Format: MFA Thesis Exhibition & Research Paper | Venue: Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, NY (2023)

Keywords: Parametric Design, Transnational Materiality, Silk Road, In-glaze Luster, Digital Fabrication

Abstract: This research project investigates the intersection of ancient ceramic traditions along the Silk Road and contemporary digital workflows. Utilizing parametric design and 3D modeling as a generative tool, the work interrogates how the "wisdom" of Levantine and Central Asian ceramic motifs can be translated through additive manufacturing without losing the "haptic" soul of the material. The project served as a technical and philosophical inquiry into the transnational object: can a form modeled in a digital space and realized in New York maintain the ontological weight of a Mediterranean heritage?
 

Through a series of slip-cast from molds of 3D-printed models, the research demonstrated that parametric logic is not a departure from tradition, but a continuation of the mathematical rigor inherent in Islamic and Arabic geometric art. The outcome challenges the Western binary of "craft vs. technology," proposing instead a "digital craft" methodology that honors the ethics of material lineage while embracing the efficiency of contemporary production.