Founded in 2004 by Dutch designer Joris Laarman and filmmaker Anita Star, Joris Laarman Lab is known for its pioneering work that fuses digital technologies with design, science, and craftsmanship. The Amsterdam-based Lab consists of designers, engineers, programmers, and makers. Among its astonishing array of work are furniture forms created with software that mimics bone growth, robotically assembled tables made from voxels (3D pixels), and a 3D-printable chair available for free download. The team's inventive furniture and cutting-edge experiments are as innovative as the manufacturing processes used to create them.
Recent major projects include the development of MX3D printing, a first-of-its kind digital fabrication process in which a robot prints metal structures in mid-air. The revolutionary process enables aesthetic freedom—structures are self-supporting, pulled and twisted into undulating shapes that would otherwise never be possible. The MX3D Bridge, a fully functional footbridge, will be 3D-printed using the technology and installed over a canal in Amsterdam in 2018.
Joris Laarman Lab's imaginative approach focuses on research and experimentation, testing new technologies and production methods that point to a future where from and fabrication surpass the limitations of industrial production. At the same time, Laarman and his team often reference historical periods in their body of work, such as the Baroque (which began in the 1600s) and Art Nouveau (popular between 1890–1910). Their use of curvilinear, attenuated forms signify not just an interest in ornament but also a connection to the past. The Lab's work straddles tradition and innovation, high technology and craftsmanship, and aesthetics and function, concerns that remain at the forefront of design today.
Reinventing Functionality
In 2003, Joris Laarman graduated from the Design Academy in Eindhoven with Reinventing Functionality, a series of work that proposes new relationships of function, form, and decoration in 21st-century objects. The series includes the curly Heatwave radiator and Ivy climbing wall. Countering the influential modernist ideal of functionalism that reigned for much of the 20th century, the projects embrace baroque motifs, pairing ornament and utility. Here, Laarman finds functionalism in highly decorative form.
Ivy is an ode to the freedom to play and decorate. The Ivyclimbing wall is simultaneously an elegant architectural element and a means of exercise. Its curvilinear, amoebic design uses ornament to transform sterile white walls into a playful, interactive environment.
This object is currently on display in room 302 in Carnegie Mansion.
Today, many people carry their wealth around on plastic cards tucked in their wallets. Laarman reintroduced the ornamental element of wealth by embedding a chip in a piece of jewelry. Wearers can boast--provided they enjoy a sufficient credit limit--that they are wearing the most valuable brooch in the world.
This object is currently on display in room 302 in Carnegie Mansion.
Laarman's Rococo-inspired Heatwave radiator consists of modular units cast from reinforced concrete. Disputing the modernist correlation between functionality and streamlined forms, Laarman asserts that high decoration can foster increased function: ͞A radiator needs a large surface to give its heat to the air. The more decoration a radiator has, the better it works.͟
This object is currently on display in room 302 in Carnegie Mansion.
Makerchairs
Among the promises of digital fabrication is returning production methods to users, which is increasingly possible as 3D printers shrink in size and price point. This democratization of production is at the heart of maker culture, a digital DIY movement often typified by an amateur zeal that is upended in the Makerchair series. The series consists of 12 chairs, each an investigation into material, pattern variability, and digital fabrication methods. Each Makerchair is digitally fabricated and assembled from small parts like a 3D puzzle. True to the maker spirit of the series’ namesake, Joris Laarman Lab adapted the Makerchair design and made it available for free download at bitsandparts.org.
Museum purchase from the General Acquisitions Fund through gift of Lisa Roberts and David Seltzer in honor of Caroline Baumann
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This chair prototype is part of Laarman’s Makerchair series, which explores the relationship between digital design, digital manufacturing, and craftsmanship. Laarman employs computer-numerical-controlled (CNC) milling to make nearly 300 resin pieces that are assembled like a three-dimensional puzzle. This undulating form bridges cutting-edge industrial techniques and the handmade.
