tools – ultrawolvesunderthefullmoon

Man-Made Collection by Ami Drach and Dov Ganchrow, Updated Stone Tools

The ‘man made’ collection by Tel Aviv-based designers Ami Drach and Dov Ganchrow is a series of contemporary artifacts that proposes various gripping and slicing possibilities. The concept originates from the different stone hand-axe forms rather than specific utilitarian actions used in the stone-age. Each of the white 3D printed handles complement and highlight a singular use of the tool – the extensions effectively transform the ultimate multi-tool into a specialized object.

The flint hand-axes were three-dimensionally scanned at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem’s Institute of Archaeology. with support from Stratasys, the handle files were printed in Verogray – a performance polymer. The parts were then prepared and assembled on the original flint hand-axes, effectively joining the two most temporally distant making technologies: flint knapping and 3D printing.

“Any multi-tool becomes specialized when frozen at a single moment in time during its use. The first stage of the project was one of hastened evolution and bleeding: flint rocks of desirable size, shape and material quality were sourced from the Negev desert in southern Israel, while time was spent improving and understanding the skill of knapping. Basically this involved the striking of flint with a softer stone (historically a striking bone or antler was also used) to create controlled breakage, and chipping away flint flakes as the impact’s shock wave runs through the stone. Needless to say this is also where the bleeding comes in.” – Dov Ganchrow

Tool Series: Etchings by Jim Dine

Jim Dine’s work has been the subject of major surveys and retrospectives in venues spanning the globe, and he is represented in museum collections worldwide. While others have often associated his work with the Pop Art movement of the mid-20th century, his fascination with popular imagery and everyday objects has always carried a more personal component.

Dine has extensively explored particular themes in a variety of media throughout his career, such as the universal symbol of the heart and images of tools. These themes have acquired the status of personal iconography and he claims them as part of his vocabulary or his “glossary of terms.”

Jim Dine believes that tools provide a ‘link with our past, the human past, the hand’. They feature in many of his works, and can be seen as a symbol of artistic creation. There is also an autobiographical resonance, as Dine’s family owned a hardware store in Cincinnati.