14
A. Cappellieri et al.
These phenomena seal the final abandonment of the serial production paradigm.
Industrial production traditionally envisaged the exact reproduction of a model as
a series of identical objects; over the past few years, technological development
and social change have determined the elimination of the contraposition between
unique pieces and reproduced ones, between the model and its reproductions, and
production approaches have become blurred. This has been made possible by the
creation of automatically finished pieces from a drawing; such a change emerged
gradually in the last decades of the twentieth century and has entailed renouncing
the idea that a project is definitively finished in itself.
The coupling of the web with the new technologies permits the elaboration of a
collective project in which the final product is determined by the buyer: a sort of
hybrid object suspended between industrial production and individual creation. It
has therefore been a veritable revolution which has changed concepts such as serial
production, multiples, processes, as well as the role of designers, producers and
consumers; the final result cannot be anticipated.
It is not just consumers who can now select and create their own objects industrially: digital technologies have also been able to provide diversified solutions throughout the production chain in answer to the demand for tailor-made products, services
and experiences which may be endlessly customized.
The real revolution which the development of new technologies has entailed thus
consists in the possibility to autonomously create objects which totally match individual needs, desires and size. The contemporary world is witnessing a changeover
from standardized production to one that is more flexible and oriented towards consumers’ customization: objects are designed ad hoc and are produced in a system
that conjugates the potential of mass production plants with the flexibility afforded
by the new hardware and software.
The widespread presence of digital technologies has optimized and concretely
improved jewellery companies’ performance, but has also provided the possibility
to affect the final users’ experience. Indeed, the new powerful technological tools
available constitute an open system and manage to involve consumers at all stages.
This systemic interaction generates an added value in terms of experience and
amplifies the emotional component associated with the product.
Indeed, the new technologies enable designers to dynamically engage final users
online already during the designing and production stages, in order to achieve a
product which may fulfil the customers’ needs as much as possible both in terms of
wearability and aesthetics.
An example of this is the Orchid by Studio Minale Maeda for Chi Ha Paura…?
The project consists of a 3D printed orchid boutonniere that can attach to a buttonhole
as well as be clipped on any garment by its own stem. The shape of the flower is
generated each time anew when it is bought, based on a variety of influences like
location, climate, soil, season and many more. If one does not like the result, one can
wait for different conditions to get a different orchid before purchasing it.
Digital co-creation platforms enable the establishment of a new virtual space for
cooperation, in which designers no longer define the object’s final structure, but in fact
regulate and programme the procedure itself: designing therefore consists in defining
A. Cappellieri et al.
These phenomena seal the final abandonment of the serial production paradigm.
Industrial production traditionally envisaged the exact reproduction of a model as
a series of identical objects; over the past few years, technological development
and social change have determined the elimination of the contraposition between
unique pieces and reproduced ones, between the model and its reproductions, and
production approaches have become blurred. This has been made possible by the
creation of automatically finished pieces from a drawing; such a change emerged
gradually in the last decades of the twentieth century and has entailed renouncing
the idea that a project is definitively finished in itself.
The coupling of the web with the new technologies permits the elaboration of a
collective project in which the final product is determined by the buyer: a sort of
hybrid object suspended between industrial production and individual creation. It
has therefore been a veritable revolution which has changed concepts such as serial
production, multiples, processes, as well as the role of designers, producers and
consumers; the final result cannot be anticipated.
It is not just consumers who can now select and create their own objects industrially: digital technologies have also been able to provide diversified solutions throughout the production chain in answer to the demand for tailor-made products, services
and experiences which may be endlessly customized.
The real revolution which the development of new technologies has entailed thus
consists in the possibility to autonomously create objects which totally match individual needs, desires and size. The contemporary world is witnessing a changeover
from standardized production to one that is more flexible and oriented towards consumers’ customization: objects are designed ad hoc and are produced in a system
that conjugates the potential of mass production plants with the flexibility afforded
by the new hardware and software.
The widespread presence of digital technologies has optimized and concretely
improved jewellery companies’ performance, but has also provided the possibility
to affect the final users’ experience. Indeed, the new powerful technological tools
available constitute an open system and manage to involve consumers at all stages.
This systemic interaction generates an added value in terms of experience and
amplifies the emotional component associated with the product.
Indeed, the new technologies enable designers to dynamically engage final users
online already during the designing and production stages, in order to achieve a
product which may fulfil the customers’ needs as much as possible both in terms of
wearability and aesthetics.
An example of this is the Orchid by Studio Minale Maeda for Chi Ha Paura…?
The project consists of a 3D printed orchid boutonniere that can attach to a buttonhole
as well as be clipped on any garment by its own stem. The shape of the flower is
generated each time anew when it is bought, based on a variety of influences like
location, climate, soil, season and many more. If one does not like the result, one can
wait for different conditions to get a different orchid before purchasing it.
Digital co-creation platforms enable the establishment of a new virtual space for
cooperation, in which designers no longer define the object’s final structure, but in fact
regulate and programme the procedure itself: designing therefore consists in defining