Is access to a 3D printer required during the workshop days?

No. Access to a printer is not required to take the course. However, the curriculum covers the specific workflows for "Resin Slicing" and file preparation, ensuring that the final digital designs are fully optimized and ready to be sent to a printer or casting service

Is this workshop limited to plastic prototypes, or can these designs be produced in metal?

The techniques are fully applicable to fine jewelry. The digital files created are designed to be printed in castable resin and then transformed into precious metals like silver or gold using traditional foundry methods

I come from a traditional fashion background. Is deep knowledge of coding required for the parametric design portion?

No coding background is needed. The workshop focuses on "visual programming" in Grasshopper. It guides participants step-by-step through logic and geometry using specific plugins like Dendro to create complex, interlocking forms.

Will I learn to design just one specific item, or a system that can be adapted to different clients?

The focus is on creating "Adaptable Systems." Rather than modeling a single static object, the workshop teaches how to build parametric definitions that can update and resize automatically based on different 3D body scans, allowing for scalable, mass-customized production.

The description mentions 'interlocking forms.' Will I learn to create designs with moving parts that don't require manual assembly?

Yes. A key advantage of the computational workflow taught here is the ability to generate complex, interlocking structures.

Dynamic Wearables for Fashion Design

Throughout history, jewelry has been defined by the tools and techniques of the time, always shifting and evolving with technology, but no shift has been as impactful as the development of Industry and the introduction of computational design and 3D printing. Never before have we been able to achieve the level of intricate detail now possible, and we must take advantage of all that these processes offer.

This workshop is perfect for designers interested in developing their skills in parametric design at the body scale. Using Grasshopper allows us to design jewelry built specifically for additive manufacturing and to create the most intricate geometries, internal structures, and interlocking forms that are impossible to produce through conventional techniques, opening the door to a new generation of tech-enhanced body adornment.

Using 3D scanning and computational design, participants will learn how to design jewelry as adaptable systems rather than one-off static objects. By working parametrically, designers can write scripts to quickly customize pieces for various bodies, iterate on large and small design details in real time, and streamline their workflow for mass-custom production, creating dynamic systems that adapt to the user.

This two-day workshop challenges the traditional manufacturing landscape and equips the designer with a cutting-edge toolkit of computational practices to create expressive, scalable, and future-facing work.

Create parametric wearable designs that adapt dynamically to 3D body scans.
Capture and clean body scans using a smartphone workflow with Blender.
Use voxel-based methods to generate complex, 3D-print-ready geometries.
Develop one complete, fabrication-ready wearable design.
Build scalable design systems for customization and series-based production.
Prepare designs for resin 3D printing and future physical fabrication.

Reimagine Manufacturing: 3D printing unlocks traditional design constraints. We will push our designs to the limit to take full advantage of the freedom additive manufacturing offers.
Design For All, Not One: Parametric tools let us write dynamic scripts that update in real time, enabling a single design system to adapt to each person.
Think Volumetrically: Forget working with solids and meshes. Voxels offer a highly malleable system for adding, subtracting, merging, thickening, and smoothing shapes, all in one simple and robust system.
Scan, Don’t Measure: 3D scanning is so accessible now that anyone with a smartphone or camera can capture the geometry of the world. We can use this to capture both big and small, and we’ll use it to scan the body and size different pieces of jewelry.

Scope of the workshop:

This workshop is structured around a series of focused, hands-on computational workflows demonstrated step by step, followed by guided experimentation. Participants will be introduced to multiple parametric strategies for jewelry design in Grasshopper, each highlighting a different approach to form generation, patterning, and customization for body jewelry.

We will begin with 3D scanning using Polycam, introducing students to body-scale data capture and discussing best practices for resolution, cleanup, and accuracy. These scans will serve as a contextual foundation for design, allowing our jewelry to be informed by real anatomy rather than abstract dimensions.

After cleaning up these digital scans in Blender, we can establish digital jewelry workflows using Grasshopper, where the Peacock plugin will serve as our introduction to jewelry tools. Here, we can explore ring sizing, gemstone placement, and prong generation as a foundation for subsequent workflows.

Students will experiment with patterning workflows using Pufferfish to create gradient patterns of curves, as well as twisted box techniques for patterning simple tessellating meshes.

The workshop will then move into more advanced strategies, including recursive systems using Anemone that allow geometry to “grow” across the body, and volumetric design methods where structural “bones” are defined before generating a final skin using Dendro to produce complex, watertight 3D printable surface topology.

The course concludes with a practical overview of resin-slicing workflows in Lychee, focusing on preparing designs for castable resin printing and the lost-wax casting process used to produce precious-metal jewelry.

While demonstrations and discussions are shared collectively, each student will work individually on a final wearable project of their own, resulting in one complete, 3D-printable jewelry piece developed over the course of the weekend.

Program:

Day 1

Introductions, Thesis Lecture
Follow Along Workshop [3D Scanning + Blender Sculpting]
Follow Along Workshop [Grasshopper: Peacock Jewelry and Pufferfish Tween & Twisted Boxes]
Follow Along Workshop Grasshopper: Anemone Recursive systems and Dendro Volumetric Modeling
Student Task: Create design ideas for your own piece of custom jewelry

Day 2

Design Review of student work from the previous day - Q&A Design Help
Follow Along Workshop [Grasshopper: Combining all skills and adding my custom Sinew plugin to add extra organic details
Resin 3D Printing Thesis Lecture and Lost Wax Casting Explanation
Final Participant Presentations

What you should already know or have ready before you start, experience, tools, and any baseline skills the instructors expect. Scan the list below so nothing catches you off guard.

Software Installation is NOT a part of the workshop! Students must have all the software installed before starting the workshop.
Polycam is not a requirement as 3D scan files will be provided, but students are recommended to explore the tool after the course.
Access to a 3D printer is not required for the workshop. We recommend you experiment with 3D printing after the course to print your creations.

1. Introduction + PAACADEMY Updates