Exlab:BEND

The Experimental Design Lab, or the Ex-Lab, is a design and research collective that promotes creative utilisations of computation in art, architecture, engineering and related design disciplines. Based in Melbourne, Australia, the collective organises experimental collaborative research projects and exploratory workshops that focus on learning through making with digital fabrication at its core.

The BEND workshop was run in February 2012 to explore the formal potential of designs produced using CNC Wire Forming machinery. As such, the exercises focus heavily on curves as centrelines for the fabrication process but also speculates on ways to utilise surfaces as a different means to the same end.

This was the first of a series of workshops coupling parametric tools with a specific established industry fabrication process. The workshop manual with accompanying working files and recorded tutorial presentations are now online and available by following the links below.

http://www.exlab.org/2012/01/bend-manual/

https://vimeo.com/exlab