Digitally Interpreting Traditional Folk Crafts

Preserving cultural heritage requires that objects persist throughout time and continue to communicate an intended meaning. Owing to the decreasing number of masters of folk crafts, fading technologies, and crafts losing economic ground, computer-based preservation and interpretation of such crafts is necessary. To fabricate and preserve traditional crafts, a long-term applied-research project has combined mathematics and software tools with compact, cheap, and environmentally friendly desktop fabrication tools, including 3D printers. Case studies involving the digital capture of Japanese lacquerware and Norwegian carvings illustrate the project's modeling approach and fabrication system. Besides modeling existing artifacts, the project includes Web presentations of the models, automated model fabrication, and experimental manufacturing of new designs and forms.