A
Associate Professor
Institute of Design, Product and Material
Flemming Tvede Hansen
My research examines the relationship between craft materiality and digital representation, exploring how experiential knowledge from ceramic practices can inform digital technologies. This practice-based work involves experimental 3D form-making through programming and digital fabrication tools such as robotics and clay 3D printing, emphasising material properties as key design drivers.
Research Work
The three projects below, as well as the projects at Center for Material Studies (CEMAS) in which I participate, represent my research work.
This project explores how digital technologies expand traditional ceramic techniques. It focuses on robotic wire cutting of clay using a UR10 robot arm, enabling greater force and reach while achieving precision and repetition beyond manual capability.
The workflow begins by recording hand movements with a Kinect motion sensing device, capturing depth data and tracking gestures in real time. These movements simulate wire cutting through clay and are translated into two curves. In Rhino and Grasshopper, the curves generate a surface, and an additional oscillating curve is applied along its centre. The speed of the hand movement controls the spacing of the oscillation, with faster motion producing wider intervals and slower motion producing tighter ones. Finally, the robot arm, equipped with a wire-cutting tool, executes the cut in clay based on the generated geometry.
Dissemination
Research Publications:
Hansen, F. T. (2024). Embodied knowledge integrated into robotic wire cutting of clay. In N. Nimkulrat & C. Groth (Eds.), Craft and design practice from an embodied perspective (pp. 84–96). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003328018-11
Research Exhibition:
Hansen, F. T., 2024. Robot, Wire and Clay. The Danish Art Workshops' exhibition space FOYER.
This research explores material dialogue in 3D clay printing by examining the tension between perfection and imperfection, and the synergy between digital precision and traditional craftsmanship. Rather than relying on chance, the aim is to cultivate a reciprocal exchange between digital tools and clay. Two experiments using virtual and physical print beds allow extruded porcelain coils to fall and curl freely, revealing how the material deviates from digital paths to form expressive, organic patterns. These emerge from the interaction between gravity, material behaviour, and programmed movement. Virtual projection enabled subtle variation, while physical beds produced more dramatic, unpredictable outcomes. Both methods fostered irregularity within structure, revealing new potentials for co-creation. The work shifts from control to collaboration with material, balancing precision and imperfection, and repositioning clay as an active agent in digital workflows and contemporary ceramic expression.
Dissemination:
Biennial International Conference for the Craft Sciences 2025 - The Craft Laboratory, Mariestad, Sweden, Mariestad, Sverige
Varighed: 22 okt. 2025 → 24 okt. 2025
https://biccs.dh.gu.se/2025/2025-34/1
This project explores how virtual reality (VR) with Oculus Rift and clay 3D printing can connect to the process of throwing ceramic vessels. It investigates how digital technologies expand craft practices while building on traditional techniques. The aim is to integrate throwing and pattern-making into a single process termed "virtual pattern-throwing", and to evoke hands-on experience by merging traditional craftsmanship with virtual making.
Dissemination
Hansen, F.T. (2021). Crafting Ceramics through the Use of Virtual Reality. FormAkademisk , 14(2). https://doi.org/10.7577/formakademisk.4193
Presented at Biennial International Conference for the Craft Sciences 2021: Craft in Action. 4-6 May 2021.
