Manipulate : release

How does the creation of an object shift from a process of manipulation to one of release? My work investigates the space between design, materiality and the process of making. To understand this space, it is crucial to for me to become familiar with the actual materials and processes of the objects I seek to create. This requires knowledge of the way materials behave in their specific environment, as well as how they respond to the different stimuli of making. In the process of intaglio printing, the plate not only transfers ink to the paper, but also transfers a ridge where the paper is forced into the crevasses of the plate. By not interpreting this as a printing process, but rather as a die-forming process, I am able to manipulate the paper in a way that facilitates the folding process. Once cut out and assembled, the outcome is a three-dimensional object created from the information transferred from the plate to the paper, instead of merely a two-dimensional print. My current work challenges this notion of manipulating a surface. Instead of cutting out and assembling the object, a material process is constructed that embeds the instructions for fabrication within an object using the material’s inherent qualities. In this way, instead of relying on an outside source of manipulation to force the material into a shape, I am releasing the material to become the object it was designed to be.