Costumization of Decorative Panelling Design

COSTUMIZATION OF DECORATIVE

PANELLING DESIGN

ENVISION

Tomasz Janiak

Magdalena Samojluk

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Costumization of Decorative Panelling Design

Envision was established in summer 2010 on our initiative to create an enterprise to compile and

put into effect some of our design ideas and also in response to the evident market demand for high

quality of customised products for interior design. Our experience and investigations led us to

thinking that there is a gap between affordable and repetitive manufactured goods and one of a kind

products offered by designers and craftsmen. Mass production gives us items, which are produced

using templates, thereby ubiquitous and no longer unique.

Our aim is to create the type of co-ordinated design and production process, which will enable

customers to purchase products in the price range of commonly available manufactured goods of

the same kind but unique. This uniqueness will be achieved by inviting customer to design process.

This co – designing may be applied to particular extent, by enabling adjustable parameters of the

start model proposed by designer.

We are looking for reestablishing connection between costumer on one end and designer and

craftsman on the other end, which had been broken by the industrial revolution. Our objective is to

reconnect all the involved parts: customer, designer, craftsman and to do it on a basis of modern

means of communication – the Internet. In order to achieve those goals, we have to rethink the

whole process of design, production and sells.

Common model of this process starts from design, followed by the manufacturing. Products are

presented to customer and are judged by them. No matter if they like them immediately or not,

some time must pass to bring modification or variation to the original model.

1. Two models of the hierarchy in production process.

I.Mass Customization Diagram II. Mass Production Diagram

Supposing we rearrange chronology of mass production process by enhancing the position of

customer and link them directly to designer. At the same time production follows the retail, what

reduces the risk of production of unwanted goods. This will resemble the way craftsman works,

albeit with the resulting item being fabricated using computer aided manufacturing rather than

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Costumization of Decorative Panelling Design

hand-made. In order not to overload designer with work, as the number of customer rises, the

design stage can be aided by the computer. Designer still will propose concepts and preliminary

ideas and imply modifiers to them. Those modifiers will be brought into a software applications.

Once customer chooses the model, variety of modifications will lead them to the preferable ones.

This process can be also run by genetic algorithms to lead customer through the search space. Now

the finest model can be chosen and put into production. The item is delivered to client once it is

manufactured to client's order.

Mass customization brings us solution to our challenge. In it's basis lies flexibility of individual

customization provided by the computer – aided design and manufacturing systems to produce

custom output together with low product's price. It will require building a web page, which will be a

platform of communication and allow client to be a part of a design process. In details, genotype of

a product, created by designer, will be converted to phenotype by adjusting it customer's

requirements and taste.

In terms of design, achieving high level of flexibility seems to be challenging. In opposition to

traditional industrial process, our case involves customer's input to produce one of a kind item.

We have chosen architectural details to be applied with flexible computer-aided design and

manufacturing system. Currently we are working on interior decorative wall panels. Below we

introduce example of our work.

In the begging we work on computer generated patterns. This could be inspired by nature forms,

geometries and mathematics as well. We can play with structures, with proportions,colours, patterns

and textures. Synthesis of spaces structures in which differing spacial entities come together in one,

with or without a mathematical logic. There are plenty of structures, patterns to be applied and

evolved to create extraordinary, fascinating compositions. We can incorporate those influences to

our art by using algorithms.

Once the patterns are developed, we work on compiling them to introduce interesting moulding to a

surface and curving paths on top of that. A piece of prepared hardwood or other wood-based

material is taken to the CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machine table and the particular

patterns are milled on the panel's surface. Available variety of types of tools can give interesting and

unique results.

Also the abilities and limitations of the tools are significant in defining the pattern. We study

affordances of the technology we are going to use and properties of materials. For example deep cut

lines are more cost efficient than fine surfaces. We try to propose novel aesthetic by taking the

approach according to capabilities of CNC manufacturing technology. This technology is suitable to

fulfill the goals we mentioned above about flexibility of introducing individual customer's input.

Parametric and generative design affords this flexibility of product's customization and at the same

time restricts it to a range of sensible solutions. Parametric feature of our products allow customer

to adjust them to their own taste.

Currently we are working on design research and liaise with manufacturing companies. We are

now producing a lot of prototypes to learn how to optimise our designs in terms of costs. Our next

step will be setting up a web platform for customisation of our designs. We are planing to go on

market in the beginning of 2011.

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Costumization of Decorative Panelling Design

2. Project modeling. Project parameters adjustable slider. Option A.

3. Project modeling. Project parameters adjustable slider. Option B.

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Costumization of Decorative Panelling Design

4. CNC curved wood panel.

5. CNC curved MDF panel.

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Costumization of Decorative Panelling Design

6. Superimposing of moulded surface and curving paths to the panel.

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