A pot : experiments with clay + gen AI
digital ceramics, 2024 - ongoing
This ongoing collaboration with ceramicist Anna Andersen explores generative AI as a design tool in ceramic practice while preserving the essential human elements that make craft meaningful. Using the archetypal prompt "a pot"—a form humans have created since prehistoric times—we test AI models that generate 3D objects, including open-source tools like Point-E. The central question asks whether generative AI can enhance our creative practice without undercutting the hands-on, material knowledge that defines ceramic work.
Our process positions AI as a collaborative ideation tool, not a replacement for human craftsmanship. We generate and critically evaluate hundreds of AI outputs, selecting only forms that we feel have creative potential. Each digital sketch is a starting point; they are altered, remixed and interpreted through our design sensibilities, our understanding of clay's material properties, structural limitations, and firing behaviors. The meaningful work happens in translating the digital to the physical through a process of 3D printing, hand-sculpting, and art and craft techniques we have each developed over years of practice. Our approach in A pot experiments with how emerging technologies could expand creative possibilities while maintaining the tactile, intuitive qualities that make handcraft uniquely human.
A pot has recieved development support from Nationalbankens Jubilaeumsfond.
Our process positions AI as a collaborative ideation tool, not a replacement for human craftsmanship. We generate and critically evaluate hundreds of AI outputs, selecting only forms that we feel have creative potential. Each digital sketch is a starting point; they are altered, remixed and interpreted through our design sensibilities, our understanding of clay's material properties, structural limitations, and firing behaviors. The meaningful work happens in translating the digital to the physical through a process of 3D printing, hand-sculpting, and art and craft techniques we have each developed over years of practice. Our approach in A pot experiments with how emerging technologies could expand creative possibilities while maintaining the tactile, intuitive qualities that make handcraft uniquely human.
A pot has recieved development support from Nationalbankens Jubilaeumsfond.
A pot with handles, 3D-printed red clay.
Amphora, 3D-printed red clay with engobe wash.
Double Amphora, 3D-printed red clay (greenware).
AI-generated model of “a pot”.
Model of “a pot”.
Model of “a pot”.
Sample set of “a pot” models.
Model of “a pot”.
Model 3D-printed in black clay. The handle was redesigned digitally to make it a printable shape.
A test pot design, 3D-printed red clay and engobe.
A test pot design, hand decorated, 3D-printed mixed clay.
Round container, 3D-printed mixed clay (greenware).
Some intial 3D models, generated from the prompt “a pot”.
Model 3D-printed in red clay with a slip wash.
Glazing the model.