Digital Handmade: Craftsmanship In The New Industrial Revolution

A dazzling survey of designers who fuse digital fabrication techniques with traditional craftsmanship and handwork  

While the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century diminished the role of the craftsperson in the manufacturing process, the digital revolution has had a less devastating effect. Today’s digital technologies have given rise to entirely new working methods, skill sets, and consumer products that don’t eliminate, but enrich traditional hand techniques.

Digital Handmade presents seventy international designers,

artists, and craftsmen who combine the precision and flexibility of computing and digital fabrication with the skill and tactility of the master artisan to create unexpected and desirable objects and products. These pioneers include Louise Lemieux Bérubé, a Canadian artist whose work integrates photography and weaving; Australian jewelry designer Cinnamon Lee, whose designs explore the relationship between hand and machine; and Japanese artists Nendo, who produce ceramic pieces that employ both digital fabrication and ancient traditional methods.

Profiles of the designers explore the unique,

multifaceted process behind their creations, illustrated by lush photographs of the products themselves. From affordable jewelry, ceramics, and lighting to priceless sculpture and textile art, these works demonstrate that digital technology can support and enhance artisanal techniques with highly individual and innovative results.

Speed, regulation and mass production defined the first Industrial Revolution,

but we have entered a new era. Today’s revolution has been driven by digital technologies and tools, giving rise to entirely new working methods, skill sets and consumer products. Spearheading this movement is a new generation of creatives who fuse the precision and flexibility of computing and digital fabrication with the skill and tactility of the master artisan to create unexpected and desirable objects and products.

Digital Handmade selects a group of eighty pioneering designers, artists and craftsmen at the vanguard of this new trend. This revised edition, in paperback for the first time, includes six new makers and refreshed and updated content throughout. Profiles of each artisan’s techniques are featured alongside the objects they produce, which range from the affordable and obtainable to the extraordinary and priceless – a dazzling spectrum of objects and work.

About the Author

Lucy Johnston is a cultural trends commentator, writer, and curator. She was previously executive editor of the Global Innovation Report, and is the founder of The Neon Birdcage, a curation studio that creates pop-ups, brand experiences, exhibitions, seminars, and publishing ventures.

Review

Digital Handmade refers to the spectacularly creative works that contemporary artists are crafting with state-of-the-art tools. The wide range of objects employed and the way in which they are transformed is what readers will find most engaging. It is thrilling to see what artists create with these technologies. . . . An inspiring survey of modern art; recommended for readers who enjoy a glimpse of the future, who will be excited by the implications that these artistic innovations have for everyday living.—Library Journal

Set up almost like an exhibition catalog, this visually engage book . . . illustrat[es] the artistic merit and craftsmanship of the machine-made by taking a look at the process behind pieces created by designers like Iris van Herpen, Elaine Yan Ling Ng, Antony Gormley, and Tod Boontje. . . . An interesting range of the technical tools designers have at their disposal—and how they make them their own.—Surface

Digital Handmade: Craftsmanship In The New Industrial Revolution