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The Transaction Project

Applying 3D printing to the problem of ceramic and glass compatibility, a group of designers created an iterative process that allows rapid testing of materials and form.

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At Milan Design Week 2025, domusbreakfast@bocconi explores the connection between urban and relational regeneration, with design as a tool for connection. Among the key participants, Franke highlights the role of the kitchen as a vital space for nurturing relationships and renewing the social fabric

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The Transaction Project takes aspects of craft as the basis for a network of production.

Building on two years of investigation, the project brings together the work of Swedish artist researcher Charles Stern, studio Unfold and British ceramicist Jonathan Keep. Working with a technique that applies 3D printing to the problem of ceramic and glass compatibility, the group has created an iterative process that allows for rapid testing of materials and form. The results are composite objects that possess integrity toward handmade and digital skills.

At the core of the project is a technical innovation: the combination of 3D printed ceramic moulds with blown glass. Through a long period of material testing in collaboration with many different actors, a process has emerged which addresses the compatibility issues between clay and glass. Few works successfully combine these materials in a hot state because clay and glass possess different rates of contraction and expansion.

Charles Stern has initiated an investigation into this problem and with the help of experts including Jonathan keep and Unfold, has identified a working method that uses ceramic 3D printers and traditional glassblowing. This is significant for artistic practice and material science because it opens up a new language of form and offers an inexpensive, non patented method to explore these two ‘incompatible’ materials.

until 2 October 2016
The Transaction Project
a project by Charles Stern, Unfold Studio, Jonathan Keep
Design Museum Gent
Botermarkt 1, Gent

The handle that could win the Compasso d'Oro

How can design speak of care? This handle goes beyond its primary function and rediscovers the symbolic value of design.

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Get the best of Domus straight to your inbox!

The Transaction Project

Applying 3D printing to the problem of ceramic and glass compatibility, a group of designers created an iterative process that allows rapid testing of materials and form.

Regenerate space, rediscover the human

The handle that could win the Compasso d'Oro

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