CODE TO CRAFT
Waffle slabs to White Gold



SIAL Team:
    Jerome Frumar


Digital design and integration is creating new avenues of study in relation to surface treatments, self-supporting structures and negotiated equilibrium in form making and creation. By utilizing rapid prototyping technologies, highly intricate digitally generated forms can be realised.

Update : Introducing Genome
Jerome Frumar's jewellery series Genome, will be exhibited at the Sherman Galleries in Sydney from the 24th of June till the 26th of July.





The Concept
The Genome concept uses computational modelling and fabrication techniques to explore potentials for the design and production of small-scale objects such as jewellery and home wares.

Genome jewellery began as a series of experiments in wax and silver and has developed into a range of 15 pieces including rings, pendants and a key ring. The original experiments evolved into a set of unique 18ct gold and sterling silver pieces. Genome is designed, prototyped and made in Australia. The range has attracted interest from an eclectic audience including those involved in its production & traditional jewellers, architects (Spatial Information Architecture Laboratory Colloquium – September 5th 2005, Royal Australian Institute of Architecture Process talk – May 1st 2006), contemporary jewellery houses (Metalab, Surry Hills), fashion labels Cammilla & Marc and FEIT shoe company (who have shown interest in collaborating on a range of jewellery) and celebrities such as Ben Harper.

The Technology and Production
Digital technologies and computational tools suggest new possibilities for all aspects of our lives. Using Computer Aided Design tools gives the freedom of a scaleless environment where perfection is a matter of course and intricacy is dependant on computational power and imagination. Combining this with some of the more recent digital fabrication methods such as selective laser sintering, thermo-wax printing and metal sintering, it is possible to produce highly detailed ‘virtual’ designs as objects. Design and construction information become synonymous and unprecedented levels of design detail can be achieved.

Genome uses thermo-wax object printing to produce a wax, ready for casting directly from a digital file. Through academic association with the SIAL department at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, it has been possible to do much of the prototyping and product testing in a hands on manner. Furthermore, the centralised location of traditional artisans and craftspeople in the Melbourne CBD has enabled rapid development of the refined designs.

The Forms
The Genome forms are specialised surfaces underpinned by architectural theory. The use of these ‘minimal surfaces’ as a design and construction tool was pioneered through the projects of architect/engineer Frei Otto who used physical soap bubbles and soap films to find anticlastic and synclastic surfaces for his lightweight tensile architecture during the 1950’s and 60’s and more recently in collaboration with German architects Ingenhoven, Overdeik & Partner for the design and construction of the new Stuttgart train station.