John Laarman hosted an exhibit that showcases blueprints for open source furniture. These blueprints can be altered then produced by anyone that can access a 3d printer and 3d modeling software.
Laarman says “ Digital technology is starting to define an evolution in the way we design, manufacture, distribute, protect, and even recycle physical products,” He continues to explain how modernist pioneers in the 20th century valued and changed the aesthetics and ideas about design when emerging technologies inspired them.
Now the emerging technology is 3d modeling software’s and 3d printing manufacturing which are pushing designers to explore the new possibilities and what design means to the user. Laarman shows his Spirographic Series that uses a MX3D printer, which is a robotic printer created in Laarman’s lab and is one of the first to print metal objects. The Maker theme furniture in the exhibit is a response as the bounding box and poor material chose of many of today’s designs. This collection uses materials for strength and aesthetic qualities.
The last theme of his exhibit is the Vortex theme. This theme is made with generative design to choose pieces for the composition such as the bookshelf. This generative design is based off parametric in computer programming. Laarman collaborated with Tim Geurtjens, Filippo Gilardi, Mark J. Stock in these projects .