This object looks simultaneously ancient and distinctly contemporary. To make it, Kayser explored materials found in nature as well as advanced technology. His research led him to the desert, where he embraced two readily available elements: sun and sand, whose silica component solidifies as glass when heated to its melting point and allowed to cool. Kayser developed a manually operated solar 3D-printing machine, which he first tested in Morocco in 2011. Later that year, he completed a fully automated, computer-driven version, which he called the Solar Sinter, and tested it in the Sahara. The Solar Sinter produced this bowl, in which grooves left by the 3D-printing process are visible.
Pirouette: Turning Points in Design, January 26, 2025–November 15, 2025
Gallery label from Applied Design , March 2, 2013–January 31, 2014
The process of converting a powder into a solid by heating is known as sintering, and it is central in 3D printing—a process by which computer-controlled machines deposit or solidify liquid or powdered resin layer by layer to create a three-dimensional rendering of a digital design. Kayser is interested in the use of natural resources in 3D printing, a counterintuitive step in a technology that is so closely identified with computers, robotics, and synthetic resins. Experiments with solar power led him to the desert environment and the two elements most readily available there: sun and sand, whose silica component solidifies as glass when heated to a melting point and allowed to cool. Kayser tested his first manually operated solar 3D-printing machine in 2011 in the Moroccan desert. He completed a bigger, fully automated, computer-driven version called SolarSinter later that year and tested it in the Sahara. This bowl was produced by the SolarSinter.
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