What if the machines that manufacture our objects could feel? And what if those feelings would effect the final outcome of the objects created? At Spazio Rossana Orlandi, a bastion of experimental and emerging talent, an ongoing collaboration between Sander Wassink and Olivier van Herpt explores that territory with 3D printed ceramics. The project, Adaptive Manufacturing, builds on van Herpt's work designing and building a bespoke clay extruder for 3D printing ceramics.

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van Herpt's 3D ceramics printer can build stable, large scale objects using a delta style, piston-based extruder and hard clay. Although the machine does not feel, it senses its environment through programmed scripts and the final object, as Wassink explained to Core77, is "designed by external phenomenon."

They decided to design scripts that distill shapes and textures from external phenomenon. The software then translates this external information measured by sensors into specific realtime behaviors of the printer. You could call it a sensory machine that feels it's environment, and all of it's output becomes a real-time document of a specific time, location or raw material.

The layered, primitive ceramics presented at Spazio Rossana Orlandi were created using information from the rings of a tree trunk. Each vessel is completely different, a fingerprint of the tree rings, the humidity and other factors of the natural environment.

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Details from 3D printed ceramics.

As the process is still new, Wassink explained that each ceramic tests the boundaries of material technology—a contribution to the larger iterative process of designing sensory manufacturing. 

Adaptive Manufacturing is on view now through April 19th at Spazio Rossana Orlandi, via Matteo Bandello 14-16.

Sander Wassink and 3D printed ceramics from the Adaptive Manufacturing exhibition.