Body Urns

The author is one of 14 makers selected worldwide to contribute to this exhibition which seeks to explore and explain the current employment of digital design and production technologies by independent makers.

The jugs selected for exhibition were the result of a research project which combined traditional ceramic production techniques with digital technologies. Traditional plaster turning processes were combined with rapid prototyping, laser cutting and CNC milling to produce a master model for the jug design. Traditional moulding and slip casting techniques were then used to produce the ceramic pieces. The decoration process involved the use of a ceramic digital printer, which allows the economic production of one-off or small batch decorative decals, and a cutter plotter which facilitated the cutting of the decals to fit the complex 3D form of the jugs.

This integrated approach was taken to make the most efficient use of, often expensive digital technologies, only employing them to produce the elements of the design which would have been unfeasible to produce using more traditional methods. Therefore the project went beyond the employment of digital technologies simply to create design works with new aesthetic characteristics, it also sought to address issues surrounding the economics of production.

Elements of this design and production system have been employed within the ceramics industry. However, this range of digital techniques have not been brought together in one project before and the research aimed to illustrate both a series of distinct digital techniques and how they can be integrated into a wider project.