From advanced 3-D prototyping to bullet-proof carbon fiber, one of the most interesting aspects of SOFA NEW YORK, the cutting-edge contemporary decorative design fair, is how many of the artists employ new concepts and technologies in their work. Below are several examples that illustrate how contemporary decorative design is going high-tech at this year's fair: 

Sergey Jivetin
Represented at SOFA NEW YORK 2011 by Ornamentum, Hudson, NY

New Paltz, NY artist Sergey Jivetin, winner of the prestigious Herbert Hoffman Preis and Art Jewelry Forum Emerging Artist Award is a pioneer of new processes and materials: "I search for contemporary developments in high technology and mechanization that are not adverse to the format of jewelry. I am interested in opening new ways of obtaining levels of interaction between beauty, physicality, and knowledge."  

From something very tiny to a piece that is nine inches tall, Jivetin's objects are of different materials, from an eggshell and bulletproof vest padding to broken porcelain handles, fishing hooks and shipping filler material. Above, an eight-and-a-half inch brooch made from bird eggs and Kevlar, a carbon-fiber bullet-proof material. Jivetin will also be a speaker in the SOFA NEW YORK 2011 Lecture Series.

MIchael Eden
Represented at SOFA NEW YORK 2011 by
Clare Beck at Adrian Sassoon, London, UK

Artist Michael Eden brings together traditional ceramic craft skills and digital technology, including 3D printing, additive layer manufacturing (also known as Rapid Manufacturing) and non-fired ceramic materials.  

Eden's Grey Bloom is designed by and created by software, hardware and revolutionary ceramic materials of a new Industrial Revolution. The design is loosely based on early Wedgwood tureens, chosen because Josiah Wedgwood was at the forefront of the first Industrial Revolution. 

Eden will also be a speaker in the SOFA NEW YORK 2011 Lecture Series

Luke Jerram
Represented at SOFA NEW YORK 2011 by Heller Gallery, New York, NY
Luke Jerram portrays viruses and cells in cast glass. These transparent sculptures were created to contemplate the global impact of disease and consider how artificial coloring of scientific imagery affects our understanding of disease phenomena. Jerram is exploring the tension between the artworks' beauty, what they represent, and their impact on humanity. The sculptures were designed in consultation with virologists from the University of Bristol using a combination of different scientific photographs and models.  "It's great to be exploring the edges of scientific understanding and visualization of a virus... I'm also pushing the boundaries of glassblowing... So there's a very careful balancing act that needs to take place, between exploring current scientific knowledge and the limitations of glassblowing techniques," said Jerram. The sculptures are approximately one million times larger than the actual viruses.   

Geoffrey Mann 
Represented at SOFA NEW YORK 2011 by Joanna Bird, London, UK

Geoffrey Mann is a Scottish artist, designer and lecturer whose fascination with transposing the ephemeral nature of time and motion has created a studio practice that challenges the existing divides between art, craft and design. Mann has created a process that uses digital techniques to investigate the reflective properties of objects in silver, glass, fiber and other materials. A planar 3-D scanner is used to document the reflective information, which is in turn used to create a rapid prototyped form, which is then cast. 

He has exhibited in National and International venues including MoMA New York; International Bombay Sapphire Awards, London and Milan, Jerwood Contemporary Makers exhibition, MAD New York and the European Glass Context in Denmark. In 2008, Mann was awarded the World Craft Council Prize for Glass and in 2009 won the Jerwood Contemporary Makers Prize. Mann has work included in MoMA New York, Design and Architecture collection and Museum of Arts and Design New York, Design and Applied permanent collections. Mann will also be a speaker in the SOFA NEW YORK 2011 Lecture Series.

Joanne Teasdale
Represented at SOFA NEW YORK 2011 by Jane Sauer Gallery,
Santa Fe, NM
Joanne Teasdale's artwork explores the human experience and where light plays an important role in the rendering of the images. She translates her life experiences into meticulous photorealistic compositions which include painting, and fusing photographic images onto kiln formed glass. "An energy circulates between the three mediums that I use, and they influence each other. When I work with the camera, I am partly shaping what will be created with glass and when I work with glass, I often consider how I will use the camera. This interrelation also includes my paintings: an atmosphere in a glass piece will find it's way to the canvas and a painting concept will be transferred to the other mediums," says Teasdale.

SOFA New York, April 14-17, 2011, Park Avenue Armory.