In one of the final excerpts from our Luxury Insights Report on Art, AI, and the Future of Creativity, writer and gallerist Helen Chislett explores how AI is being embraced by a new generation of master makers - not as a replacement for traditional skills, but as a tool to push creative boundaries. Arguing that innovation and craftsmanship can coexist, she highlights leading artist-makers such as Tom Vaughan, Alex Hull, Michael Eden and Gareth Neal, who are using digital techniques to expand what’s possible in material, form and function. Rather than undermining authenticity or exclusivity, Chislett makes the case for AI as part of a new ‘modern craft’, and warns that the true threat to hand-making is not technology, but a lack of long-term investment in skills and education.

On the one hand, AI promises innovation and efficiency, aiding design precision, production streamlining, and quality control. However, questions arise about the impact on authenticity and the human touch essential to real craftsmanship. Will AI blur the line between bespoke and mass-produced goods, potentially damaging the perception of exclusivity?

That depends on how it is used. The master craftspeople I know who have integrated AI into their practice use it as part of the design process, rather than to replace traditional hand skills. Interestingly, you use words such as ‘efficiency’, ‘production streamlining’ and ‘quality control’, but I see no evidence that these are the reasons why craftspeople (some of them) are embracing the digital world. It is all about the other word you use – ‘innovation’. Artist-makers are passionate about what they do and are intrigued and excited by the creative possibilities that AI offers. They have not spent decades honing their skills in order to open some sort of craft factory – they want to create works that achieve a new form of excellence.

For that reason, I see no reason to worry about a loss of authenticity, exclusivity or the human touch. Dedicated craftspeople are not planning on hanging up their tool kit and handing their workshops to robots – what many of them can envisage is a way of opening up bespoke possibilities that might not have existed without a means of prototyping new forms or testing the boundaries of certain materials.  

For example, I represent Tom Vaughan of Object Studio. He bridges the divide between design and craft, art and function, digital and physical. Everything starts with the hand, sketching in three dimensions. This allows the unique properties of the materials to guide the shapes. Then those sketches are scanned into the digital realm, where Tom and his team can refine, tweak and tune each form. From there, they return to the physical space for prototyping, to observe, feel and analyse. This iterative process continues back and forth until a design that is in reality highly complex appears simple, balanced and refined. The design and fabrication methods are intrinsically linked and are driven by a process whereby Tom merges traditional craftsmanship with cutting-edge digital techniques. This creates a new ‘modern craft’. He and his studio are driven by constant experimentation and a deep commitment to research and development, continuously pushing the capabilities of material, man and machine. Object Studio pride themselves on constant experimentation, combining traditional crafts with cutting-edge industrial processes and technologies, reworking them into their own new ‘modern craft’. This is the side of AI that I find truly exciting.

On that note, how does the collecting mindset translate when AI comes into play? Does the very essence of collecting reduce because AI can repeat and copy? Does AI facilitate the collecting process or render collecting as a concept, extinct?

Again, that depends on how it is implemented by individual craftspeople. If AI is used simply to make money – endless repetitions and copies – then of course it will have an impact on the decision making of collectors. However, if it is used to push the boundaries of what is possible in terms of materials and form, then it should be applauded as another exciting tool within the world of craft.

If you believe, as I do, that craft must move forward in order to stay relevant, there is every reason for makers to embrace digital possibilities. After all, in a contemporary marquetry studio, the individual pieces of veneer are usually cut with a laser – something that did not happen for thousands of years. However, that does not detract from the skill of a marqueteur who employs the highly specialised art of selecting, matching and joining leaves of veneers that may be cut into many thousands of pieces, with shading achieved by dipping individual pieces into hot sand. Whether a veneer is cut using hand or laser has no bearing on the effect created and should not determine value.  

The history of craft has always been shaped by ‘new technologies’ of former days – traditional pottery evolved from simple clay vessels to intricate ceramic pieces as successive kilns, glazes and tools made an impact. Weaving underwent a similar transformation as new looms were designed and different methods of dyeing cloth introduced. In other words, there has always been progress, so there is no reason why AI should not also be another tool in the kit of the craftsperson. For me, this debate is not an either/or question – it is about embracing technological possibilities alongside the eye and hand of the maker. What matters more is keeping hand skills alive through investment in further education, apprentice schemes and mentoring. It is not digital innovation that threatens the future of hand craft, but lack of investment from government down.  

Are there some good and bad examples that you would share here?

I prefer to share only good examples! These are all artist-makers who are using digital techniques to create new forms, but who are also dedicated to traditional hand skills:

Alex Hull of Hull Studio

Hull Studio specialises in the design, prototyping, manufacture and installation of bespoke furniture and unique decorative finishes for superyachts and elite residential projects. Central to its ethos is the relationship between traditional craftsmanship and modern technology. Founder and Creative Director, Alex Hull, studied Product and Furniture design at Nottingham Trent University, having been fascinated by architecture and car design since childhood. He describes 3D prototyping as digital craftsmanship, but with the Apple Pencil as his chisel. However, he always begins with hand-drawn sketches before experimenting with 3D digital renderings, then collaborates with expert cabinet makers and leather workers who transform his ideas into physical reality. In this way he creates pieces such as Line Bench, created from a single line of hand-forged bronze.

Michael Eden

Michael Eden is an artist-maker whose work sits at the intersection of craft, design and art. Having originally trained as a potter, he used an MPhil research project at the Royal College of Art to explore how digital technology could be developed and combined with traditional hand skills. This resulted in the Wedgwoodn’t Tureen, where he utilised Rapid Manufacture (RM) and Rapid Prototyping (RP) – methods of 3D printing - to create a ceramic object that could not have been made through conventional means. Eden enjoys the limitless possibilities of customisation and the fact that working in this way gives him the creative freedom to do things that would be impossible with the wheel and clay.

Jonathan Keep

Potter-artist Jonathan Keep, has also developed a system whereby the shapes of his forms are created in computer code. This digital information is passed to a studio-based 3D printer that prints out the form layer by layer. These coiled forms are then fired and glazed in the usual way. At the core of his work is his love for, and fascination with, the numerical code that underpins all nature. Pottery draws on the elemental forces of earth, fire and water. By using computer code, Keep adds a further layer of elemental and natural mathematical patterns and structures.  

Gareth Neal

Gareth Neal established his design and craft studio in 2002, six years after graduating with a degree in Design and Craftsmanship at Buckinghamshire University. He and his small team are hands-on makers, working with both traditional tools and the latest computer-controlled routers. He also enjoys the process of collaboration with other designers and craftspeople, inspired by the skills and forms of the English vernacular. The George chest-of-drawers (2009) was created using traditional cabinetry and CNC routing – it is now in the permanent collection of the V&A Museum. In 2020, he created the Sio2 series of limited-edition vessels 3D-printed in black silicate (and made solid with binder). These exaggerated forms range in size from the miniature to the monumental. The ability to finely control singular particles of sand within the printing process, alongside advanced 3D modelling, enables him to create fluid forms that would be unobtainable in wood.

Helen Chislett is a journalist and commentator who also runs her eponymous online gallery representing artists and makers. In 2022, she co-authored ‘Craft Britain: Why Making Matters’ [OH Editions] with David Linley.

www.helenchislett.com
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