F.I.G.
Factory Industries Group
Digital Ceramics
2024 – Digital Ceramics
A prompt to reflect upon our daily rituals and traditions led me to think about drinking coffee...the Italian phrase “Il dolce far nientere”, or “the sweetness of doing nothing”, combined with the tradition of sipping espresso for hours while doing little else, inspired me to create a digital ceramics project which would invite its users to indulge in a never-ending pot of coffee. The coffee pot is designed with two spouts, suggested an infinite swoop as it refills the two matching cups.
The initial coffee pot print failed. I redesigned the spouts to be less than 45 degrees as I learned that ceramic 3D prints could not use supports and required smaller overhangs. After reprinting my design, the objects were bisqued so that they were hardened enough to glaze. I hand-painted 3 coats of a glaze with crystals, after attempting to seal some cracks in the ceramics (this didn’t work - the wet clay did not bind to the bisqued clay, because they were completely different materials at that point).
I am happy with the outcome despite the cracks. I like how the crystals stand out against the clean grooves of the 3D print and the contrast between craft and digital making.
Special thanks to Daniel Rips for helping me refine my design in Nomad and Eugene from Pratt ITL for all his ceramics knowledge.