Towards generative craftwork - study case of the Pasto varnish (Colombia) artisanal technique and 3D printing

Abstract

Currently, we are beginning to envisage the implications of the new productive model which digital manufacturing is offering in the context of social practices. In the particular case of craftwork, it is not entirely clear how this kind of technology, which makes it possible for any kind of object to materialise from bits, contributes in a given system of cultural production. In order to investigate further into this subject, and using the concept of Stuart Kauffman’s Adjacent Possible, an experimentation was conducted with 3D printing processes and the artisanal technique from the south of Colombia named Barniz de Pasto (Pasto varnish), with the objective of exploring the possible links that these new productive models have with craftwork. In order to justify the experimentation in this document, firstly the concept of craftwork is addressed as a hybrid system of cultural production, which is modelled by the tension between technological changes and the conservation of the symbolic heritage of a collective. Secondly, the most important characteristics are identified which determine digital manufacturing as an adjacent possible of craftwork in the post-industrial era. The results of the experimentation show that digital manufacturing can be seen to be a primary vector of potential change on artisanal techniques in three different possible settings: the setting of greater morphological freedom, the setting of greater manufacturing freedom and the setting of greater creative freedom. It is proposed that these combined environments are characteristic of an adjacent possible, which has been named Generative Craftwork.