Rachael Hanrick

In this project, I examined the tension between traditional craft and digital fabrication. Often cast in opposition to each other, I first systematically compared “hand-“ and “machine-“ made sketches in paper, fabric and timber –in these their pricing reflects their labour. Finding little to consistently differentiate each process, I revised my question to instead look at the new possibilities in craft afforded by digital fabrication. Using my experience as a designer-maker trained in traditional wood-craft and an engineer versed in digital design and fabrication, I narrowed in on the case study of laser-cut marquetry. I found like any other medium, digital fabrication has affordances that both open up new possibilities and constrain what is possible in new and unexpected ways. Only by embracing digital design and fabrication literacies and working through what is possible with all the explicit, tacit and material knowledge at our disposal can these affordances be discovered.