Reflect's project in focus: Adaptive Manufacturing

Project: Adaptive Manufacturing by Olivier van Herpt & Sander Wassink

Adaptive Manufacturing is a collaborative project by Sander Wassink and Olivier van Herpt, started in 2014. 

An essential part of their concept is to highlight the production process. Adaptive Manufacturing takes as its point of departure, the question of how technological production has replaced the craftsman and thus removed all traces of human and local influence.

This research looks into ways we could regain that lost connection with the production of objects, highlighting the importance of longevity central to our trend Reflect for 2018/19.

5 Facts about Adaptive Manufacturing:

1. By pushing the limits of existing 3D printing technologies, Olivier van Herpt has arrived at machines that produce larger forms and work with materials beyond conventional plastics such as clay and paraffin.
2. Olivier van Herpt & Sander Wassink’s collaborative project sets out to find out if machines could become more sensory. What if the machine could sense the local environment and incorporate it into the production process?
3. They decided to design scripts that distil shapes and textures from external phenomena, measured by sensors and translated into specific behaviours of the printer through software. 
4. The machine does not operate autonomously and the designer’s role is about selecting and distilling only certain features from the complexity that surrounds us.
5. Just as the advent of digital fabrication has democratised manufacturing for the masses, the works of van Herpt seek to reconnect design with the human touch. 

For more information about their work visit www.oliviervanherpt.com and www.sanderwassink.nl.