Wicker is one of the most characteristic materials among artisans and craftspeople in Chile. Most of the production comes from Chimbarongo, a small city located 155km south of the capital city of Santiago. Most of the economic activities related to this natural fiber provide a living for this city, where workers have developed various styles and techniques to create primarily basketry and furniture. Currently, more than 300 artisans in Chimbarongo dedicate their life to this traditional craft. However, in recent years, new generations have seemed uninterested in continuing this art form. They tend to move to larger cities looking for more profitable opportunities, ultimately affecting the preservation of their cultural heritage and stability. This recurring phenomenon related to traditional crafts drives the subsequent investigation. How could it be possible to reintegrate wicker into the world of modern design and architecture using digital fabrication? Frick is an exploration, searching for an alternate way of working with the material on different scales. The project questions the traditional method of crafting with this fiber, looking for an alternative way to exploit its natural mechanical properties supported by digital procedures. Wicker has the distinctive quality of being flexible after being soaked for some time. After that, the rod can easily be inserted inside a jig with any desired shape. The material will maintain its new form after drying inside the guide. Artisans often take advantage of this property to create structural pieces for furniture and baskets. With the help of digital manufacturing, it was possible to systematize this process achieving new insights and standardization. Frick is a modular system consisting of two shapes capable of joining themselves without needing any other material. This proposal takes advantage of the flexibility and hardness of the fiber to take different forms. Depending on the configuration and aggregation of components, the arrangement of pieces can be used to create curved surfaces and structural elements of various degrees of resistance, taking advantage of the sum of the forces of each piece.
This approach allows for building a self-supporting system on larger scales than the typical works found on wicker, opening new possibilities to the traditional craft.
