The Wedgwoodn't Project

RSA online exhibition is live

2008-05-26T11:36:00.005+01:00

The Wedgwoodn't Project is my prize-winning entry for the RSA Design Directions Ceramic Futures competition.

The process of designing and making the piece was documented on this blog. To follow the project chronologically you need click on the November archive link and work backwards from there up to this entry. That's because last week's entry is superseded by this week's.
For an insight into my main MPhil project at the Royal College of Art, have a look at my website.
Any thoughts or reactions to the project would be of interest to me.

26.05.08 - The online exhibition shows the winners of this years RSA Design Directions competition. There are 13 categories including Ceramic Futures for which my Wedgwoodn't Tureen was awarded one of the Ceramic Industry Forum prizes.

11 - The Wedgwoodn't Project is my prize-winning entry for the RSA Design Directions Ceramic Futures competition.

2008-03-27T09:34:00.008Z

22.03.08 RSA Award Winner
I received a letter from the RSA on Saturday, telling me that my project is one of the winners of the Design Directions, Ceramic Futures competition. I have won a cash award and become a Fellow of the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce).
The award will allow me to continue working with the innovative eco-ceramic materials and technology.
My work will go on display, along with other winners, in an RSA Design Directions Awards Online Exhibition from mid May 2008 at www.rsadesigndirections.org

Wedgwoodn't & Wedgwood
Just before Easter I had a meeting with the Wedgwood Design team at Barlaston to discuss the design and production of a number of pieces for Wedgwood's 250th anniversary next year. There are still a few hurdles to cross, but it's an exciting and challenging opportunity that I'm very keen to take on (once I get my MPhil finished).

10 - The Wedgwoodn't Project is my shortlisted entry for the RSA Design Directions Ceramic Futures competition.

2008-03-04T13:31:00.009Z

The process of designing and making the piece was documented on this blog. To follow the project chronologically you need click on the November archive link and work backwards from there up to this entry. That's because last week's entry is superseded by this week's.
Any thoughts or reactions to the project would be of interest to me.

10 - The Complete Tureen

Yesterday I collected the completed Wedgwoodn't Tureeen with it's black 'Jasper' look-a-like ceramic coating. It has turned out just as I had hoped, but perhaps not expected.
The project has been a technical challenge at all stages, but that was partly the idea as it was designed to test the materials and technology at each step.
I feel deeply relieved to have got it to this stage!
As soon as I got off the Eurostar I went straight to my meeting at the Wedgwood offices in Regent Street. Considering that I have taken liberties with Wedgwood history and heritage It was very well received.

So watch this space.

09 - The [almost] Complete Tureen

2007-12-21T09:45:00.002Z

21.12.07
I returned to college on Monday this week as Michel from the French company was arriving at 8.00am on Tuesday morning. He came over to bring some equipment and materials and to demonstrate the infiltration process.
Alastair had completed a second tureen base, so I now had one set, plus a tureen with thin handles. The equipment was set up in the cold glass workshop, first experimenting on some test pieces of tureen. By the end of the day all was infiltrated, cured with the UV lamp and dried in the oven, or so I thought.
I carefully packed the two pieces and took them to Paris by Eurostar the following day. When Michel inspected the pieces he thought that they should have been cured and dried in the oven for longer. There were tell-tale blotchy patches which show the uneven curing. Michel had made a second lid for me, so in theory I have two tureens.
The day in Paris was spent making some tests for the black ceramic topcoat. Michel also proposed to make another tureen on their Z Corp machine using 131 powder as it is stronger than the 130 that College uses. It was decided to produce it in black to make the application of the topcoat far easier.
The following day I brought the test samples into College and compared them to a Wedgwood artists proof of an Eduardo Paolozzi Newton sculpture that is in the office. Surprisingly the colour that I thought would be the closest was far too dark, an iron oxide stain being far closer. I photographed the samples against the sculpture and emailed them to Gilles who planned to make up the colour in the lab and send me the results over Christmas.
The next stage will be to return to Paris to collect the pieces some time in January

08 - The Tureen - first attempt

2007-12-11T17:35:00.000Z

When I came in to College this morning Alastair showed me the first attempt to make the tureen. It is very fragile, one of the handles had broken off and the design will need amending to provide additional strength to the weak areas, but it looked amazing. Once the design is made strong enough to infiltrate, it should become durable and I'll be able to take it to Paris next Wednesday for it's surface treatment.

