ECALECALDigitalDigital

20182018

DesignDesign

MarketMarketMarketMilanMilanMilanWeekWeek

ECAL Digital MarketParticipants

Students:Byongseon Bae Margherita Banchi Eva-Maria Beer Bastien Chevrier Oscar EstradaMu-Hau KaoYesul JangYoujung Jeong Kohei KojimaJana Marlene LippertSebastian Maluska Ignacio Merino Thomas Missé Victor MoynierMiji NohCatarina Pacheco Chelsea Park Alexandre Picciotto Jakob Reuter

Designers:Thilo Alex Brunner & Jörg MettlerTomás AlonsoCamille BlinBig-GameJörg BonerRonan & Erwan Bouroullec Michel CharlotPauline DeltourAlexis Georgacopoulos Christophe Guberan & Dominic SchlögelAnthony GuexStéphane Halmaï-VoisardIndustrial FacilityChris KabelTomas KralAlberto MedaCarolien Niebling & Olli Hirvonen Julie RichozAdrien RoveroBrynjar SigurðarsonChristian SpiessNicholai Wiig HansenSebastian Wrong

Christophe Guberan in discussionwith Camille Blin

Christophe Guberan graduated from ECAL with a Bachelor degree in Industrial Design. While still a student, he developed a process to move from 2D to 3D printing in the space of a few minutes using tracing paper and water. The Massachu-setts Institute of Technology (MIT) approached him, more specifically the MIT Self-Assembly Lab, founded by Skylar Tibbits, the specialist in new materials and inventor of 4D printing. Since then, Christophe Guberan has established himself as an expert in such fields as industrial 3D printing, or additive manufacturing as it is known, as well as stereolithography, a technology that was devel-oped by Formlabs, among others, who partnered with ECAL in the “ECAL Digital Market” exhibi-tion. This provided an excellent opportunity for an exchange between Christophe Guberan and Camille Blin, who is both a designer and the head of the Master Product Design programme at ECAL and in charge of the Milanese project.

CB Until now, I had thought of digital manufac-turing more in terms of a prototyping tool but recent developments have indicated that it could have a real impact on design practices. In particular, the flow triangle of designer, production and customer is made easier and shorter as a result. As a designer and an expert in these new tech-nologies yourself, how do you see this evo-lution and how do you think technology could further evolve in the future?

CG Today the 3D printer is mainly used for the customization facilities it offers in terms of manufacturing. It is therefore used, for example, in the medical world, notably by orthodontists, but also to manufacture personalised glasses or shoe soles. An added important advantage is the possibility to produce on demand: stock man-agement is made much simpler and it is easy to relocate production close to individual custom-ers, or even in city centres. The gains in terms of reactivity and transport logistics are obvi-ous. However, there are several obstacles to the democratization of this technology for the pro-duction of everyday objects: it is slow, quality is sometimes lacking and the size of the objects it can produce is limited. Today, however, the print farm concept is emerging, the idea being to get round the slow machines by using more of them.

This approach has been made possible by the decrease in 3D printer prices.CB Ironically, while working on the project,

I discovered a lot of common ground between these new production processes and traditional craftsmanship; in both cases, the production site and the cus-tomer are in close physical proximity and production is carried out on demand. How do you see this type of craftsmanship in the future?

CG The close proximity of the production site to its customer base and the creation of unique and therefore custom-made pieces are reminis-cent of the work of the craftsman, who has his own style. With personalization, the emphasis is on advice and direct contact. Speed is another advantage: so you may call in your “digital crafts-man” around the corner and pick up your order two hours later. But this operation only makes sense if the object is very specific, which is why I am thinking more of a customizable accessory whose ergonomics can be improved. To have mass-produced goods made by a craftsman, be he a digital one, is still far too expensive. As this technology is becoming more and more afford-able, it facilitates market entry from designers who show individual initiative. I am thinking for example of Notaroberto Boldrini’s 3D-printed Watch.step watches that are currently sold at the MoMA Design Store.CB During the research for this project, I

noticed that 3D printing had its own tech-nical constraints and limitations, like a plane for a joint or a sprue in a plastic com-ponent, for instance. If we consider these new technologies as production tools, we must be able to incorporate these con-straints into the design of the object itself. What type of constraints have you had to face up to during your trials and how did you deal with them?

