Yarden Amir
My MDes thesis focuses on questions of craftsmanship and evaluation, specifically the perceived differences between digital and traditional crafts. It is a subject I am extremely passionate about, and I believe it is a pertinent topic to discuss in light of the ongoing digital revolution affecting our industry and our society.

On a shoestring: while conducting my research into the question of craftsmanship I developed a new hybrid craft of etching and glazing ceramics with a laser cutting machine. However, questions about craft have been occupying my thoughts ever since I left teaching to become a woodworker.

For more info:
MDes LITERATURE (.pdf) 



Photo: Niv Vaknin
Woman operating a 3D printer & Young adult operating a soldering iron: These pieces are part of my MDes thesis, wherein I developed a means to selectively glaze ceramic material, in a bid to create digital art that can be evaluated as if it were crafted by traditional means. In these pieces are two imagined identities of digital craftspersons. The illustrations themselves were generated by means of AI, adding another level of digitization to be transmuted into the craft space. All tones of the ceramic tiles are organic to the ceramic material itself.



Photo: Dor Kedmi
Photo: Niv Vaknin
Photo: Niv Vaknin
Photo: Niv Vaknin
 Adjacent to the tile imagery are a set of plates and cups made of porcelain utilizing the same techniques of generative art and laser etching. For this set I did not set the laser to glaze the material, but rather to etch it finely so that the minute grooves could be used to apply a cobalt pigment. After application, any excess pigment was rubbed away prior to firing. To portray this process, I displayed plates in varying stages of work, from non-pigmented and non-glazed to wholly pigmented and glazed ceramics. This set was inspired by Linglong chinaware, but instead of copying the traditional Chinese symbolism of these wares, I took inspiration from the byblical Seven Species, specifically the ear of wheat, as a symbol of local prosperity.



Photo: Dor Kedmi
Photo: Dor Kedmi
The third part of this installation was a centerpiece made wholly of terracotta planters. I used a parametric model to create varying intensities of an intricate pattern, which I then laser etched onto individual pots. These were then positioned in a linear gradient, creating something of a hierarchy between the technique used to create the piece and the material which it is made out of. As terracotta contains high levels of iron oxide, this material lent itself to being selectively glazed in the laser machine, producing a carbon colored glass finish.




Assisting the display of ceramic products is a video projection of several vignettes from the laser etching process. As my thesis focused on broader questions of craftsmanship on not solely on the process which I developed, I did not seek to convey any real technical information with this video, but rather to offer a glimpse into some of the graceful moments that can be afforded by witnessing a digital process. This would be similiar, of course, to witnessing a craftsperson enacting a handmade process.
The video is available to watch on Vimeo.



Photo: Yom Omer
Several months after graduating, the laser glazing technique had its first retail debut at a pop-up event for Rosh Hashana. Continuing the theme of the Seven Species, my partner Yuval Flayshman and I designed a set of decorative wall tiles for each of the species: wheat, barley, date, pomegranate, grape, olive, and fig. Alongside the tiles we sold several plates and cups with the same theme.



Photo: Ohad Kabri
Photo: Ohad Kabri
Photo: Dana Morag
Photo: Dana Morag
Leading up to the main focus of my MDes research was a small project that seeks protest the transparency of digital crafts, even in the 21st century.
The phrase WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THIS SHIT IS EASY is carved into a piece of unassuming plywood in such a way that can only be attributed to a work of digital craftsmanship.
I took a screen recording of the CAD and CAM processes. Click the links to watch on Vimeo.




Here is a performance piece I made for my M.Des studies. I went to a local Ikea and bought two Lack tables, one black and one white. I then went back to my studio and tried to make something completely new out of them. I had not planned any of this beforehand.
This video is a take on YouTube craft videos, content usually made for marketing purposes or as an auxiliary revenue stream for a studio or business. While these videos tend to focus on the labour process, my performance piece seeks to skip through the labourous parts and focuses on my own deliberations as a craftsperson, thinking about how to best implement my knowledge of the craft and the materials before me.
The video is available to watch on Vimeo.

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