07 - Production testing

2007-12-06T10:50:00.000Z

Before producing the final version there was a need to test the design. The tureen lid was used as the first section to be tested in production on a Z Corp 510 machine.
The result, though very delicate, was spectacular. There is a huge difference between exploring the virtual form on screen to engaging with the real thing.

06 - The Design/04

2007-12-01T13:28:00.001Z

	Top view of the lid with 'bone' image draped over.		Top view of the lid with 'bone' image draped over and trimmed.
	View of bowl section with 'bone' image draped over and trimmed.		View of bowl section with 'bone' image draped over and trimmed. Note stronger rim section.

05 - The Design/03

2007-11-30T16:49:00.001Z

First attempt to create dot design on Photoshop, representing artificial bone. This design is too regular.

Using black and white slips [liquid clay] I created this design.

The slip pattern was tiled and merged using Photoshop.

04 - The Design/02

2007-11-30T15:53:00.001Z

Bowl section in Rhino 3D

Lid section in Rhino 3D

Pedestal section in Rhino 3D

03 - The Design/01

2007-11-30T15:36:00.000Z

The tureen has been designed on Rhino 3D software. The files were then exported as .stl files that could be used in Magics software for transformation into the artificial bone structure.

02 - The Project

2007-11-30T13:05:00.000Z

Introduction:

Technology:
The technology used in this project is beginning to shape the way that objects are designed and made.
For instance a generic hearing aid has been designed which can be customised for each individual patient and produced with no extra tooling costs. The company Freedom of Creation can design an object literally in the back of a taxi, email the design to the manufacturer nearest to the client, who then collects it. The potential to reduce the amount of international and domestic freight is one of the potential benefits of RM.

Materials:
The materials used in this project have been developed by a company in France to convert prototypes made on the Z Corp RP machine into fully functional products. They are ceramic and glass materials that require no firing, yet possess the same properties as traditional materials. They can be applied to virtually any substrate and are non-toxic, food safe, acid and alkali resistant, form a gas barrier are frost proof etc.

Icons:
To demonstrate the use of these materials I decided to take an iconic object from the first Industrial Revolution and produce it using second Industrial Revolution techniques in a way that would have been impossible 200 years ago.
I chose to design a ceramic piece based on early C18th Wedgwood, chosen because Josiah Wedgwood was at the forefront of the first Industrial Revolution, introducing division of labour, helping to develop the canal system etc.

The Design:
My starting point was the 1817 Wedgwood Creamware catalogue. I chose to base my design on the lidded tureens, combining common elements. All my design work was done using Rhino 3D software.

Imitation:
Many manufacturers including Wedgwood produced ceramics that imitated other materials. I chose to imitate a material that couldn't be produced using conventional ceramic techniques. Artificial bone was chosen for it's interesting texture and because it is produced using RP.

01 - Josiah Wedgwoodn't

2007-11-30T10:28:00.001Z

Josiah Wedgwoodn’t have been able to undertake this project, but as one of the fathers of the first Industrial Revolution he would certainly be at the forefront of the second Industrial Revolution if he were here today.

The Second Industrial Revolution:

Rapid manufacture [RM] and rapid prototyping [RP] are methods of 3D printing using digital data. A range of materials, from plaster, starch and plastics through to some metals can now be fabricated with increased precision and speed. As yet there are few ceramic materials for use in RM.
The technology has advanced dramatically over the past twenty years and is talked about as the Second Industrial Revolution, yet the present stage of its development is the first Industrial Revolution equivalent to the year 1800.

My entry:

My entry for the RSA Design Directions Ceramic Futures competition uses RP and highly innovative ceramic materials to reproduce an iconic ceramic object from the first Industrial Revolution in a way that was impossible in the early 1800’s.

So read on..........