Aug 21, 2017 | By Tess
Australian furniture designer Tom Fereday recently highlighted the interior design possibilities of 3D printing technologies with the unveiling of his classic yet eye-grabbing 3D printed Pelo light. The pendant light shade, which is made from a single coil of 3D printed clay, was realized in partnership with local artist Susan Chen.
Chen, who invented a ceramic 3D printer during her masters studies, helped Fereday not only in the execution of the project (by providing the additive manufacturing hardware) but also throughout the design process, to ensure that Fereday’s lamp shade vision would be 3D printable.
The lamp’s conical structure took many prototypes and iterations to perfect, as Fereday and Chen were determined to find a design that could be printed with a single extruded coil without the risk of shrinking or slumping. The pair also tested a number of different ceramic materials for the Pelo lamp, from earthenware to porcelain.
"It was incredible to see the variations and reactions of each material with the process," Fereday told online art mag Dezeen. "We were able to intimately experiment with translucency, deformation and colour."
In the end, the lamp shade’s final design is opaque (directing the light downwards), and is notable for its subtly ridged texture, which is the result of the single thread of coiled clay.
"I was struck by how elegant the fine detail and natural variation of the process is, and wanted to celebrate this through a design that would highlight and celebrate the process in its own right,” said Fereday. "We attempted to use our experience to create a product that was driven by the process of 3D printing, and not simply made to create a shape that might otherwise be too complex to make."
Fereday describes the pendant lamp shade’s design as an “honest expression,” in that its aesthetic is determined by the technological process used to create it. That is, rather than try to curb the 3D printer’s motion and texture, Fereday leaned into it, integrating and using it in the design.
According to the designer, each Pelo lamp shade takes about two hours to 3D print using Chen’s machine, and then requires ten days to dry. Once that time has passed, the conical lamp is fired in a kiln and subsequently assembled.
Tom Fereday owns his own furniture, lighting, and interior design studio in Sydney, Australia.
You can check out the video below to see the Pelo lamp being 3D printed:
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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Did Ms. Chen really *invent* the ceramic 3D printer? What about Dr. Danforth's extensive research program at Rutgers U. in the mid 90s (see https://goo.gl/YZqufv)?
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