Hybrid making in furniture design education: bridging digital fabrication and craft through experiential learning

Abstract

This paper analyzes a hybrid furniture design studio through the lenses of design pedagogy and experiential learning, investigating how hybrid making can integrate digital fabrication with craft-based practices while supporting thinking through making. Although digital fabrication has gained prominence in design education, empirical research on how digital and craft-based practices can be integrated within a coherent pedagogical framework for furniture design remains limited, indicating a clear research gap. To address this, the study adopts a qualitative case-study methodology, combining studio observations, students’ written and verbal feedback, process documentation, and photographic records. A focused literature review on design education and hybrid making informed three guiding themes: material engagement, critical thinking, and creative discovery. The study contributes an empirically grounded pedagogical framework for hybrid furniture design education, demonstrating how digital modelling and printing, laser cutting, ceramic slip casting, and woodworking can support materially engaged experiential learning. Findings indicate that hybrid workflows enhance creativity and critical thinking while deepening students’ material literacy. Students directly encountered the physical properties of materials, production constraints, and occasional unpredictability as part of an iterative, hands-on learning process that bridges digital and craft-based methods.

Keywords

• hybrid design
• craft
• digital fabrication
• furniture design education

Thanks

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Stefano Pugliese, Argun Tanrıverdi, Prof. Sevim Çizer, and Ayda Eriş for their invaluable expertise and generous support throughout the theoretical, practical, and laboratory phases of this study.

Mobilya tasarımı eğitiminde hibrit yapım: dijital üretim ile zanaat arasında köprü kurmak

Abstract

Bu makale, hibrit bir mobilya tasarım stüdyosunu tasarım pedagojisi ve deneyimsel öğrenme açısından inceleyerek hibrit üretimin dijital fabrikasyon ile zanaatı nasıl bir araya getirebileceğini ve “yaparak düşünme” yaklaşımını nasıl desteklediğini araştırmaktadır. Dijital üretim tasarım eğitiminde önem kazanmış olsa da, dijital ve zanaat temelli süreçlerin mobilya tasarımına yönelik tutarlı bir pedagojik çerçevede nasıl bütünleştirilebileceğine ilişkin ampirik çalışmalar sınırlıdır ve bu durum belirgin bir araştırma boşluğuna işaret etmektedir. Bu boşluğu ele almak amacıyla çalışma, stüdyo gözlemleri, öğrencilerin yazılı ve sözlü geri bildirimleri, süreç dokümantasyonu ve fotoğraf kayıtlarını bir araya getiren nitel bir durum çalışması yöntemi benimsemektedir. Tasarım eğitimi ve hibrit üretim literatürüne dayalı odaklı bir inceleme, üç temel temayı belirlemiştir: malzeme ile etkileşim, eleştirel düşünme ve yaratıcı keşif. Çalışma, dijital modelleme ve baskı, lazer kesim, seramik döküm ve ahşap işçiliğinin malzemeyle etkileşime dayalı deneyimsel öğrenmeyi nasıl destekleyebileceğini gösteren ampirik temelli bir pedagojik çerçeve sunmaktadır. Bulgular, hibrit iş akışlarının yaratıcılığı ve eleştirel düşünmeyi geliştirdiğini, öğrencilerin malzeme okuryazarlığını derinleştirdiğini ortaya koymaktadır.

Keywords

• hibrit tasarım
• zanaat
• dijital fabrikasyon; mobilya tasarım eğitimi

Thanks

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Stefano Pugliese, Argun Tanrıverdi, Prof. Sevim Çizer, and Ayda Eriş for their invaluable expertise and generous support throughout the theoretical, practical, and laboratory phases of this study.

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