Hybrid Reassemblage: An Exploration of Craft, Digital Fabrication and Artifact Uniqueness

Digital fabrication, and especially 3D printing, is an emerging field that is opening up new possibilities for craft, art and design. The process, however, has important limitations; in particular, digitally designed artifacts are intrinsically reproducible. In stark contrast, traditional craft artifacts are individually produced by hand. The authors combine digital fabrication and craft in their work involving object destruction and restoration: an intentionally broken crafted artifact and a 3D printed restoration. The motivation is not to restore the original work but to transform it into a new object in which both the destructive event and the restoration are visible and the re-assembled object functions as a memorial.