Making Workshop / New Design University / St Polten Austria / 2020 / Casting Materials

Making as a Critical Practice

Rosa Rogina & Armor Gutierrez Rivas

 

Workshop organised in collaboration with New Design University, St Polten, Austria

 

The hand is the window to the mind

Immanuel Kant

 

The craft of making physical things provides insight into the techniques of experience that can shape our dealings with others

The Craftsman, Richard Sennett

 

During this 4-days hands-on workshop, we invited participants to explore the role of making in the production of new knowledge and its responsibilities in a wider socio-environmental debate.

 

 

The process starts with participants developing a number of prototypes using digital production techniques. The prototypes are part of a wider academic research into the "Wiener Werkstätte“ and will explore transformation of Josef Hoffmann’s patterns into new 3-dimensional contemporary objects / tiles. Participants will work in pairs and will be asked to jointly create a composition of interrelated pieces. Each team will work with one selected pattern and will create tiles by exploring the 3rd dimension of the pattern.

 

 

The making process was accompanied with a short writing exercise through which students will articulate the rationale behind the creation of their objects as well as how their work could be scaled up and applied to the setting of a room or a building. The Wiener Werkstätte focused on adapting the formal aspects of everyday commodities to the changed requirements of a new era, in which the work was carried out using a wide variety of materials. The texts also reflect on the application of new materials and new meanings in this contemporary exercise.

 

Students use the making processes to explore different materials, its qualities and fabrication techniques. Students are encouraged to work with materials that are reclaimed and sustainable. This exploration includes a number of fabrication techniques which participants are encouraged to modify and iterate, creating unique finishes and tectonics.

 

More information regarding the workshop can be found at link below: 

Workshop Booklet