Dr Lionel Dean

Lionel T Dean has been exploring the creative potential of digital design and manufacturing technology for almost ten years and is at the forefront of digital making.  His work spans Art Craft and Design disciplines and questions traditional definitions of practice. In 2003 he founded FutureFactories, a studio focused exclusively on 3D printing technologies and developing computational design methodologies which combine Computer Aided Design (CAD) with computer programming. Such systems allow the creation of virtual meta-designs with the ability to evolve and mutate over time offering a potentially infinite stream of one-off solutions. 

View a full listing of Lionel Dean's publications and outputs.

• Additive Manufacture
• Co Creation
• Computational Design
• Digital Craft
• Direct Digital Manufacturing
• Digital Making
• Generative Design
• Rapid Prototyping
• Rapid Manufacture

• Digital design and manufacturing
• Aesthetics and visual language
• Generative design and co-creation

PhD, University of Huddersfield, June 2010

Group exhibitions

• Nesta Gallery, London until June
• In 3 dimensions – printing objects. Museum fur Gestaltung, Zurich until 5^th May 2013
• Ornamental Status, 5^th Base Gallery, London 7 – 13^th March

Conference presentations

• Crafting the Future 17-19^th April, Gothenburg, Sweden
• Digital Fashion, London College of Fashion 16-17^th May 2013 co-author Michele Danjoux to present
• Santa Fe Symposium – conference for jewellery manufacturing technology 19-22^nd May 2013 
• E&PDE2013 Dublin 5-6^th September 2013

Atkinson P. & Dean L: Future Factories: Teaching Techné. 5th European Academy of Design Conference, Barcelona, April 2003

Unver E., Dean L., & Atkinson P: Future Factories: Developing Individualised Production Methods. International conference on Advanced Engineering Design, Prague, May 2003

Atkinson P., Dean L., Unver E: Future Factories: Supportive Technologies As Creative Processes. 9th International Design Conference, Dubrovnik, Croatia, May 2004

Dean L., Atkinson P., Unver E: Evolving Individualized Consumer Products. 6th European Academy of Design Conference, Bremen, Germany, March 2005

Dean L: Designing for Rapid Manufacture: “Entropia” A Case Study. Time Compression Technologies Conference, UK, September 2006

Atkinson P., Unver E., Marshall J., Dean L: Post Industrial Manufacturing Systems: The Undisciplined Nature Of Generative Design. Design Research Society Conference, March 2008

Dean L: Titanium jewellery: High-End Decorative Design Straight From The Machine. Time Compression Technologies Conference, UK, October 2008

 Atkinson P., Marshall J., Unver E., Dean L: I Did it My Way: User Engagement In Post Industrial Manufacturing. 1st International Conference on Sustainable Intelligent Manufacturing, June 2011

Dean L., Pei E: Matching Design Investment With High Value Materials. 13th Conference on Rapid Design, Prototyping & Manufacturing, Lancaster, June 2012

Dean L., Pei E: Experimental 3D Digital Techniques in Design Practice. 2nd International Conference on Design Creativity, Glasgow, September 2012

Dean, L: Additive Manufacture: Added Design Value. iCAT 2012, 4th International Conference on Additive Technologies, Slovenia. Sept 2012

De Beer, D., Becker, L., Van der Walt, P., Mauchline, D., Campbell, I., Dean, L: Additive Manufacturing of Alumide Jewellery. RAPDASA Additive Manufacturing in Industry Conference, South Africa. Nov 2012

Dean L: Who’s afraid of co-creation? Crafting the Future. 10th European Academy of Design Conference, Gothenburg, Sweden 2013 (full paper accepted)

Other conference papers:-

Dean, L., Unver, E.,  Campbell, I., De Beer, D: Making it real: Virtual Tools in Creative Practice. Making International Conference on Materiality and Knowledge, Norway. Sept 2012 

Dean L: FutureFactories: Rapid Manufacturing At Work. Euromold Conference, Frankfurt, Germany, December 2008

Other forms of public presentation

Solo exhibitions:-

FutureFactories touring exhibition:

•   Barnsley Design Centre:  27/10/03 – 24/11/03
•   Dean Clough, Halifax:  29/11/03 – 04/01/04
•   Media Centre, Huddersfield:  05/01/04 – 31/01/04
•   designerblock04, Milan, Italy:  14/04/04 - 19/04/04
•   designersblock04, London:  22/10/04  - 26/10/04

Automake and FutureFactories

• Hub: National Centre for Craft and Design    03/05/08 - 08/06/08
• FutureFactories, EuroMold Frankfurt  01/12/10 – 04/12/10
• State of the Art, EuroMold Frankfurt  29/11/11 - 02/12/11
• FutureFactories, Art-Metz, Metz France  23/03/12 - 26/03/12

Curated Group Exhibitions:-

• A Few Domestic Objects Interrogate a Few Works of Art
• Mary Boone Gallery, New York: 2005
• Permanent Design Collection, MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art, New York: from 2005 
• Generator.X, National Museum of Art, Oslo: 2005
• Perimeters, Boundaries, and Borders, Lancaster, UK: 2006
• Swell, future friendly design, Vancouver: 2007
• Digitability, DesignMai, Berlin: May 2007
• Funky, Helsinki, Finland: September 2007
• The Art of Research, Helsinki: October 2007
• Colour Days: Warsaw, Poland: October 2007

• Generative Design
• Design for additive manufacture
• Design for additive manufacture in metals
• Showcase designs produced for Cookson Precious Metals, EOS GmbH, Renishaw plc, and 3T RPD ltd

Currently Available

Speaker by invitation

• One day digital manufacturing symposium, Barcelona, Spain, June 2008
• New Materials and Processes in Jewellery, one day seminar, Inst. of Materials,     London, June 08
• Rapid Manufacturing Conference, Loughborough, UK, July 2008
• Time Compression Technologies Conference, UK, October 2008
• Rapid Prototyping & Manufacturing in the Creative Industries, RPMA one-day seminar, JIIC, Birmingham, November 2008
• Co-chair one-day symposium “Digital Art & Design”, De Montfort, November 2009.
• Wohlers Conference 2011, EuroMold, Frankfurt, Germany, November 2011

Keynote speaker

• Rapdasa, Johannesburg, South Africa 2011
• International design competition jury member
• iCAT Freeform Challenge 2012, iCAT Slovenia
• Purmundus Challenge 2012, EuroMold, Frankfurt Germany

Work featured in publications:-

• FutureFactories: design work by Lionel T Dean Ed. Paul Atkinson, 2003, ISBN 1862180474
• 1000 New Designs, Laurence King, 2006. p284, ISBN 1-85669-466-6
• Twenty-First Century Design, Carlton Bks 2007. pp234-235, ISBN1-84442-269-0
• All light! All right?, Hangaram Design Museum, Korea: 2007. PP51-52
• Simply Material, Viction:ary, 2007. pp72-73, 78-82, ISBN 978-988-98228-7-3
• Process, Lawrence King, 2008, Entropia, pp70-73 ISBN 978-1-85669-541-1
• Nature, Inspiration for Art & Design, Monsa: 20808 pp128-129
• ISBN 978-84-96823-35-8
• Perimeters, Boundaries and Borders, Fast-UK, 08 pp42-43, ISBN 978-0-6152-1355-2
• Automake and FutureFactories, Hub: 2008, ISBN 978-0-9548015-7-1
• British Design, MoMA, New York: 2010, p134, ISBN 978-0-87070-781-0
• State Of The Art, FutureFactories: 2012, ISBN 978-0-9571025-0-7