Joseph Zhang – Looking Outwards – 08

This week, I wanted to look at Eyeo 2019 speaker Nicole Aptekar. Nicole Aptekar is a computational designer who utilizes three-dimensional rendering techniques and transfers them to physical mediums through lazor cutting techniques. For many of her works, Nicole develops custom software to generate these design. One of my favorite series is Metaflux, which is shown below. The compositions below consist of layers of paper stacked on top of each other to develop these beautiful forms that take advantage of light and shadows. As you can see, Nicole is really focused on geometric form and geared towards understanding how these forms and work in harmony with each other.

https://nicolation.net/category/metaflux

In her talk, Nicole talks a lot about how her work revolves around finding that middle ground where the physical and digital mediums meet. She tells her story through visually and verbally showcasing her work and how it relates to her as a designer and human. In her presentation, she also breaks the fourth wall and really talks to the audience as a friend. Her use of both digital and physical technologies to create novel art embodies her mission of pushing fabrication techniques and conventions.