Anna Huff

In class: Origami

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In class we did a workshop on the fundamentals of origami and digitally mapping origami folds on Grasshopper. It was cool to learn how much origami mechanics are being used from packing space stations to medical implants that can expand/fold out with a patient as they grow.

Origami is completely dependent on the material being folded and usually the material is paper for its malleability and memory. Once a fold is creased, it cannot be undone. Even smoothed out, the evidence of the fold remains. The craft completely relies on materiality because there is no other element besides material and fold. By using Grasshopper, folds are mapped out digitally and divisions are made mathematically. The file is then sent to the laser cutter which cuts perforated lines to then be folded by hand.

The Fold

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The Fold by Gilles, Deleuze combines analysis of Baroque thought and Liebnitz to describe “the fold”. The fold is difficult to describe since it is applied to broad and specific things from describing the universe to the in-separation of the body and soul. This mirco/macro model is very similar to Liebnitz’s monads, which are the philosophers description of the building blocks of the universe. Within each monad, reflects the entire universe and therefore a single branch can reflect the cosmos. The fold is like the arrangement, construction or interaction of monads. The building blocks do not combine. They fold in unity or in arrangement to create forms and objects.

The soul is described as an evelope of folds. The soul contains infinite folds because it is only with the possesion of the soul, can people percieve other folds. There is no material for what is being folded but rather a process of how things, thoughts, matter, can interact and touch in infinite points. I still do not understand what the fold means or its allegorical purpose but what I can do is associate “the folds” to what I already know. For example, the shape of proteins on a molecular level are complex folds, and the shape and struture are what gives it function. Protiens are a literal interpretation but an example I can use to comprehend the philosophical applications. The fold can create strutures, envelope, increase or unfurl. I suppose the ability to create rigidity/ fluidity, clarify/obstructuct, and combine/divide faces is a useful picture to use to describe poetic truths about how things are.

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In class: Warp and Weft

In class we split the day into learning traditional weaving processes and weaving digitally on grasshopper. Pairing the disciplines together was very helpful to see how the loom is considered to be the “first computer”. The level of complexity of the physical weave algorithm and the digital weave algorithum was the same, and oddly enough, the weave drafts we made by hand were much more “pixellated” and “graphic” then grasshopper where the instructions were a seemingly chaotic mess of boxes and connection wires (or threads to stay in the textile theme). This is the first example where the physical process felt more like a computer program then its digital counter part.

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Weaving Algorithms: Reading Response

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Even though digital weaving may only be useful for planning weaves on the Jacquard Loom, the algorithmic problem-solving for the basic weave structure is important for studying generative design. The basic weave is a very old technique that has proven to be durable, flexible, and incredibly adaptive. Weaves are a great analogy for how craft transforms into design and slowly becoming more and more automated. The loom as a machine has evolved over time and as more components are automated, it is still the action of weaving, the weft going over and under the warp, the action of intertwining, is what gives it strength and the material is what gives it flexibility. Sure, models of weaving can be done digitally but the qualities of weave cannot be substituted for digital fabrication. The digital world relies on the tried and true structures of the tactile world and it is a slow and continually improving translation of languages between the two disciplines.

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Grasshopper Workshop

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In class we did three demos of various parametric design strategies for branching out from a line, radial patterning/organization, and surface division/design. Each demo is an example of coded algorithms transferred to three dimensional objects through different methods which can then be used for multiple machining options. The concept from Sympathy of Things of thinking of code or data as a material is visualized by Grasshopper. Just by restructuring or organizing data completely transforms the final product.