– What does it mean to be a maker? What value do we hold in objects and especially in craft objects? In his last semester, Topher Gent is questioning our relationship to man-made and machine-made objects. He is about to open the mold of a vase that started the experimental journey towards his soon-to-be-finished master project; a process that started with his body weight of clay on a ceramics wheel and ended in 3D-printing, casting molds in silicone and plaster, and finally porcelain.

– It all started with so much handmade stuff in the beginning and now it is starting to slowly step further away from my hands in a way. The good thing about working on a computer is that I am able to put the whole mold together before I even start working by hand. It's definitely a different way of working, but in a sense, it is actually more hyper-focused because I really control the details more. Beyond the technical advantages, incorporating digital processes and refinement create a new conceptual framework. But I think there is something quite valuable in starting off making things by hand.  If I were to rewind, that's actually where it all started.

Alongside his experiments with clay and printing, he has also focused on theories connected to his process about the hand and machine-made.

– I became interested in the idea of digital objects and researched many different artists and designers who are working with technologies like AI and machine learning. I conducted my own machine learning experiments not only as a way to analyze my objects and generate a new digital form, but also to evaluate these kinds of processes for designers. There’s a lot of ways to approach these ideas, but I think it is especially interesting to think about how human input is so essential to the outcomes of these processes.