Darius, a dynamic graphic designer from Singapore, leads a design studio specializing in typographic, motion-driven art, and visual identities. His journey to the realm of 3D-printed books began with a passion for print's textures and an innate curiosity about the evolving construct of books. Infusing concepts, narratives, fiction, and mythologies into his work, Darius found himself intrigued by the intersection of emerging technologies and traditional bookmaking.

Darius conceptualizes 3D printed books as the "afterlife of books." While acknowledging technical limitations, he sees these creations as a speculative future, prompting questions about the essence of print and its continuation in the 3D printing context.

Hello Darius, how are you? Let’s start by introducing who you are, your practice and how did you arrive to CORPUS, your latest project.

Hi! I am a graphic designer from Singapore, and I run a design outfit specialising in typographic, motion-driven art direction and visual identities. Personally, I am very interested in the idea of infusing concepts, narratives, fiction, and mythologies into my work, especially within typography. I am also part of the collective ToNewEntities.

I've always had a fascination for print, for its textures and tactility—as many graphic designers do. I find myself interested in the technology of books, sometimes more so than the contents of the book itself. The way books (and the codex format), and the construct(ion) of books (its materials, binding, etc.) has evolved and is continuing to evolve fascinates me. Extending from my interests in emerging technologies and methodologies, it was inevitable that I started to look at another realm of ‘print’—an industry/technology that calls itself ‘printers’ but is at the same time immensely far removed from the graphic design realm—3D printers. I wanted to find out if I could work with the 3D printer with a graphic designer’s sensibilities.

CORPUS is the second prototype of your 3D printed book concept work. What did you learn from the first prototype and what did you tweak in the second prototype?

The initial process of working on the first iteration of SLIC3D was immensely challenging, as I dove in headlong with no previous knowledge. Internet resources are scarce for what I am attempting, as I am certainly not using the machine the way it was designed to function. The 3D printing technology was originally designed for printing volumetric objects like parts and vases, not optimized for printing flat, thin layers. Essentially, I focused mostly on the base 1mm of the print bed, translating to around 4-5 layers (normally) for the 3D printer. The entire machine and mechanics were designed with the main focus on the thousands of layers above my 'area' of exploration.

My prints failed so often that I realised I was approaching this the wrong way. I had wasted a lot of time trying to follow the 3D printing community's advice for the 'perfect' print, not realizing that those tips were not meant for printing 'pages' and 'books.'

At one point, I became obsessed with the aesthetics of failure—the textures and aesthetics of failed 3D prints. To me, that is the most textural aspect of 3D printing and the most interesting aesthetics to derive from the machine. I started to see these failed prints, with uneven thicknesses, torn pages, and spotty textures, as something graphical and textural. Suddenly, I could harness all my failings from the first book into learnings and exploration for the second book, which came to be CORPUS. I also learned a lot technically and can now operate the machine confidently by looking at signs instead of numbers—this cut down my printing time by half when I was working on CORPUS

What's the research question behind CORPUS?

At its core, the project aims to re-examine the technology of 3D printing and the concept/construct of books. CORPUS, or 3D printed books in general, is just one iteration among the many speculative futures for publishing and the book format. For me, the broader question is how this exploration can reshape our current perspective on print and our relationship with books.

Through the process of working at CORPUS have the questions been answered to yourself?

Yes and no. The more I immersed myself in this project, the more questions arose—often surpassing the questions answered. This dynamic is rewarding, as it propels me towards the next project in the series, even feeding into my design practice.

When you started the project you were a neophyte of 3D printing. How has the exploration of this new technology affected your original idea for the project?

When I first started, my curiosity centered around exploring the relationship between 3D printing and books. Along this journey, my focus shifted from technical inquiries to more conceptual explorations. I recognised that the technology wasn't meant to replace traditional publishing practices (as of now) due to scalability (and other) issues inherent in 3D printing processes. There was no purpose in treating these single-edition book-objects as conventional publishing projects. Instead, CORPUS evolved into a self-referential book-object, conceptually designed to deconstruct the format. It aims to prompt both myself and the audience to reconsider and re-engage with traditional paper book-making and publishing practices.

