Machining Aesthetics: Tool Making as Design Research

Abstract

This paper examines tool making as a form of design research. With the widespread availability of open-source electronic prototyping platforms and its knowledge, designers are no longer the end user of emerging technology and digital toolsets. Instead, we see a surge of designers dappling in the discipline of software, material and mechatronic engineering, escaping the constraints of existing computer numeric controlled (CNC) tools through designing and fabricating novel machinery. This paper presents three case studies from a master level design studio led by the authors. The result of each project include a novel CNC machine supported by a series of material prototypes that acts as evidenc..