Product Artist Lionel Dean Explores The Boundaries Between Art & Design

Product artist Dr. Lionel T. Dean has been exploring the creative potential of digital design and technology for over a decade and is at the forefront of 3D printing in Art and Design. His multi-faceted work ranges from high-end gallery pieces to luxury design objects, which in addition to being shown in major cities like New York, London and Milan, have also been added to the collections of MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Design Museum of Barcelona in 2005 and 2010.

Lionel Theodore Dean, ‘Tuber 9’

In 2008 the MoMA piece was included in a ‘Highlights Collection’ of the Museum’s 250 most significant acquisitions since 1980.

“The Tuber Lamp is a complex configuration of nine intertwined rootlike forms whose twisting heads contain light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that shine in different directions to create a wash of light. Using a parametric modeling system, Dean designed a three-dimensional animated model that constantly evolves and mutates. The Tuber Lamp’s virtual form grows and evolves within this system until a user freezes the model for production. The computer model is then ‘printed’ out into an exact physical realization through laser sintering, a process in which particles of nylon are fused together layer by layer to create a three-dimensional mass. This organic design and production process allows for endless variation within a defined framework while also incorporating the user into a seamless design and manufacturing process. Mass customization of design objects has become a realistic endeavor in recent years as rapid-prototyping techniques have improved; no two models of the Tuber Lamp are the same, although each bears a resemblance to the parametric model it came from. Through such projects as the Tuber Lamp, designers are working to revolutionize the role of the user in the design process and completely transform the ways in which materials are selected and assembled.”

—Publication excerpt from The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA.

Lionel Theodore Dean, ‘Faberge’

In 2002 Dean founded FutureFactories, a studio focused exclusively on 3D printing technologies and computational design methodologies which combine Computer Aided Design (CAD) with computer programming. These tools allow the creation of virtual meta-designs which have the ability to evolve and mutate over time and offer a potentially infinite stream of one-off solutions. The significance of Dean’s product art and design work is illustrated through the acquisitions by MoMA, The Museum for Modern Art in New York and DHUB, Design Museum Barcelona for their respective permanent collections.

Lionel Theodore Dean, ‘Puja’

The piece shown above, ‘Puja’, was originally conceived while Dr. Dean was Artist in Residence at the National Institute of
Design in Ahmadabad, India. During this residency Dean explored a form of layer manufacture using handcut wooden profiles. An added inspiration was provided by the religious chant playing on loop in the workshop. Puja in Hindi is ‘the act of showing reverence to a god or to aspects of the divine through invocations, prayers, songs, and rituals’.

Lionel Theodore Dean, ‘Holy Ghost Chair’

Dean graduated from the Royal College of Art, London in 1987. He worked as an automotive designer for Pininfarina in Italy before launching his own studio in 1989. In 2002, he founded FutureFactories while completing his Ph.D. at the University of Huddersfield, and now serves as an adjunct professor at De Montfort University‘s School of Art, Design and Humanities.

Lionel Theodore Dean, ‘Medusa’

Dean’s projects have proved a huge success and have yielded a string of fine art products ranging from gallery pieces to retail designs. Dr. Lionel T. Dean has been exploring the creative potential of digital design and manufacturing technology for over a decade and is at the forefront of 3D printing in Art and Design, focusing exclusively on digital manufacturing. He has exhibited works in London, Milan, and New York. For more information about this fascinating artist and designer visit www.futurefactories.com