In my attempt to replicate traditional paper and offset printing processes, I realised and learned the reasons behind certain conventions in planning, designing, and printing paper books—what we take for granted, what restricts us, and why we do things a certain way—choices like material selection from available paper swatches, special effects like embossing and watermarking, and technical steps such as alignment, trimming, and binding. While the 3D printer falls short in replicating basic aspects of paper print and publishing (such as image resolution, color choices, speed, and scale) it sidesteps many challenges faced by paper offset printing processes. These experiences have fundamentally altered my perspective on book design.

Currently, I am working on consolidating, archiving, and documenting my 3D printing journey. The primary goal is to continue examining its relationship with publishing and typography, ultimately, with graphic design as a discipline.

The project CORPUS is not just a technological challenge, there are also 3D printed essays. What are we reading in these essays and what's the connection between them and the object of the 3d printed book?

The essays initially aimed to map out my thoughts stemming from the technical experiences with the first book, SLIC3D. However, with CORPUS, I took a more conceptual approach, experimenting with including my interests in codicology, metaphysics, and science fiction.The 3D printed book seemed like the perfect object to explore this as the book (or codex) has evolved over thousands of years in history and the 3D book is an interesting speculation of a ‘future book’ form’. The 7-part essay, originally published as posts on my Instagram, is a culmination of thoughts and stories exploring this thematic link over approximately 8 months spent working on CORPUS.

I was curious to know what do you mean by the 3D printed book being the "afterlife of book”.

While I don't see 3D printing as the successor to traditional print (paper and ink) due to various technical limitations at the moment, '3D printed books' do evoke a sci-fi/futuristic vision of print, or a speculative future for books. I like to think of it as a process that lived ‘beyond’ print, specifically a tongue-in-cheek response to the decades-old catch phrase ‘print is dead in the industry’. What happens to ‘print’ after its purported death? The 3D printer does not struggle with the same burden — by placing the technology within the context of publishing, it raises interesting questions like: what is ‘print?’, exactly? Is it truly dead, and how can it continue to ‘live’ on in the 3D printing context? In that sense 3D printed books can be perceived as the traditional printed book’s afterlife. Playing with the spiritual lean of the word ‘afterlife’, I wrote about this in a slightly more spiritual/sci-fi tone:

‘...The 3D printed book preserves the spirit of traditional palpable codices — but is seemingly conjured from nothingness — disembodied from the pulp flesh, materialising in another dimension (the 3rd).’

CORPUS has been recently shown at the National Design Centre Singapore during the Singapore Design Week 2023, and as a solo show at Temporary Unit. How was the reaction of Singaporeans?

Reaction was really great and heart-warming. These books are really important to me and they are cherished works that I hold close to my heart. To have them shown (albeit in two very different context and locations) was a nerve-racking experience.

The first prototype book SLIC3D that was shown at National Design Centre as part of a larger exhibition by DesignSingapore Council. Framed as a design project, alongside other 3D-printed projects in medical, infrastructure, and product design disciplines – the book was an odd project relative to the rest. However, this was an opportunity for the project to be seen by eyes of the wider public, which was great.

My second book COPRUS was shown at an art gallery nestled in a design studio/book store called Temporary Unit, run by good friends of mine, Gideon-Jamie. It is a much smaller space, which meant that the work can be experienced intimately. On top of finally able to talk to people about the project while holding the book, I was even able to do a ‘live-print performance’ for the opening night. Many friends, old and new, came for this one, and I will never forget the experience.

What technologies do you see still in their infancy that could be disruptive for the publishing/printing economy?

I think one of the areas that might have an interesting crossover with publishing is the AR/VR technology. I always thought AR book covers were interesting but they never truly taken off because the hardware for AR/VR is not mature yet. I often wonder what it will do to the reading experience (and publishing processes) if this technology becomes ubiquitous – every page of a book can essentially be digitally refreshed while reading.