Gelly Bowls
- Designer: Julia Drumlak, Franciszka Popławska, Izabela Solińska, Maciej Pacan, Wit Bojar
- Project advisors: Sara Boś, Arkadiusz Szwed, Jakub Franczuk
- Materials: porcelain, hydrogel, water
Hack the process
Creations of Mechanical Hands
Not much has changed since the mass production of porcelain was invented in the 19th century. Students at the School of Form decided to break this pattern and use KUKA robots to produce porcelain dishes. They wanted the results of their experiments to be a record of their struggle with the material, but also to answer their design questions: If we can do everything with two hands, can we do it with one (robotic) hand? How will porcelain behave when we add breakfast cereal, yeast and vitamin C tablets, or hygroscopic granules? Will the resulting objects be useful, precisely made? It turns out that by interfering with the material and the unusual way of forming, the students achieved amazing results.
Student project
Gelly Bowls
WHAT KUKA DOES: Using tools created beforehand, it combines hydrogel (the same used as filling in diapers and sanitary pads) with water. The robot presses a last into expanded hydrogel and turns it around, embossing the shape of the future bowl. Then, it injects the mould with porcelain and rotates it so that the material can spread evenly on the walls.
HOW: A hydrogel mould absorbs moisture from the porcelain mass, and melts during firing, turning into glaze on the external parts of bowls, giving them unique textures.
Designers
Bowls was created by Julia Drumlak, Franciszka Popławska, Izabela Solińska, Maciej Pacan, Wit Bojar - students of School of Form SWPS University.
Project was a part of "Hack the Process" exhibition, which was presented for one month at the gallery of the Polish Institute in Vienna as part of the Vienna Design Week (17.9-3.11.2022).