As I walk past the crowd looking at the television screen; with acute indifference. Some news it must be. Crowd gathered for a cause that hardly affects things much. One often observes the dynamics of a group in such scenarios. Lines are established between leaders and followers; subconscious ones. Soon enough, almost everyone starts watching the same things, wearing the same type of clothes, driving the same type of cars. However each one selects his own combination from the available options. Makes it ‘unique’ to that person. Somehow we all choose to customise our world.
“Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.” — Margaret Mead
Customisation is a word repeated often when companies try selling things to you. ‘Tailored experience’, ‘unique’ have become throwaway words. Many companies have tried to mass customise, but somehow customisation interferes with profit margins. The early men had no option but to customise each article they made. The advent of mass manufacturing and production was a boon. Everything could be made faster, cheaper and better than previously.
However it was all standardised and customisation became a privilege, reserved for the elite. There are exceptions here as well, most of the world still eats customised food; but fast food chains have shown us a way to mass manufacture even our primal needs.
This is not necessarily a bad thing.
I rather not let this article be a critique of mass manufacturing, rather an enquiry into mass customisation.
So we like our stuff customised. What if the perfume you selected were specific to you, the right blend of oils made just for you. Perfection is subjective, isn’t it? Rapid prototyping, computer numerical controlled machines have enabled the ideas of mass manufacturing and customisation to reach a common ground.
It can all be collectively termed as digital fabrication, where the machine used is controlled by a computer. This leads to an utmost level of precision in the manufacture of products and it gives more power to the designer where every curve, every millimetre of the design of the product is under his control unlike previously where design was quite often dictated by rule of thumb.
Digital fabrication or robotic fabrication (because the machines are really robots) is relatively new to designers and artists. RepRap 3D Printers are all the rage right now and do you know that you can 3D print your food too now?
However there is a lot more to digital fabrication (let’s call it DF) than just 3D Printers.
There is the additive type of DF which is the 3D printer, stereolithography etc. and there is the subtractive type of DF which is Lasercutting, CNC milling machines etc.
Both have their pros and cons, and the use of either one of them is subject to the type of construction required.
CNC stands for computerized numerical control, where the lines, curves, bumps, grooves of the design are first simulated in a 3D environment. The computer generates a G-code which is more like a set of directions that the tip of the machine has to follow. The machine then mills a 3D shape or cuts the sheet of the material (usually wood or metal). Like I said, IT IS PRECISE.
When you as a maker get your hands on one of these, imagine what is possible. How would the world be like if you could imagine, design what you thought and it comes out exactly the way you designed it.
For long only large corporations and industries possessed such power. Open source projects like RepRap and Shapeoko have given the designer an immense opportunity to prototype. However we haven’t really figured out the way to make ‘finished’ products with these yet (or I may be ignorant).
Maybe someday in the near future when we do figure out a way, we would be able to truly customize everything, and each thing could be as unique as one wanted it to be. Our stationery, our glasses, our chairs, our phones made for each one of us. Made for ‘me’.
Maybe we wouldn't sell stuff; we could just sell the design or more precisely the recipe for anything that we wanted. Things of magical places would be possible. We could eradicate world hunger and a lot more.
And when we have everything, we could be truly lazy… I think
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More after the break
Written by Akshay Kore for O-LAP
