Machine and Human Hand
My submission for project 3 of CCDN331 investigating the relationship between craft and manufacturing, with a particular emphasis on 3D printing. Abstract as follows
Machine and Human Hand
It is without a doubt today that technology, production techniques, and machining processes are developing at an ever-increasing rate. The most obvious case of this is that of 3D printing; which, over the last 5 years especially, has gained a huge amount of media attention as well as many misconceptions and false expectations around it. Because of this media attention, there are many who believe that 3D printing is the be-all and end-all of manufacturing; a wonder-machine which can manufacture anything one desires and sit in your home, doing away with the need to order spare parts or learn how to fix your home, car, or appliances by hand. In adopting this attitude, we are moving even closer to losing the art of handiwork. By people believing that any of their needs can be fulfilled simply by clicking print on a machine, we risk losing what makes hand-craft wonderful; the innovation, imperfection, uniqueness, ingenuity, and personal touch of the maker. It is important then that we focus on how we can manipulate these machines through design, rather than how they can manipulate our designs; by working with the material qualities given by these machines, designers and makers can produce items which stay true to the tools used and have uniqueness and sense of character, just like hand-craft.
This essay will focus on the relationship between hand- and machine-craft today, and how by testing the limits of machines and pushing their capabilities we can create products which have all the complexity, nuance and beautiful material qualities which have come to be associated with hand craft.
Literary sources:
Additive Manufacturing: Going Mainstream
This text outlines the uses, benefits, drawbacks, myths, and future of 3D printing. It analyses the growth of 3D printing in the last few years and future projections for the technology. It also dispels many of the common myths or preconceptions that people have about or around 3D printing while also highlighting its current and future possibilities in design and production. I am using this text to clarify and distinguish between the myths of 3D printing commonly held by the public and the actual real world applications this process has.
Downloading Infringement: Patent Law as a Roadblock to the 3D Printing Revolution
This text highlights how patent law, in particular for “arbitrary three-dimensional objects”, is holding back innovation, accessibility and usability in the world of 3D printing. It also goes over a brief history of 3D printing and exactly what it can achieve. The biggest issue this text tackles is patent-law and the protection around the plans and specifications for physical objects. Theoretically it would be possible for someone to get a product, take it apart and replicate it by hand, but with 3D printing and the ease at which people can share and produce objects, the law around the distribution of patented or protected files becomes much more important – just like the protection that games, movies, books and music have. I am using this text as knowledge behind the issue of patent laws in 3D printing and replication of objects and how this would affect the layman in terms of the comparison between replication through additive manufacturing and replicating through hand craft.
Craft Labour and Creative Industries
This text examines the role and status of craft labour in the creative industries. It highlights the often overlooked importance the ‘crafter’ has in this field of work, who is many times overshadowed by the artist or other “creative” role. The threat to craftspeople is also brought up and how, through craft being seen as subordinate to or less important than artistry, these craftspeoples’ profession is at risk. I am using this text to investigate both the difference between the role of ‘crafter’ and ‘creative’ (e.g. artist) and also how craft is defined and how this relates back to objects which are ‘crafted’ through traditional methods and objects which are manufactured through modern methods such as 3D printing.
Banks, M. (2010). Craft Labour and Creative Industries. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 305-321.
Doherty, D. (2012). Downloading Infringement: Patent Law as a Roadbloack to the 3D Printing Revolution. Harvard Journal of Law and Technology, 353-373.
Wohlers, T., & Caffery, T. (2013, June). Additive Manufacturing: Going Mainstream. Manufacturing Engineering, pp. 67-73.