Amit Zoran @ #lift10 : Designing hybrid objects

Amit Zoran is a designer and student at Smart Cities Group of the Media Lab at MIT, where he has worked on many design projects, including mixed objects at the intersection of technology and culture.

He dedicated his research work in developing hybrid objects, a fusion between traditional and digital elements like his famous Guitar Chameleon . This electric instrument is an evolving and adaptable device, with a interchangeables oundboard to convert the acoustic guitar, not only digitaly but also in a physical manner. The quality of this guitar is connected to the physical property of materials that compose it, hence the idea to make them partly interchangeable.

He also designed Cornucopia (the horn of plenty), a 3D printer support. This machine addresses each of the fundamental processes that are central to the kitchen, mixing ingredients (through the "digital fabricator" who can assemble flavors and textures in the manner of Boris Vian's Pianococktail ), their physical and chemical processing (via the "mixer Virtuoso") and presentation (via the "robot head"). The idea behind the design of these devices is to imagine a "gastronomy digital optimizing both the potential for creative expression and personal digital as the kitchen. These instruments are not intended only to extend the range of what we can cook, but also to make them available digitally, collaborative, networked ...

These two examples of the more recent work Ami Zoran illustrate the particularity of its approach. His presentation will provide an opportunity to explore the question of hybridization: how culture meets technology and how the design is the crucible.