True replicas: its all in the trimming...

Jingdezhen is famous for it's super thin refined porcelain. This is why it was so much wanted and desired all around the world. Why the emperial kilns where in Jingdezhen for the exclusive production for the bowls, dishes and objects for the emperor in the forbidden city. I alway asumed that this insane thinness was achieved by throwing. But its not. its all in the trimming! Trimming is the process after the throwing, when the pots are placed on a spinning wheel and trimmed with special tools till they are so thin that the are almost translucent and as smouth as a shell...This same process is now being used to make my true replicas.

True replicas: Throwing replicas

In Jingdezhen the porcelain clay is shaped by throwing on a wheel. That’s how they did it ages ago and how they still do it, nothing changed. The well kneaded clay is thrown hard onto the centre of the bat. Like a ballet the craftsman in now forming the clay into a bowl. Ones the wheel was made spinning by turning a long stick, now electric wheels are used. This craftsman I visited made me one Ming bowl in one cigarette, including the calculations compensating for the shrinkage of the clay after firering. Looking at the pictures of the original and with thousands of similar bowls in 'the memory of his hands' he shaped my replicas in know time. History and heritage are so alive here it sometimes almost make me cry...and here they don't care, its just what they do...

 

Now at the Beijing Design Week: work in progress of True Replicas

True replicas: Ye, the model- and mould maker

In Jingdezhen there are almost endless different neighborhoods specialized in different steps in the process of making ceramics. From clay refining to glaze mixing and from throwing pots in all sizes and shapes to carving incredible detailed decorations.  This process of porcelain making and all its steps are portrayed in the Museum of the Imperial Kiln site in the city. Today I was in Sculpture factory, one of these areas visiting Ye. He is modeling with and after my 3D prints, thus repairing the fractures and missing pieces. This resulted in a series of slibcasting moulds in plaster for porcelain casting. 

True replicas: function and materiality

We reconstruct the past from 'sources': objects, remains and texts. They are discovered, excavated, collected and preserved, serving as sources to reconstruct and study our history. As a society, we derive our identity, our ‘sense of belonging’ from this heritage - these objects. But as soon as these objects became historical source and put in museums and storage, they left some of their soul behind.  These utensils lost their function, their nearness and role in human lives, their materiality.

With True replicas I want to give these objects their soul back: their function and the experience of their materiality. Therefore I use the replica, aiming to stretch the boundaries of traditional notions of the replica as an autonomous object based on a historical source. The replica as a means to give back a historical 'untouchable' object its function and material experience.

The goal of the project is not to make the most literal copy of the original. I want to use 3D prototyping technology combined with the traditional techniques used in the original to make these replicas. Merging material and immaterial heritage. Here in Jingdezhen I will explore how I can replicate a series of 17th century Chinese porcelain by using 3D scanning an printing techniques and by applying the ongoing tradition of porcelain production that still is (almost) unchanged since the production of the originals. The whole process of making these replicas will play a essential role in these new objects. Looking for true replicas in its most literal sense.

True Replicas: the objects

Together with Archeologist Steven Jongma of Delft Heritage, I sellected 5 objects excavated in Delft. They all date back to the 17th century, are made of porcelain and are manifactured in China, probably Jingdezhen. This kind of porcelain was made specially for the export marked, following the 'western taste'. Some are broken and restored, some are broken and just put together.

'Klapmuts': A-2-21, excavated in 1972

'Klapmuts': A-2-21, excavated in 1972

cup, DL 88 V15

cup, DL 88 V15

'Klapmuts' OLD 74-1-1, excavated in 1974

'Klapmuts' OLD 74-1-1, excavated in 1974

Bowl, V4/7, excavated in 1986

Bowl, V4/7, excavated in 1986

Bowl, V4/7, excavated in 1986

Cup with relief, OKL 3

Cup with relief, OKL 3

True Replicas: to Delft and back

In the city of Delft porcelain cups, bowls and dishes are excavated that in the 17th century where imported from China and produced in Jingdezhen. Objects that where highly valued and loved for their elegant shapes, blue and white decoration and above all for their magical material: porcelain. Objects that where used in daily lives to display, to drink and eat from.

With the Archaeologists of Delft Maaike Roozenburg has selected a series of these excavated porcelain artefacts. In cooperation with the Delft Technical University she has made 3D scans of these objects and converted them into 3D models and prints. Roozenburg brought them back to their city of origin and will combine them with the expertise in making and decorating porcelain still alive in Jingdezhen and let this serve as a basis for a new collection of porcelain. A new design collection on the intersection of history and design of east and west combining tangable and intangable heritage.

archeological objects: 17th century chinese porcelain excavated in Delft soil

3D print in nylon by Mareco Prototyping

archeological object: 17th century chinese porcelain excavated in Delft soil

Atec 3D scan

True Replicas: International Studio Jingdezhen

David Derksen, Hans van Bentum and myself will work on our projects for Museum het Prinsenhof at the International Studio Jingdezhen, run by Ryan Mitchell. The studio is situated in Taoxichuan, a vast area of the formal 'Universal' plate factory in Jingdezhen. This formal factory is tuned into a new centre of ceramics in the city, where artists studios, gelleries and workshops are housed in beautifuly restored factory buildings. Its a privilege and a pleasure to be able to work in this setting full of energy and vision for the future build on the old ceramic tradition and to be geast at the International Studio.

