3D Printed by Ergatory – Decaying Coral Meets Pottery

Ergatory, founded by Isaïe Bloch, is an atelier in Belgium focusing on the production of object art through 3D printing and creative fabrication. Bloch has regularly collaborated with other rising stars such as Nick Ervinck and Iris van Herpen to create fantastical 3D printed sculptures. His latest project, Floralia, is a series of unusual vessels that appear not so much to have been created as to have grown in place.

The name Floralia comes from an ancient springtime festival held in the Roman empire to celebrate the goddess Flora. It should come as no surprise that Flora was the goddess of flowers and other vegetation. The reflection of Bloch’s interest in non-contiguous juxtapositions brings into being a piece referencing the roots of Western civilization and the latest in additive manufacturing without making an effort to be overtly ironic. The piece is actually quite beautiful.

The vessels are printed in gypsum powder and tinted with pink, blue, or green with an ink jet end. It is given a cyanoacrylate finish that makes it much more durable and causes the colors to become quite vibrant. The form itself was created by a series of semiautomated steps. Slight variations in those steps enables the creation of the number of variants in both form and color. The outline of the object is derived from the classical ewer shape but rather than being a smoothly finished porcelain piece, it is produced as if revealing a coral like skeleton. The vessels give the impression of objects fished from the wreckage of an ancient vessel.

Bloch identifies with a design movement known as Object Oriented Design. Unfortunately, it is somewhat difficult to decipher exactly what he means by that. Reading through his profanity laden website, it became clear that this is an artist whose most powerful expressions occur in bursts of imagery. Turning to a statement crafted to accompany a workshop in object oriented eclecticism that Bloch and others offered in 2012, a clear statement of intention can be found.

“Object-oriented Design is a new paradigm in contemporary philosophy, physics, computer programming and critical theory and can be understood as the process of planning a system of interacting objects for the purpose of solving a specific problem. In contrast to contemporary thought and design, which views things as the aggregation or assembly of smaller bits and parts, in OOD new objects emerge out of an ecology of interaction of multiple and heterogeneous objects and concepts. Highly differentiated and contradictory concepts and structures can become one object, without resulting in an incongruous collage.”

Bloch further defines his approach as “post-geometrical” meaning that the geometry does not drive the design but is rather discovered at the end, much as those who use parametric design to focus on the process of creation rather than a final object to be created. Block’s work can be purchased on Shapeways.  Let’s hear your thoughts on these incredible pieces in the 3D printed art forum thread on 3DPB.com.