![NOMADS [STUDIOLAV]](https://thegoldenglitch.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/STUDIOLAV_Nomads-1024x576.jpg)
Roaming the world is in our nature. Our ancestors knew it, we know it. Although one may argue that our hunter-gatherer days of roaming the Earth are well over, our instinct to travel has far from diminished, even if the purpose is different.
With NOMADs, Greek designer duo STUDIOLAV set out on a futuristic journey to discover how our innate nomadic instincts will continue to evolve and redefine us. Themselves based in London and Athens, Loukas Angelou and Vasso Asfi created three sand sculptures representing a new kind of nomad. In each iteration, these tribal figures made of sand invite us to reimagine how future nomads would interact and understand new environments, geographies, sociopolitical realities and narratives in the world of tomorrow.
All three NOMADs were digitally designed around the central themes of mobility, migration and community, but their story is told through culture, heritage and ritual – another important aspect of nomadism. Their tribal form acts as a vessel, reminiscent of nomadic water bearers, decorated in “ceremonial couture”, such as body scarification rituals, body painting and elaborate costumes. The patterns and ornaments convey the symbolism derived from ritual.
STUDIOLAV’s fellow tribe, Sandhelden, was their right hand for the sand 3D printing expertise. The method used to make the NOMADs is a type of 3D printing called binder jetting. Through this process, a binder is systematically deposited on a powder bed, that bonds the binder and the particles into a solid one layer at a time. Binder jetting typically uses granular materials such as metals and ceramics – the fact that NOMADs are made from sand is a knowing nod to famed nomadic journeys in the desert.
