Olivier van Herpt works on the interface of traditional crafts and contemporary industrial design, and focuses on what separates these two domains: the machine. Van Herpt graduated with an unusual collection of ceramic bowls, bowls and vases, made with an advanced 3D printer that he had developed himself over a two-year period. He is presently working on a new 3D printer which will enable him to create organic forms, although he will probably explore other techniques and materials too, with equal dedication. He also seeks to democratise the production process and to reduce the distance between designer and user by making his self-developed technologies available to everyone.

Olivier van Herpt experiments at the interface between digital and analogue. He combines the creativity of craftsmanship with the potential of the machine, for which he develops his own tools. With infinite patience and curiosity, Van Herpt investigates the possibilities that 3D printers can offer; he designed a machine with which he prints shapes that are many times larger, more complex and nuanced than previously possible and experiments with materials and pigments. As well as being a technological feat, this also produces beautiful vases. With this, Van Herpt is a one-man-enterprise, competing with large world-class start-ups. He is a designer, engineer and entrepreneur, for whom the machine revolves around the vase.