Inspired by the eroded rock formations of the midwest and the movement of dance, this dream project for our clients was fabricated from solid walnut.

The complex geometry was explicitly defined digitally using a series of reductive processes and CNC machinery was used to translate them into the large timber components.

The larger geometry is strategically broken up to enable the piece to be shipped to site as well as provide space for the natural material to move seasonally.

A natural hardwax oil finish helps protect the piece while maintaining the look and feel of the natural material.

The Polytope Pendants were developed in late 2018 and were installed at Pilot Coffee on Ossington Avenue as part of the DesignTO Festival in Toronto, Canada and is the result of a design collaboration between David Lister and Daniel Gruetter.

‘Polytope’ is a collection of pendant lights that synthesizes the material properties of brass alloy with the algorithmically assisted generation of tessellated forms and 3-axis CNC fabrication.

‘Polytope’ is named after the geometric category of flat sided shapes that exist in any number of dimensions. Initially these forms are created as digital 3D models, but in order to facilitate 3-axis CNC fabrication, they are ‘unfolded’ into two dimensions. After machining in this flat state, they are then folded by hand, transforming from two dimensions back to three dimensional polyhedra.

These tessellated forms are generated using rules for the division of space commonly seen in the natural world. Brass’ ductility enables these flat shapes to be folded and retain their shape. This process of plastic deformation allows the brass to be wrapped around a light source.

A design collaboration with Dian Carlo of Sodi Designs, this installation occupies the triple height ceiling space in Sweet A La Mode in Toronto.

The timber and cane ‘nest’ is a complex abstraction of a series of intersecting doubly curved surfaces inspired by the dynamism of wind currents and the relationships of the natural world that define them.

A design for the IIDEX woodshop ash design competition which aims to bring attention to the destruction caused by the emerald ash borer in North America while utilising the material while it still exists.

The design, created in collaboration with Daniel Gruetter, maps the introduction of the boring beetle to areas around Toronto and their spread over time. This information was translated into 3 dimensional geometry and used subtractive milling processes in an emulation of the bug’s impact.

The Cara(s)pace bar was a commissioned installation for MSDx, the annual exhibition by the Melbourne School of Design. The design emerged from research into digital detailing and fabrication techniques of composite panels and employs an experimental structural system of flexible sheet metal that is actively bent and restrained by the panels. Like exoskeletal systems found in nature, this reciprocal structural system acts as surface and performative ornament and is informed by the heterogeneous localised conditions across the surface geometry, varying in density and depth.

The brief called for two separate bar units to cater for future events of various size and an additional element was added to separate serving space and storage as well as create a wayfinding device amongst the campus for the event. The three design elements work individually or are locked together, the accuracy of geometry and fabrication allowing for seamless continuity with incredibly tight tolerances.

Designed by David Lister (Elseware Collective) with Bryan Fan and Vincent Kong.

Fabrication and assembly team: David Lister, Bryan Fan, Vincent Kong, Albert Chandra, David Schwarzman, Nic DuBern, Tim Cameron, Tim Dow, Peter Spence, Heather Mitcheltree, Ross Berryman, Siavash Malek, Jas Johnston, Dave Wegman, Kevin Smeaton

Flickr Collection

The design for the Ample Organics office feature wall uses a moire type affect created by the irregularity of the overlapping fins and the negative space between to reveal the logo of the client in a flat separating fin wall. The other side (a social meeting area) has this flowing geometry. We considered the nature of the spaces on each side of the feature while creating an engaging outcome. It’s a bit of a mullet design; business at the front, party at the back.

This office space for Bluedot Global, a research team and social benefit organisation in the Li Ka Shing Institute at St Michaels hospital, incorporates detailing and ornament that conveys their unique identity. The team study how infectious diseases disperse worldwide through analysis of big data and design ways to visualise it. What better then, than to have this kind of information as the ornament spread around their new workspace?

The space was designed to accommodate the groups large collection of plants and tables were designed with contemporary workstations in mind, making power and data easily available as people moved around but hidden out of sight.

An initial design for the team came in far above their intended budget so the schema was redesigned by us to keep all facets of the fabrication in house and was installed in a few days to keep disruption to operations to a minimum.

A rapidly growing Toronto business that required cafe and trade show furniture that was congruent with their identity. With a former sales career in furniture the client was keen to see the design concept and quality of the outcome.

A high quality and durable UV coating was used to prefinish baltic birch plywood sheets and along with a supermatte laminate has created a lasting design which utilises digital fabrication techniques to include intersecting and dado joinery details.

While the storage units are on industrial castors for their intended use in trade shows they are now also employed in the Pluck Tea sales foyer for permanent use.

The ash borer is known for the mechanism by which the insect causes damage to ash trees. Using CNC fabrication to mirror this subtractive process, the Borer Table subverts this destructive behaviour. The constructive result generates form and texture, subtly placed on the underside of the table. The table emphasizes the organic and variable composition of the borer's marks. Meanwhile, design and fabrication are controlled using templates and algorithms, allowing for mass customization. This flexible design system creates bespoke objects, which suit a variety of spaces and functions.

The first foray in scripted geometry...

The first foray in scripted geometry...

The house is designed around a structural core of storage containers with a central double height volume providing multiple family living spaces and promoting stack ventilation for the completely off-grid dwelling.

Composite aluminium panels have been used to texture and articulate the facade, adding an organic patterning like the grassy fields in which the dwelling site. From the digital model, the folded geometry can be unwrapped computationally, with cutting and routing paths generated for fabrication with very small tolerances. The complicated arrangement of the material folding back at the top and bottom is also documented via a custom script devised for this particular application. The script used to design the folded panels ensures that the width of the final, unfolded surface is to one of the raw supplied material dimensions to remove waste, with the height used in the design also informed by these dimensions. Material usage is estimated over 90% efficiency to offset the use of material of higher quality finish.

The Facet lamp series explored the design, documentation and fabrication preparation process as a single comprehensive algorithm. Grasshopper was used to generate a seamless faceted geometry driven by an easily manipulated point cloud in Rhino. A parametric system then analysed the typology of the geometry and the relationships between adjacent planar faces and edges to create a connection geometry.

Successive explorations used this information to generate a series of friction based details inspired by those in traditional Japanese architecture. The flexible nature of the algorithm allowed for the design of the geometry and connection details to easily evolve with detailed and documented fabrication files automatically produced for each incremental change.

Urban diagrams