ML Engraving, the leading Company in laser photo engraving, addresses to the world of Industrial Design to expand laser technology applications. By means of
D.R.E.® - Design Rendering Engineering, ML Engraving turns every creative idea into a texture file to be engraved by laser machines.
Giovanni Scafuro is an Italian artist and designer, who has claimed everyone’s attention with his peculiar production called
Forkinprogress.
Very talented, Giovanni Scafuro has the rare quality of decontextualizing objects and make them appear under new shapes and new meanings.
The most representative object of Giovanni Scafuro’s collection is the fork: from a common object it becomes a jewel, a furnishing item or a sculpture, as you can see visiting his showroom in Milan.
Giovanni Scafuro and ML Engraving begin their collaboration called “the FabFork project”, in order to create a limited edition special fork.
The FabFork project: the challenge of ML Engraving and Giovanni Scafuro
The first step of the project has brought Scafuro to ML Engraving headquarters in Bergamo to get in touch with the exclusive D.R.E. and he gets astonished: the completely digitalized process breaks every limit of the traditional methods and gives great opportunities of expression to designers.
The concept of the project is clear: to engrave a series of 3D textures to dress and enrich the item, but also to improve its functionality.
Choosing the perfect material
The perfect choice of the material has always been fundamental of Scafuro. In fact he has experimented various materials for his past projects. This is the reason why, apart from the choice of the texture, ML Engraving and Scafuro have tested different materials such as
steel, nickel silver, copper and even silver.
The final choice has been the stainless steel, for it’s peculiar features.
Creating the perfect textures
Functionality and elegance have been the guidelines of the project, since its very beginning.
To be able to engrave a series of 3D textures on the complex surface of a fork has been the real challenge of ML Engraving.
The designer has been able to express himself at his best and finally came up with 3 textures:
ML Skin 001 on the handle to enhance grip
ML Stripes 001 to improve oil flow
ML Hook 064 to pick up food
The advantages of D.R.E.® - Design Rendering Engineering
After the planning and the testing phases, ML Engraving started the most operative phase, that is the processing of the D.R.E. file. The first step is to elaborate the
texture file with the 3 textures.
The
body file ha been obtained by Reverse Engineering.
Afterward the
texture file has been positioned on the
body file, as if it was a blancket.
The main advantage is that ML Engraving engineer was able to correct distortions and deformations directly on the digital file.
The designer has checked the D.R.E. file on his computer and when he gave the approval, ML Engraving started the laser photo engraving.
Laser photo engraving with a 5 axes machine
The approved D.R.E. file is sent to the CNC laser machine, that takes 2 hours to engrave the fork.
The final result is remarkable and reflects Scafuro’s requests.
The value of the engraving is remarked by the unique touch effect of the texture: metal looses its natural coldness and leaves room for a smooth sensation.
Packaging
The FabFork project includes the creation of a transparent plexiglass theca where to put the FabFork to display it as a furnishing item.
The final touch regards the packaging of the plexiglass theca with a white paper.
A red sealing wax seal with ML Engraving mark blocks a white rope bow.
ML Engraving and Giovanni Scafuro have also prepared a brochure to guide the observer to discover the project, step by step.
There are only 200 pieces of the FabFork. Many of them have been given to the most important Italian and International Style Centres of the major Design Companies or Automotive Companies.
The last pieces are available on
Giovanni Scafuro website.