JorisLaarmanLab
Joris Laarman is a Dutch innovator, designer, artist and entrepreneur who’s best known for designs that are made possible by emerging technologies. Back in 2004, he opened JorisLaarmanLab with his partner, focussing on the collaboration between craftsmen, scientists, engineers and the possibilities of technologies such as CNC machining, robotics, 3D printing and simulation software.
What I like about the lab is their use and promotion of the technology that they are using. The shapes of their objects are determined by the processes that formed them. They are pushing the boundaries of what people think is possible using these tools. What they create is the actualisation of experiments.
The Bone Chair was made in 2006, back when generative design was still an idea to make more efficient engine mounts for cars. Laarman applied the software to something more personal than an engine mount which could communicate the possibilities that this emerging technology could bring. In his own words “if Mother Nature wanted to create a chair, it would probably look something like the results we would get.”
The Aluminium Gradient Chair is engineered at a cellular level. It utilised alogrithmic design to allow for intricate aesthetics that are still structurally stable. The solid cells create the structural strength and rigidity of the chair, whilst the open cells reduce material and weight, all the product of a single printing technique.
One of their most famous ongoing projects is the MX3D bridge, and exemplifies the lab’s values. The project is still to be fully realised, due to its complexity. The idea is to have a bridge which is 3D printed onsite using robots. It requires an intelligent way of moving these robots along parts of the bridge as it is being printed, in order to complete the structure. The design is a product of exceptional use of generative and computational design and remarkable manufacturing techniques.
I see Laarman and his incredible team, as educators and promoters of technologies and the impact that they might have on our futures. They use and apply tools in creative ways, and this is what I think makes them so great. I find the process of how they make and design just as, if not more, interesting than the actual product itself. I think that is what they want to achieve through their work. They aren’t just communicating a product that performs a function, they are communicating a product that was made using something new in an exciting and surprising way.
