Furnace

description

Furnace engages with the evolving narrative we as consumers share with production.  New technologies have given rise to new ways of thinking about distribution, consumption, and mass production.  Classically difficult production methods have historically been introduced to the individual by means of clever design and small machines.  The Furnace design project tries to bring a difficult production method, metal casting, to the individual in a home environment by simplifying and mitigating the tasks involved through the use of a new machine.  Focusing on small-scale production is also inspired partially by current social pressures and a perceived reinvestment in handcraft as well as consumer desire to know the history of a product, seemingly as a reaction to current mass production.  In many ways Furnace remains hypothetical thanks to legitimate liability concerns and potentially small demand that may kill such a product before its undertaking, as such the value in this design process lies heavily in the learning outcome from exposure and exploration of the themes covered.  The research and exploration of Furnace is empirical, though with no prior exposure or understanding of foundry processes, and is founded largely in personal curiosity of materials and processes relating to industrial design.