International Studio Jingdezhen 

True Replicas: just arived in Jingdezhen

I Just arrived in Jingdezhen, the world capital of porcelain. The city in South China where lays the origin of this magical material, that became so wanted all over the world. I am invited by Museum Prinsenhof in Delft to develop work for the exhibition at this museum about Prcelain from the emperial kilns. I wil work on this project together with artist and sculptor Hans van Bentem and designer David Derksen. The first impression of the city is overwelming: porcelain is everywhere!

 

Now (27&28th of August) on show at DROOG Amsterdam: True Replicas

foto: Jantien Roozenburg

The two projects presented here examine how 3D prototyping and virtual techniques can be utilised to bring the stories of our heritage back into daily life.

3D prototyping are emerging technologies that offer new possibilities to render physical objects into digital data and vise versa, such as 3D-scanning and -printing. With Augmented Reality one can add virtual layers of contextual information on to an object, that can than be discovered using an application on a smartphone or tablet.  With Augmented Reality, objects are enriched and transformed into information carriers that can enrich the story of an object beyond the walls of a museum, archive or a library. Bringing the story of our heritage to our kitchen tables.

The underlying questions we seek to answer with these projects are; What is the meaning stored  in  all these historical objects? How does the story behind an object change our perception and appreciation of that object? What is the relevance of these objects in our increasingly digital and virtual society? How are these stories relevant to us today? Augmented Reality and 3D prototyping offer opportunities to investigate answers to these questions.

foto: Jantien Roozenburg

foto: Jantien Roozenburg

foto: Jantien Roozenburg

True Replicas @ DROOG

True Replicas

The two projects presented here examine how 3D prototyping and virtual techniques can be utilised to bring the stories of our heritage back into daily life.

3D prototyping are emerging technologies that offer new possibilities to render physical objects into digital data and vise versa, such as 3D-scanning and -printing. With Augmented Reality one can add virtual layers of contextual information on to an object, that can than be discovered using an application on a smartphone or tablet.  With Augmented Reality, objects are enriched and transformed into information carriers that can enrich the story of an object beyond the walls of a museum, archive or a library. Bringing the story of our heritage to our kitchen tables.

The underlying questions we seek to answer with these projects are; What is the meaning stored  in  all these historical objects? How does the story behind an object change our perception and appreciation of that object? What is the relevance of these objects in our increasingly digital and virtual society? How are these stories relevant to us today? Augmented Reality and 3D prototyping offer opportunities to investigate answers to these questions.

Smart Replicas

Smart Replicas is a research project pivoted on the junction of design, heritage and technology.  'Smart Replicas' are replicas of historical objects made useable again by combining 3D scanning and printing techniques with ‘traditional’ ceramic techniques. Smart Replicas are not just copies though. Smart refers to intelligent  enrichedment of objects with innovative virtual technologies that enable the object to carry information, so that outside of the museum they provide stories about its origin and history. And of course still serve their original intent.

In this show we present the initial prototype of a Smart Replica based on a seventeenth-century teacup from the collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.  This object was chosen not only for its great beauty but also because we have a wealth of contextual data about its history. The replica can be scanned with an iPad on the table to discover its history.  These stories are shown through the tablets camera in 3D animations placed around the object. One can navigate through the animations by moving the camera around the object and by tapping and swiping the timeline shown in the animation.

Smart Replicas is a project of Studio Maaike Roozenburg in collaboration with Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Delft Technical University and digital agency LikeFriends.

Smart Replicas is supported by  the Rijks Museum, Amsterdam Museum, Zeeuwsmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, Mareco Prototyping, InEdition|Grafic Design, Prins Bernard Cultuurfonds, Sunday Morning at EKWC, Atlas of Mutual Heritage and Stichting DOEN.

Exploring Replicas

With Exploring Replicas, we are researching these technologies, aiming to stretch the boundaries of traditional notions of the replica as an autonomous object based on a historical source. The goal of the project is not to make the most literal copy of the original, but to analyze, communicate and enhance those qualities of the historical source that are most meaningful for us now. These replicas allow us to articulate specific qualities of the historical source, and to isolate and communicate them through their reproduction.

Exploring Replicas is a project in collaboration with Monuments & Archaeology Department City of Amsterdam, Delft University of Technology and the Royal Academy of Art with the support of Amsterdam Fund for the Arts.

With special thanks to: Prof.dr. Jerzy Gawronski, Ron Tousain, Dr.Ir. Jouke Verlinden, Yvo van Os, Bart Vissers, Lotte de Reus, Kotryna Valečkaitė, Sander Pliakis, Irene Neels en Jorinde Smitser.