This object is currently on display in room 302 in Carnegie Mansion.
Microstructures
3D printing allows intricate and complex structures never before possible—interlocking lattices, woven grids, and polyhedral patterns—to be created in plastic and metal. The Microstructures seating series examines how this complexity can be functional. The design of each chair starts on-screen with a basic unit, like a cell. Algorithms combine and test a gradient of characteristics for each cell, such as its porosity, thickness, rigidity, or softness to optimize the chair’s performance. Where a chair will bear more load, the structure becomes denser; where it does not, the structure becomes more porous. The seating in this gallery tests varying scenarios and materials, each resulting in a unique aesthetic.
The design of the Aluminum Gradient Chair tests cellular geometry adapted to its function--thicker cells add strength and rigidity. The chair was made using direct metal laser sintering, a digital fabrication process that micro-welds powdered aluminum, rendering intricate, fine detail. The chair elaborates on the use of aluminum as a material for affordable, lightweight furniture.
This object is currently on display in room 302 in Carnegie Mansion.
The Soft Gradient Chair was 3D printed in thermoplastic polyurethane, a material that can be either hard or soft, depending on how dense or porous the cell structure is. As a result, a single material and a single production technique can realize various degrees of firmness, strength, softness, and comfort in a single chair.
This object is currently on display in room 302 in Carnegie Mansion.
The lacy structure of the Adaptation Chair was algorithmically generated to mimic long-cell growth. Cells stretch vertically to form legs, then fan into increasingly fine, interwoven branches to create the seat surface. To fabricate the chair, Joris and his team employed a process similar to electroplating to attract nanocrystalline copper onto a 3D-printed polyamide form, which is then melted away.
This object is currently on display in room 302 in Carnegie Mansion.
The Gradient Lounge is composed of hexagonal cells that morph in openness and density to address different functional areas in the seat. The textile upholstery was digitally knit using a computer-controlled knitting machine. The hexagonal pattern in the textile precisely aligns with the hexagonal structure of the seat.
This object is currently on display in room 302 in Carnegie Mansion.
Digital Matter
Nintendo meets Rococo . . . . In 2011, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta commissioned Joris Laarman Lab to develop an installation about the future of design. Inspired by research into programmable materials, Laarman and his team proposed a series of tables made of voxels, small cubes that represent volumetric pixels. The voxels can be assembled and reassembled by a robot arm following a digital blueprint. The series explores three-dimensional resolution using Nintendo’s Super Mario, a video game character, as a pixel-based analogy. As the voxel size used in each table decreases from 10 millimeters to 3 millimeters, the resolution of each Rococo-inspired table increases.
The Kilovoxel table, made from 10-millimeter voxel cubes, resembles the resolution of an 8-bit video game. Each table in the series has a Rococo-inspired form with ornamentation--flowers, clouds, and ducks--that references the world of Super Mario.
This object is currently on display in room 302 in Carnegie Mansion.
This object is currently on display in room 302 in Carnegie Mansion.
Experiments
Experimentation fuels the creative process at Joris Laarman Lab. It allows the team to test new ideas and technologies, explore fabrication methods, and investigate forms and narratives, critical to the evolution of the Lab’s work. The experiments in this section are a small sample of those lining the shelves in the Lab’s Amsterdam-based workshop, but suggest the range of Laarman and his team’s curiosity. A bioluminscent lamp made from firefly cells, a table whose form is inspired by starling murmurations, and vases that deteriorate with each cast are examples of how Joris Laarman Lab incubates concepts and develops ideas in its expanding and imaginative body of work.
graphite, brush and white gouache, pre-printed with digital code on white paper
Gift of Marc Benda, courtesy of the artist
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In this presentation drawing, Laarman depicts the Leaf Table, which was algorithmically generated to mimic natural growth structures. The table top is based on leaf construction. The base was created using the bone algorithm. Laarman drew on the lines of code from which the table's form emerged.
