Bits‘n Pieces

Photo courtesy EdhvTypographical Series

A dialogue between the analog world and digital technologies within design in a post - digital era.

Bits'n Pieces, featuring work by an international group of designers, architects, computer scientists and material and technology researchers, that anticipates the next phase of the digital revolution, is an interactive traveling exhibition that explores the rapidly advancing technologies and new materials transforming the world of design.

The designer is now in a position to tell factories which tools should be made and/or designed in order to make products, becoming as much researchers, scientists and engineers as "designers." In this way, they must begin to use technology as a tool with which to expand what we perceive as "normal" and constantly re-create our quotidian world.

Debug by Edhv
Currently Edhv is developing their vision on growing identities. For Bits 'n Pieces they have built an experimental machine that prints artwork with the help of insects.


Photo courtesy Edhv

Every species of insects has its own behavior which is influenced by its environment, for instance light conditions and obstacles along its path. This means all species walk different routes and paths, also according to their size, instinct, capabilities, etc.


Photo courtesy EdhvGeometric Series

Edhv's machine translates these species' specific movements into graphics which then are printed as posters, available for purchase.

Utah by Unfold
Claire Warnier & Dries Verbruggen
The Utah teapot is a 3D model created in 1975 which has become a standard reference object in the computer graphics community. It is a simple, round, partially concave mathematical model of an ordinary teapot.





The objective of Utanalog by UNFOLD is to return the iconographic teapot to its roots as a piece of functional dish-ware while showing its status as an icon of the digital world. The Utah teapot will be cast in different
resolutions in porcelain.

Jointed Pieces by AMT Inc.
Alissia Melka-Teichroew
By using modern technology it is nowadays possible to make shapes that are impossible to make using old techniques. It is impossible to mould a ball joint in ceramics or plastics. A ball joint can only be put together after the parts have been manufactured. Using 3D printing it is possible to create a ball joint connection in one piece.




Next to creating jewelry, the idea it to make every day objects with ball joints (including a stool, a lamp, etc).

Bone Chair
By Joris Laarman Lab
Trees have the ability to add material where strength it is needed. But bones also have the ability to take away material where it is not needed. With this knowledge the International Development Centre Adam Opel GmbH, a part of General Motors Engineering Europe created a dynamic digital tool to copy these ways of constructing used for optimizing car parts.


Photo courtesy Joris Laarman Lab


Photo courtesy Joris Laarman Lab

In a way it quite precisely copies the way evolution constructs. The Joris Laarman Lab used the tool to create elegant shapes with a kind of legitimacy. The chair is the first in a series and the process can be applied to any scale until architectural sizes in any material strength...

Knitted Vase
By Ilona Huvenaars and Willem Derks
The Knitted Vase will adapt to the single beautiful rose or the bunch of wildflowers instead of the other way around. The flowers determine the shape and the flexible neck will seamlessly wrap itself around.





Just like the snug fit of a finely knitted sweater. Thanks to the Rapid Manufacturing technique this vase of synthetic fibre will not drop a single stitch.

OpenStructures
By Intrastructures / Thomas Lommee
Can we design hardware like we design software?

The OpenStructures project is an attempt to define a three dimensional open source code for our built environment. It wants to initiate a kind of collective LEGO where everybody, from the biggest manufacturer to the most remote craftsman, can create their own individual blocs to then trade them with others through an online component database.

Photo courtesy OpenStructures

Photo courtesy OpenStructures

This setting will result in an open modular system, a universal 3D puzzle of compatible parts that will generate an endless variety of dynamic patchwork structures and a built environment that is truly scalable, flexible and diverse.

Script Chair and Table
Lucas Maassen
Reverse engineering the digital revolution: Script furniture is based on a digital computer script written for an analogue series of furniture. One part of the script says that "every material can be used only once".another says "pre-fab material is preferred"….


Photo courtesy Lucas Maassen

BRAINWAVE SOFA
By Lucas Maassen and Dries Verbruggen (Unfold)
The shape of the Brainwave Sofa is entirely determined by recording 3 seconds of Maassen's neural "alpha" activity  the very moment he closed his eyes. The resulting 3 second computerfile is sent to a CNC milling machine that mills out the Brainwave sofa in soft foam.


Photo courtesy Lucas Maassen and Dries Verbruggen

Photo courtesy Lucas Maassen and Dries Verbruggen

It is a tongue-in-cheek reference to a futuristic production workflow in which the designer only has to close his eyes and a computer 'prints' the result out as a functional form. A warm grey felt with buttons in the valleys is applied by hand to the foam honoring the traditional codes of a sofa..

3D Printer
By MakerBot
A glimpse into the future of digital design.

MakerBot's open source 3D Printer, which enables individuals to turn out complicated 3D forms quickly and affordably, highlight not only what is possible in the realm of manufacturing and design, but also what is to come.



Zach Smith, Bre Pettis, and Adam Mayer, the founders of MakerBot Industries, will be offering workshops on design and construction of MakerBots in 2009 and 2010.

Over the course of its global journey the Bits'n Pieces exhibition will mature based on context and content. The show's first component is a permanent collection of objects that travel to each venue and evolve based on feedback given by visitors from location to location, as is appropriate to work inspired by ever-advancing technologies. The second component will feature fresh pieces made by regional designers and introduced at each new venue to present the exhibition from a local perspective.

Material ConneXion is a global materials consultancy that helps companies innovate through smart materials thinking. Founded in 1997 by George M. Beylerian, Material ConneXion offers a variety of indispensable assets to designers, architects and manufacturers. The Advanced Materials Solution Team advises in the development of materials and products by providing crucial material intelligence gained through extensive research. Material ConneXion's libraries now feature Cradle to Cradle materials.


Photo courtesy Material ConneXion

The exhibition is on view through December 4, 2009.