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3D Modelling, Experimental

Support Material Playground


Support materials are often automatically generated during 3D printing to hold up structures that can’t stand on their own. In this exploratory project, I treated those discarded supports as a primary material, using them as the basis for creating new objects. The result is a chair exhibition made of chairs, some functional, others intentionally bizarre, each one AI-generated from support-material forms derived from other 3D-printed chairs.


When I began printing my self created 3D-Models, I gained a fascination with the organic structures of support materials - their flexibility and adaptability from structure to structure. I then started to experiment with how the shapes and formation of the organic support materials can affect the design language of other objects.



An example of support material used for a 3D model I modelled and designed. I used the support material as a refrerence for later creation.



I then began with a beach chair. I printed one out and used the automated support materials as the foundation.


I broke down the support material using AI models that desciphered their description, shape and color.


Based on the description of the support material, I explored what kinds of creatures and figures would come out of the support material’s organic shapes. Eventually I printed out a chair based on the description.


I went onto create a series of AI-created chairs, all based on iterations of previous support materials, affected by previously printed chairs.



The result: a playful gallery of support-material inspired chairs




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