Art & Sculpture

Interviews with the artists behind 3D Printing: The Good, The Bad and The Beautiful

The National Centre for Craft & Design (NCCD) in Lincolnshire, UK is holding an exhibition titled 3D Printing: The Good, The Bad and The Beautiful. It runs from 28 January to 23 April 2017, and celebrates the innovation and fascination people have with this new technology.

3D Printing Industry asked  several of the 17 exhibiting artists about the exhibition.  The work on display was created using SLA and SLS 3D printers and also a 3D pen to make stunning visual artworks for the NCCD.

Kinematics Dress for the NCCD exhibition. Photo by: Jessica Rosenkrantz of N-E-R-V-O-U-S system. Via: @nervous_jessica on Twitter
Kinematics Dress for the NCCD exhibition. Photo by: Jessica Rosenkrantz of N-E-R-V-O-U-S system. Via: @nervous_jessica on Twitter

The full works include 3D printed fashion, such as a Kinematics Dress printed in jigsaw puzzle pieces (seen above) by the collective N-E-R-V-O-U-S, vases, jewelry and kinetic sculptures. All have been selected to showcase the possibilities of 3D printing and to ‘question the role of designer and maker’ .

Dorry Hsu – crystal clear jewelry

“Because of the crystal quality of SLA clear resin printing,” explains Hsu, “the spike form is [inspired by] the natural growth of crystalline.”

Touch the Invisible ring to be exhibited at the NCCD by Dorry Hsu
Touch the Invisible ring to be exhibited at the NCCD by Dorry Hsu

Two new pieces from Hsu’s Touch the Invisible jewelry collection feature in the NCCD exhibit, and represent her vision of “a man-made synthetic crystal.”

Dorry Hsu is a member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors, and has earned an MA in Goldsmith, Silversmith, Metalwork and Jewellery from the Royal College of Art in London. She incorporates these skills into her work not only with SLA, but SLS nylon powder, wax, paper printing and silver.

Michael Eden – ‘History, Re-Printed’

Michael Eden’s work takes known, historical ceramics, such as the Wedgwood tureen dish, and 3D prints them creating a modern, and provocative take on these classic pieces.

A Wedgwoodn’t Tureen by Michael Eden. Photo by: Adrian Sassoon
A ‘Wedgwoodn’t Tureen’ by Michael Eden. Photo by: Adrian Sassoon

Eden explains, “I aim to seduce the viewer by creating something that is familiar, but then giving a provocative ‘twist’ that encourages them to think about craft, making, digital technology etc.”

Eden’s vases and dishes are mostly 3D printed using Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), but he has also experimented with ceramic and resin 3D printing.

We also have to agree that 3D printing’s ability “to create ‘impossible’ artworks” is the one most exciting and inspiring aspect of the technology. Creating Nylon ornaments with such complex geometries would not be possible in any other crafting technique.

Grace Du Prez – 3Doodler couture

For Grace Du Prez, the process leads the design. “I’ll often start with an experimental stage at the beginning of a project where I try lots of different techniques and see what works well.”

For the hat in the NCCD exhibit, Du Prez wanted to make the most of the clear filament’s properties that allow it to catch light. She adds, “The hat I have in the exhibition has a very reflective surface that looks like a mixture of a spider’s web and ice crystals.”

3Doodled hat by Grace Du Prez. Photo by: Nuraan Ackers
3Doodled hat by Grace Du Prez. Photo by: Nuraan Ackers

Working with a 3Doodler Pen is how Du Prez captures the NCCD’s brief, “With new technology, there comes lots of questions to ask yourself as an artist and allows you think about the relationship between yourself and this new form of craft.”

Du Prez’s work is a perfect example of things we didn’t think were possible with a 3D pen.

Art & 3D printing

Artists adopting 3D printing as a tool not only captures the imagination, but it pushes the technology to new limits. It also allows 3D printing to make a statement with cultural implications.

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Nominations for outstanding 3D design can now be made for the 3D Printing Industry Awards here.

Featured image shows a crystalline inspired ring, SLA printed and cast in 925 Silver Oxide /18kGold. From the ‘Touch the Invisible’ collection by Dorry Hsu.

 

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