Craft and Material Studies Department Announces New Digital Fabrication Minor

The CCS Craft and Material Studies department will offer a new minor in Digital Fabrication starting Fall semester 2020. Digital Fabrication teaches students how to use computer-aided design (CAD) to design, model and output objects with photorealistic accuracy. The CCS minor emphasizes the partnership of digital technologies and traditional materials on the path to innovation, and these skills can be applied to projects in a number of majors from Craft and Material Studies and Fine Arts to Product Design, Transportation Design and Interior Design.

In a series of five courses, students learn to design and model objects that are then output using such tools as 3D printers, laser cutters and CNC machines. Bridging the gap between design and manufacturing, Digital Fabrication teaches students how various materials perform in the digital fabrication context and how various processes, tooling, and tolerances translate digital ideas to physical form. Students can laser cut interlocking pieces to create innovative woven structures; digitally mill graphite molds for glass casting multiples; perform 3D printing directly with clay; create resin 3D prints that can be cast in metal; and much more.

The Craft and Material Studies department prepares students to think critically through materials, develop an expansive and experimental practice and use innovative methods to build on traditional processes and techniques. The Digital Fabrication minor amplifies these goals, giving students in all disciplines a broad set of skills that can be applied across materials and processes.

For more information on the Digital Fabrication minor, please visit here.