CG Indeed, like any technique, there are con-straints relating to the production process, partic-ularly at software level. The main challenge is to take advantage of these constraints and turn them into assets. In the case of stereolithography, for example, one must start from an element that is attached to a tray. The entire object must then be connected to the original element. In my opinion, the traces left by the production technique, like the layers in the case of 3D printing, are an inte-gral part of the object aesthetic. This technique

also makes it possible to have extremely precise surface finishes. The main challenge in 3D print-ing is to avoid post-production operations. This implies drawing the object in a certain way. But to achieve good design, a thorough knowledge of production constraints is essential, as they then provide the designer with new opportunities. We can thus produce shapes no longer restrained by moulding limitations, which translate into com-plex assemblies. It is also possible to create voids within the object, to save material while maintain-ing a solid internal structure, or, on the contrary, while providing it with a restrained flexibility.CB I have a feeling that, in order to best use

new digital manufacturing tools, we must change our mindset, both technically and conceptually. During the workshop we held with you at the MIT IDC in Boston, how do you think the students reacted to this, keeping in mind that they may have to use these tools more and more in the near future?

CG It was interesting to see how students moved from sketching on paper to 3D model-ling, and ultimately to see how the resulting 3D printing compared with their original drawings. Using the same machine for prototyping as for manufacturing is new to the designer as usually foam, cardboard, etc., are used. It was interest-ing to note that students were still drawing and designing from traditional techniques (stamping, thermoforming, plastic injection, etc). It is essen-tial to free ourselves from what we have learnt in order to imagine a new language. In addition, digital manufacturing processes require the use of a 3D drawing programme, a tool that, when mastered, offers great formal freedom, which is not without risks. By pushing this process as far as possible, it is now possible to achieve unprece-dented, extremely complex design. But this often reminds me of a stylistic exercise, a form of dig-ital decoration. The pieces are often shown in museums and magazines, but meet no specific function. When thinking of digital manufacturing, most people often have a complex aesthetic in mind. It would be a pity if this aesthetic became the rule. An instantly visible digital process does not necessarily mean the result is valid. Do we really want to let the software generate the design for us? For me a 3D printed object is good when we stop talking about the manufacturing process but rather about the object itself.

Colophon

Director:Alexis Georgacopoulos Head of Master Product Design: Camille BlinAssistant:Anthony Guex Project Concept: Christophe Guberan & Camille BlinScenography:ECAL Exhibition Management: Antoine VautheyPress & Communication:Selim Atakurt Photography: Calypso MahieuGraphic Design and Object Renderings:Omnigroup Typeface: Polar (Omnitype)Photolithography:James Pascale Printing: Benjamin Plantier at ECALPartnership:Formlabs – www.formlabs.com Acknowledgments: MIT International Design Center MIT Self-Assembly Lab – Skylar Tibbits Summer University – DGES/State of Vaud Swissnex BostonECAL/University of Art and Design LausanneAv. du Temple 51020 Renens Switzerland

ecal@ecal.chwww.ecal.ch

ECAL Digital Market

On the occasion of the Milan Design Week (17–22 April 2018), ECAL/University of Art and Design Lau-sanne has turned Spazio Orso 16, a 17th century Milanese palazzo, into a contemporary production site and retail shop inspired by a new vision of dig-ital manufacturing.

Lately, most of the product design research into 3D printing has been focusing on new technologies and the shapes they can gen-erate. The idea of this project is to present digital manufacturing as an industrial pro-duction tool thanks to a print farm com-posed of numerous machines printing the same pieces simultaneously. “ECAL Digital Market” offers functional and well designed everyday objects, created by Master Product Design students as well as by a selection of ECAL-related designers (faculty members and alumni).

The project looks into the possibilities of produc-tion on demand. It examines the changing environ-ment of manufacturing processes, it emphasizes how fast and transparent today’s design industry could become, and experiments with new design details that are too intricate to achieve with tradi-tional manufacturing techniques.

Finally, “ECAL Digital Market” highlights the role of the designer in this new production cycle. Thanks to the 3D printers and know-how provided by Formlabs, a large variety of objects such as combs, tape dispens-ers, mechanical pencils, shoehorns, coat hooks, scissors, spinning tops, shelves and many more are produced and sold on site by the students.

The digital files of the objects can also be pur-chased online: www.ecal-digital-market.ch