3D Printing Craft: weaving and oozing

This paper explores digital fabrication in the form of 3D ceramics printing. Three iterative case study examples of design work of one of the authors are provided. The case study examples are positioned as research through design, as the designs embody elements of both materials research and development. An underlaying framework of the authors, titled ‘user-completion’, underpins the discussion and provides a mechanism for developing hybrid design artefacts. Throughout the paper, the notion of craft and risk, which are considered essential aspects of the craft process, are issues also engaged with, and what this means for a digital fabrication process questioned. The intersection of digital fabrication and ceramics facilitates a hybrid design approach, fusing processes and techniques from different disciplinary modes. It is proposed that this provides the opportunity for the discipline to engage in dialogue about the future of disciplinary practice and importantly, its craft.