Last week I was fortunate enough to be shown the true meaning of perfectionism. Already knowing it was a laborious when Drummond Masterton creates these amazing bowls, I was blown away as he demonstrated the true scope of his process.

Through the use of an industrial milling machine, each bowl is milled out of a solid block of aluminium. The ornamentation is basically a combination of the form of the object and the path the tool takes through the aluminium block. Although the block is only cut once the production file is a result of a number of intertwining virtual milling processes that modify the geometry before the actual cutting process begins.

Drummond meticulously defines the exact path of the miller, spending up to a month crafting a production file by hacking a number of industrial software packages. Exporting, importing, exporting, importing, etc…Whilst I am not going to adopt such a process in the near future I am very grateful indeed that there are people out their like Drummond who take the time and effort to tame even the most monstrous of machines turning them into instruments of creativity.

If you would like to read more about Drummond work, have a look at The Hunt For Complexity.

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