Andreas Bastian investigates core additive manufacturing processes as a 3D printing research scientist at Autodesk. Andreas has researched 3D printing methods as the lead R&D engineer at Makerbot Industries, as a research fellow at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Institute (AMRI) at Rice University, and as an artist in residence at Autodesk.

Designer Francis Bitonti is ushering in a new manufacturing paradigm through his sui generis blend of computational design techniques and emerging manufacturing technologies. Blurring the lines between fashion and technology, Bitonti’s trademark process merges cutting edge digital design and manufacturing technologies, aimed to transform mass production.

Looking to the future of design, mass customization, Bitonti sees computational methodologies, smart materials, and interactive environments as opportunities to create new aesthetic languages for our built environment. He is taking that vision and applying it to his self-named luxury goods label, Francis Bitonti, launching in September 2014. “My design process is a collaboration with artificial intelligence,” Bitonti explains. “We’re transposing these ideas from design methodologies to tangible consumer experiences.”

Francis Bitonti’s work has been published internationally in many prestigious institutions including the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and most recently has garnered media coverage for the 3D printed gown created for fashion icon Dita von Teese, which received numerous accolades and a great deal of public attention when it was debuted at Ace Hotel in New York City in 2013.

Francis Bitonti currently lives in New York where he runs his design practice.