphors a little bit between armies and GMOs. Art Kickstarters, I’ve noticed, don’t always meet their goals, but because the GeMo vases are beautiful and functional, the studio could rake in the £10,000 needed to get their project off the ground. In fact, at the time of this writing, they’ve already got well over £1,000 and they’re already adding a stretch goal, in case they reach £50,000. For more details, you can visit the campaign page and watch the KS video below:
