Explaining different metal manufacturing processesfrom @annakahoelkstudio

Transcript

All these things are metal, but everyone is a different manufacturing process. And as a designer, identifying and understanding materials and manufacturing was definitely the skill I ignored the most in school, even though now I understand it's one of the most important things. My early conception of what it was to best designer was definitely tied to the creative aspect doing the design. But the moment you start designing the real world, in my case for my own brand, you realize you can't even start to think about design without first understanding manufacturing. They are inextricably tied. A professor I I had in design school had us practice by picking up random objects and then getting us to dissect all the processes that would be used to make it. So using metal as an example, a classic tubular steel chair, the steel would first be extruded in long tubes, then bent sometimes with sand inside as an internal support to prevent kinking, and then it would be chromed for the final glossy and reflective finish. Circular things like this are often spun better. So you start with a thin metal sheet that's spun and then pushed down around a mold. Sheet metal can be bent and then welded or fastened or just welded at the corner and grinded away to make it look seamless. This is interesting. It looks like it's been pressed or scored to create this corrugation, which then gives the spin material more structure, but I'm not sure how this was done. Metal can also be cast, CNC or milled, water best or laser cut, and then there's all the surface finishings of anodizing, powder coating, polishing, sandblasting, heat treating, the list goes on. And once you can start to break these processes down, you can then combine or exaggerate them to great effect. I know I'm generalizing a lot and using the broad term metal when of course there's different processes that you can use with steel versus versus aluminum, but I think you get the idea. This is definitely an area of continual learning. I get stumped all the time. And as a designer, it's important to remember that you don't necessarily have to be an expert in all these processes, but I at least try and know enough that I know at least the words to Google to get more information.