 

True Replicas @ DROOG: Invitation

We invite you to 'True Replicas' an exhibition of Studio Maaike Roozenburg at Hotel Droog at Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th of august. Here two projects will be presented pivoted on the junction of design, heritage and technology. Projects examining how 3D prototyping and virtual techniques can bring our heritage back to life. On display, to tray and to play with: Smart replica #A7663.To look at touch and examine: research and sketches of replicas of excavated historical objects from Amsterdam soil. 

Saturday Sunday 27,28th 2016

9am - 7pm

on display, to tray and to play with: Smart replica #A7663

to look at and examine: research and sketches of replicas of excavated historical objects from Amsterdam soil.

DROOG

Staalstraat 7B
1011 JJ Amsterdam
the Netherlands

rsvp and more information about the project:

maaike@maaikeroozenburg.nl

www.maaikeroozenburg.nl

(Smart) prototyping by Kotryna Valečkaitė

As the final working week begins, we must decide what precisely our explorations in production methods will lead to. In the beginning of the project our supervisor Maaike said that the priority and goal of the project was to “revive” chosen historical objects. She did not specify how leaving us to decide what it is supposed to be. As seen in the first post, we took the task very directly, thinking that filling the holes in different methods will bring the most successful results. After four weeks it is clear that archaeological ceramics can not only regain their original use, but also become a game or a party attribute. Therefore, it is essential that we decide how these ideas can be smartly introduced to our peers and supervisors: interaction and functionality being the first priorities.

To begin with, we would like to introduce the cup as a relatively cheap party attribute. Last week we strove for two solutions: paper printing and vacuum forming. Only the latter could come into life, but as it is, the cup could be called a high fidelity prototype for cold beverages containment.

Secondly, the cup as an interactive object. The idea behind this is rather simple: providing the user with a kit consisting of cup shards and color-able glue, both child-safe and heat resistant. Interpretation of the objects would vary with the user: it could be interpreted as a DIY project, treasure hunt for children or possibly an exercise object for amateur archaeologists. For the presentation we will have the shards and the glued cup ready for the exposition, making it again a high fidelity prototype.

Another idea, consisting of two solutions, is to restore the original function of the cup. The first silver bullet was to underline the cracks by making them in different material. In the end we decided on rubber, which gives a rather pleasant feeling for the cup bu making it partially flexible. The second solution is at least 70% rubber, which makes the flexibility a problem. Due to that, an inner structure is introduced, making it possible to implement very interesting spacial compositions. The latter cannot be fully explored before the end of the project, but a simplified version will be given to explain the main idea. In other words, during the science fair we will present the structure prints instead of two material prints: the cost of rapid prototyping in 2 materials is too high for research models. As for the first idea, the design is almost complete and therefore these costs can be justified.

Hope to see you in the science fair on the 27th of October, 12:00 in the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, TU Delft, Stevinweg 1, 2628 CN Delft.

Revision of two scanning methods, by Kotryna Valečkaitė

As promised, we would give the summarized results for the two scanning sessions that we had: with CT scanners and with Artec Spider scanner.

Part of the results of the latter unexpectedly disappeared during the post-processing. The scan which promised the most for us, Hermione handle detail, was among the missing files. We hoped to get better results of the floral ornament and combine it with the CT-scan body, only the chosen comparison model and Harry survived.

As seen, for the comparison we chose the finest model we had. The lice-comb teeth were approximately 0.5 mm diameter with even smaller gaps between them. Due to this, the scanning technique used by Artec Spider could never achieve a proper result: too much was not visible, even with the precision of 0,05 mm. In other words, the grid which the range finding device projected could not be interpreted in the gaps and the result was a block with a texture instead of a comb. Moreover, looking at he scan of Harry we can see a big inconvenience for us: only the outer surface and the sections at the breaks were captured. Moreover, the cracked surface texture was not captured, because we got the file only in a mesh file.

Therefore, it would be expected that this problem would not be so apparent in CT-scans. This technique captures the sections of the object, instead of making an interpretation of surface. Just then these sections are interpreted into 3D files. However, the precision of 0,3 mm proved to be insufficient for the artifact we chose:

As seen, the result was a more consistent file, which could actually be printed. Nevertheless, it was far from what we would call sufficient. Expecting this, we also made micro-CT scans of the object. The sneak-peaks of the object in the lab itself looked very promising. Yet our and publicly available computers could not handle the size of the data set (over 2000 sections!) and could only give results in the lowest resolution, leaving us with the following model:

As seen in the picture, the separate teeth are clearly visible, although the main body is missing. This can be easily solved if the used computer has 16GB RAM, since we could get a proper model in Avizo a few moments before it crashed due to memory insufficiency.

To conclude, only the micro-CT scanner offered the sufficient results for the compared artifact. The Artec Spider is very interesting if surface detailing in necessary or if textures/colors have to be captured. However, if not enough scans are made and combined, you will get an object lacking details, thus resulting in incredible amount of work hours in post-processing. Another solution for this would be to make CT-scans and combine them with the Artec Spider scans only for the details.