At Artecology we love the amazing ecoengineering work that’s currently happening around the word. Whilst the field of ecoengineering is generally still in its infancy, there are a lot superb projects out there, most of them using either high tech moulding, Computer Assisted Design (CAD), Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines, or 3D printing technology to get the job of making wildlife habitat done. If Artificial Intelligence (AI) isn’t being used yet, it certainly won’t be long before it is, no doubt it will add something interesting to the plethora of brilliant constructed wildlife habitats that are now being produced and deployed worldwide. Ecological engineering is manifesting as a technological gold rush…..and we love it….BUT, at Artecology we’ve chosen not to use technology all that much!
Except for a few projects where computer driven tech has given us an opportunity to work with material previously off limits to us, our hearts and minds at Artecology are firmly set on what we can make with our hands. In fact so effective is hand-making we’re kind of amazed by the lack of arts and crafts techniques being used in the world of ecoengineering today, either commercially or experimentally.
A Sandown model Vertipool (constructed rock pool habitat) showing the ‘rugosity’ of hand made design and making.
So why do we love art and craft techniques so much?
Well for one they’re often offer quick making processes, much much faster than 3D printing in fact.
2. No massively expensive kit is required…just fingers will do!
3. Craft techniques can be taught to others. Therefore job creation at the manufacturing end of ecoengineering is a real possibility …(don’t let folks tell you hand-making can’t provide ecoengineering at scale, it’s simply not true!)
4. Every human hand is a sophisticated 3D printer initiated by the most powerful OI (Organic Intelligence) processor the universe has ever seen. This means nature based solutions can be deployed anywhere in the world no matter how rich or poor a country, city, town or village. In this way arts and crafts techniques make the proven benefits of ecoengineering open to all. That’s truly democratic!
5. Handmade crafting techniques offer enormous pattern/texture rugosity and complexity, and these are the hallmarks of exemplary ecoengineering design.
6. Through arts and crafts making processes, humans can respond to new challenges as they occur, minute to minute, second to second, this is particularly useful during site specific ‘on-site’ ecoengineering projects where retro-fit is difficult and machines simply cannot go.
Nige working with pupils from Yarmouth Primary School on a constructed rock pool habitat called a Vertipool.
7. Using craft techniques the process of making ecoengineered objects can be inclusive and engaging in the most hands-on way.
8. There are so many arts and crafts out there still to discover which will have something brilliant to offer the ecoengineering research and development world.
So in short, the benefits of using hand-on making techniques are numerous. They allow us to innovate on a daily basis, to keep our research and development on track, and therefore to continue to do good work in the increasingly important field of ecoengineering. Oh, and they’ve kept us winning awards over the years….that’s quite handy too!!
A short film by filmmaker Kris Ceuca looking at the handmade work of Artecology.