I have a bit of an obsession for art designed by humans that's created with the help of machines. While browsing for robot-enabled art, I found this amazing jewelry by Jesse and Jessica of nervoussystem.  The two of them are a team and they make their work with a CNC waterjet. CNC stands for Computer Numerical Control and used to be used on industrial equipment to make cars. Now there are all sorts of computer controlled contraptions you can use to make your designs come to life — including sewing machines, lasercutters, cutting plotters, 3D printers and nervoussystem's tool of choice, the waterjet! Fascinated by their work, I asked them a few questions to fill me in on how they do what they do.

Can you tell me about your design process?

We start by coming up with a concept which can either revolve around an inspiration, a form, or a manufacturing process. A few examples would be the forms of radiolarians, aggregations in nature, or using a laser cutter to 3D layered object. When fleshing out this concept, we will come up with system we can work with to realize the design and explore variations. When I say system, I mean this very generally; it can be a construction method that constrains the form or a physical simulation or almost any well defined constraints with parameters we can vary. Often we codify this system by writing a small program. This program can then generate an infinite variety of forms changing based off of parameters that we can vary. After playing around for a while, we pick our favorite results and use a computer controlled machine to realize the design.

Do you collaborate or help each other on your work? Or do you work independently?

Most of our work is collaborative. Of course one person is usually more responsible for one line or another. Jessica primarily came up with the radiolaria line, and Jesse was mainly responsible for the dendrite line. However, in practice we work very closely together, so it is difficult to assign credit for one thing or another. This is not so easy at times since our opinions often differ greatly.

What is the process like to design and work with a waterjet?

We use the waterjet to cut our rubber pieces. Working with any 2D cutting machine tends to be very similar, though there are different dangers you have to watch out for. Designing on the computer makes it very natural for us to use a machine like a waterjet to realize our design. Ultimately, we use a waterjet in particular because it works well with the material properties of the rubber. But since we have to outsource the waterjet (they are very expensive), the process of testing out a new design can take a very long time. In the near future, we may have more direct access to a waterjet, which will be very exciting since you can cut 3D forms out of materials like marble.

I noticed you opened up the sourcecode on your designs: Can you tell me about that?

A large part of our work is about opening up the design process. While crafters are often open about their work, the design world is traditionally much more closed. That's why we have our applets online with the source available. We'd love to have more documentation about our work available as well, but until then people should feel free to ask us any questions if they are interested in how we make things.

Do you have new projects or designs coming up that you're excited about?

We are going to have our first felt products in October, which will be the first chance we've had to add color to our line. We are also building a CNC router, so we are looking forward to some more 3-dimensional products routed from wood.

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