Open Design
Open Design was developed in my 2004 MA thesis as a method to bridge the physical-digital barrier in product design and manufacturing, and suggest a political, economic, and social effect that resembles the Open Source Software movement. I first published Open Designs for download in 2005 and since then, I've been expanding the product range and my creative expression with this method.
But it’s not just an academic work, it is a free-spirited point of view, promoting creativity, personal expression, and positive social and economic impact. From the Open Design Manifesto I wrote in 2010:
A revolution in product development, production, and distribution is imminent due to the Internet's disruptive nature and the easy access to CNC machines. Open Design is a proposal to make this happen. It aims to shift Industrial Design to become relevant in a globally networked information society.
In Open Design, a design is CAD information published online (under a Creative Commons license) to be downloaded, copied, and modified. It is produced directly from file by CNC machines and without special tooling.
This means that all technically conforming open designs are continuously available for production, in any number, with no tooling investment, anywhere and by anyone.
My open design work explores the potential of this method. I design and self-produce furniture, lighting, and accessories that express the relation between the method's principles and its aesthetics, freedom of creative expression, ideas, and vision.
An open design I produce is:
An original design
Locally produced anywhere needed
A digital native design. Parametric and modifiable
Manufactured to order only after it is sold (DTC or B2B)
A scalable, commercial-grade, quality product
A raw “From the machine to the customer” approach, with minimal post-production treatment
Minimal labor, energy, and materials input.
Minimal environmental footprint
Always available, never “discontinued”, even for custom designs
Made of quality, sustainable materials
Designed for easy assembly and disassembly by the customer
Usually flat-packed
Read the Open Design Manifesto
You are welcome to download and use these Open Designs.
Open Design Collections
Slides from my Open Design presentations, 2007
The opening slide of my Open Design presentation, 2007
