UK/CoD professors Gary Rohrbacher and Anne Filson were interviewed in The Economist about their AtFab furniture line and the future of furniture design and fabrication.
The rise of open-source furniture design unites designers and consumers, eliminating the manufacturing middle man. This open-source design platform stimulates local economies, as local machine shops are employed to cut the pieces from the designers' plans.
“There are people in the Midwest and the rustbelt who have great skills with their hands and experience with tools, but who are out of work,” Mr. Rohrbacher says. “We’re really interested in the idea of fuelling micro-manufacturing opportunities.”