Biography

For three years Sandra was course director for Jewellery & Metal Design at DJCAD with responsibility for teaching 3D digital design and printing using Rhino 3D and more recently Cloud 9 a haptic software programme. As co-investigator on IMprints a major EPSRC funded 3 year collaborative research project that explores the publics responses to future identity management practices and technologies she is spearheading the use of 3D printing as a means of personalizing tokens for ID management.

Themed Panel

Beyond the Flatlands:  Printing in 3D
3D printing technologies are enabling the shift away from mass production to mass individualization, through this process universal technologies can be embedded in personalized jewellery and clothing, allowing us to live in an age of persistent identity. The session will explore the taboos and desires of 3D printing. For example several authors have criticized 3D printing for having less emotional attachment, for missing the mark of the maker, loosing the workmanship of risk and meeting the growing cultural phenomenon of instant gratification.

The desires of 3D printing include an increasing range of new material, greater variety of forms, the workmanship of certainty, mass individualization and speed of production.

Parallels will be drawn between these taboos and desires and those associated with a growing ‘mode’ of instant gratification, and expectations born on the possibilities technology is bringing to life. Ultimately this addresses a fundamental question concerning our relationship between the human (biological) and technology and the tools we develop to navigate this fast changing landscape.