This object is currently on display in room 302 in Carnegie Mansion.
In 2010, the Guggenheim Museum invited Laarman to create an intervention for the museum's iconic rotunda. Inspired by bird murmurations, Laarman's concept proposed a ͞flock͟ of more than 200 paper planes spiralling gracefully overhead. Laarman developed the proposal with Dutch company United States of Entertainment, MIT, and aerodynamics engineer David Lentink.
This object is currently on display in room 302 in Carnegie Mansion.
glass, cobalt chrome, genetically modified cho cells
Courtesy of Groninger Museum, the Netherlands
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The Half Life Lamp is a bioluminescent lamp made of genetically-enriched cells that glow in the dark, created with the University of Twente in the Netherlands. The cells, now dead, were added as a thin layer on the lamp's ͞shade.͟ The project investigates a future in which objects may be alive.
This object is currently on display in room 302 in Carnegie Mansion.
The inspiration for this small table was the (often) dramatic cloudy sky of the Netherlands.The table was designed using a computer algorithm mimicking cloud formations and produced from a block of clouded marble using a computer-controlled cutter.
This object is currently on display in room 302 in Carnegie Mansion.
This coffee table is the smallest version in the Forest Table series, which is based on the Leaf Table concept. An algorithm mimicking cell division was used to create the pattern on the table top and as a result, the branching pattern differs in each table. The legs evoke branches and tree trunks.
This object is currently on display in room 302 in Carnegie Mansion.
The Starling Table, inspired by starling murmurations, captures a moment in flight of 25,000 simulated starlings. Laarman and his team used computer graphic artist Craig Reynolds' boids algorithm to generate the form, which was fabricated using a stereo lithography printer. This sample shows a section of the print.
This object is currently on display in room 302 in Carnegie Mansion.
Mass-manufactured ceramic objects are traditionally cast in plaster molds, which break down after about 60 uses. This series of ceramic vases shows the deterioration of the mold; each cast vase is eroded more than the last. Despite the seeming identicality celebrated in mass manufacturing, Limited highlights the limits of this production process.
This object is currently on display in room 302 in Carnegie Mansion.
MX3D
MX3D is a revolutionary digital fabrication process. Developed by Joris Laarman Lab, MX3D uses industrial robots and an advanced welding machine to print metal structures in mid-air. It originated from the Lab’s desire to 3D print large-scale functional objects—until MX3D the size of 3D-printed parts had been limited to the size of the printer. This new technology advances the technical and aesthetic possibilities of digital fabrication. Parametric modeling software generates self-supporting, attenuated forms. The Dragon Bench is the first series created using the MX3D metal printer. In 2018, the MX3D Bridge—the world’s first fully functional footbridge 3D-printed in stainless steel—will be installed over a canal in Amsterdam.
The screen in this gallery represents a piece of the MX3D Bridge that will be installed over a canal in Amsterdam. The design of the screen was derived from the same algorithm used to design the MX3D Bridge. The screen was 3D-printed in stainless steel using the MX3D process.
This object is currently on display in room 302 in Carnegie Mansion.
This maquette is a scale representation of the bridge that is planned for Amsterdam. The Bridge's attenuated, swirling form will stand in contrast to the historical buildings surrounding the canal. The bridge illuminates not only the aesthetic freedom made possible by the remarkable MX3D process, but how this future technology connects with the city's past.
This object is currently on display in room 302 in Carnegie Mansion.
Bone Furniture
The Bone Furniture is among Laarman’s best-known series. The designs were created using algorithms that mimic bone growth, removing mass where strength isn’t needed. The software was initially developed for the European automotive industry, based on research by German scientist Claus Mattheck. The algorithm digitally sculpts furniture on-screen, revealing optimal forms that share the tenuousness and irregular complexity of bone and natural shapes. The furniture is then cast using 3D-printed molds. The Bone series demonstrates our digital era’s relationship with nature: no longer just stylistic inspiration, nature’s principles generate form.
