Course Content
10 Lessons
This workshop teaches how to design dynamic, body-responsive wearables through parametric design and 3D scanning.
2 courses5.0
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.
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.
Day 1
Day 2
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.
Course Content
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