Carabus - Formed by Robots, Crafted by People
Dubai Design Week 2019 - Ammar Kalo combines technology with craftsmanship with his new Carabus collection.
The Carabus Collection is the result of conflating concepts of traditional craft with processes of advanced robotic fabrication.
The aim was to address issues like tacit material knowledge, craftsmanship, and through a contemporary lens. Carabus embraces the imperfections of the process and highlights both machine and hand craft using robotically formed copper as well as camel leather and walnut wood.
Forming tool marks are celebrated throughout the object and recall the qualities of handcrafted objects. The surface dimples not only reflect the traditional craft of hand forming metals, but also adds strength to the pieces by locally stiffening the metal near the edges.
The materials used are copper sheets, camel leather, walnut hardwood and tinted mirrors. Project Assistants: Indrajith Gamage, Bishoy Girigis.
Click on each picture below to learn more.
Ammar Kalo is a designer, architect, and educator based in Sharjah, UAE. He’s also the Director of Labs at the College of Architecture Art and Design, American University of Sharjah. His practice, KALO, interrogates the relationship between digital technology and traditional craft.
During the 2015 Milan Design Week, Kalo received a Silver A‘Design Award his chair design Stratum. Also, in October 2015, Harper's Bazaar Interiors awarded him the Emerging Designer award during the inaugural Dubai Design Week. In 2016, the Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York acquired two pieces, Stratum and N-bowl, for its permanent collection.
