Design Hybrids

These study intend to merge contemporary technologies within traditional design. The projects below demonstrate new aesthetic or functional unity, fusing a wide spectrum of craft, design and engineering tools. Design Hybrids suggests a design paradigm reinforcing technical diversity and flexibility, to incorporate wide spectrum of conceptual needs. This is a physical manifestation of a desire to develop a new way of thinking about these polarities: the machine and the human hand.

Projects:

Hybrid Basketry | 2013

Amit Zoran

Hybrid basketry is a medium where 3D-printed structures are shaped to allow the growth and development of hand-woven patterns.  

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Hybrid reAssemblage | 2012

Amit Zoran and Leah Buechley

This project combines digital fabrication and craft in a work involving object destruction and restoration: an intentionally broken crafted artifact and a 3D printed restoration.

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Chameleon Guitar | 2009

Amit Zoran and Pattie Maes

The Chameleon Guitar presents a new approach to the design and fabrication of instruments that combine the advantage of acoustic and electric instruments, existing simultaneously in both physical and digital environments.

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Life in a Comic | 2008

Amit Zoran and Pattie Maes

This project explores the option of bringing paint to life by using thermochromic ink and through the design of watercolor and paper paint that visually change to tell a story.

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Chimera Design: 3D paper puzzle; 3D-printing Nylon; laser-cut paper. 

Hybrid Practice in the Kalahari | 2015

Jennifer Jacobs and Amit Zoran

This project studies how non-digital craft cultures can inform the design of digital tools. To evaluate this approach, we visited a hunter-gatherer community that preserves traditional craft, bringing with us digital design and fabrication tools and seeking ways to collaborate.

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