Aalto ARTS exhibiting AI-inspired designs at Dutch Design Week 2026
Technology is becoming increasingly embedded in our lives, reshaping our world at a staggering pace. The boundary between what is human and what is machine is becoming blurred. This grey area, where the physical and digital meet, is of interest to researchers also at Aalto ARTS.
Aalto’s exhibition at DDW’26 presents projects linked to the art-ai-fact initiative. What these designs have in common is that they explore the possibilities of AI in a tangible, physical context.
Aalto’s designers, architects and researchers are asking questions such as: How can creative professionals harness AI’s capabilities to develop more innovative, efficient and thoughtful designs? And how can these technologies open new frontiers for creativity, making previously unattainable projects a reality?
Craft Bot
Craft Bot applies AI to architectural design through coding. Instead of drawing the building directly, the AI writes Python code that creates the structure in a 3D modelling program (Blender). The system interprets many kinds of reference material, including photographs, drawings, and construction manuals. It develops its designs through an iterative loop of code testing and visual feedback. The researchers are investigating whether AI could reliably identify and fix its own design errors and produce architectural designs that are not only imaginative but also structurally sound and buildable. At this stage, the system still needs human guidance to resolve inconsistencies.
Luka Piškorec, MSc ETH Arch
Textile Design meets AI
Textile Design meets AI shows how AI and computational tools can open up new possibilities in knitted textile design. AI is used to generate and develop different shapes, patterns and textures, allowing designers to quickly ideate variations that would be very difficult to create manually. The system turns these AI-generated designs into instructions that a digital knitting machine can use to produce the textile. Designers remain involved throughout the process, working with AI to refine new ideas. The project demonstrates how AI can push creative boundaries, making previously impossible textile designs possible.
Team: Maija Fagerlund, Anna-Mari Leppisaari, Maarit Salolainen, Severi Uusitalo
Assistants: Venla Elonsalo, Jere Vilo
Photo: Mikko Raskinen
SketchFold
SketchFold explores how AI can bridge the gap between a designer’s hand-drawn idea and advanced fabrication. Designers begin with simple pen sketches, using colours to indicate different types of folds. Where sketches would normally need to be redrawn digitally, the SketchFold system translates hand-drawn sketches directly into a digital 3D model, which can then be refined through computer simulation. The physical design can be produced by folding paper, cardboard, aluminium or even steel into the desired origami-inspired form. The project demonstrates how technology can support human creativity: informal and intuitive sketching becomes structured enough to guide fabrication.
Kane Borg and Sami Markkula
When Tree Types Matter
When Tree Types Matter examines how furniture design can adapt to different types of wood and their unique properties. Instead of designing from a commonly used wood type, AI is used to adjust the design based on the wood that is locally available. The project focuses on a simple stool, where AI determines the number and placement of supporting braces while using as little material as possible. The stools share the same basic design, but their structures change depending on the type of wood used: weaker wood requires more braces, while stronger wood needs fewer. The result is durable furniture design that can adapt to different materials and support local manufacturing.
Hironori Yoshida & Maria Larsson
Fabricator: Masashi Torikura
LUCID
LUCID explores how designers and AI can work together to turn visual ideas into physical 3D-printed objects. Unlike systems that simply generate a finished form, LUCID makes this logic visible, allowing designers to understand and modify how the form is created. Designers can guide, change, combine and develop the AI-generated forms throughout the process, while the system keeps track of how each design evolves. The project aims at a more transparent and collaborative approach to AI-assisted design, connecting visual inspiration, digital modelling and physical fabrication.
arbitrary aesthetics Ltd, an AI CAX startup by Feng Ye & Janne Keskinen
Shipwreck Dress
This stunning, one-of-a-kind dress is made from wood salvaged from a 17th-century shipwreck. In 2019, renovations in the Finnish city of Oulu uncovered a shipwreck, and while the vessel was raised for preservation, some wood fragments were left behind. Researchers saw an opportunity to rescue the material, and the 300-year-old wood was processed into textile fibre and spun into yarn. AI-assisted tools were then used to explore and develop the knitted patterns of the dress.
Designer: Anna-Mari Leppisaari
AI-assisted design process: Severi Uusitalo & Anna-Mari Leppisaari
Collaborators: Michael Hummel, Inge Schlapp-Hackl, Susanna Ahola, Pirjo Kääriäinen, Lê Huy Quang, Suciati Krisnadewi, Bai Haoyu, Alexandra Hanhisalo, Nicole Nygren-Sundell, Collins Steven, Sami Rantasalo, Timo Ylönen, Seppo Jääskeläinen, Tapani Vuorinen, Lauri Rautkari, Christian Orassaari, Harri Koski, Minna Koivikko.
You can find Aalto University’s exhibition at Strijp-S area, Klokgebouw, Klokgebouw 50 , Map No. B4
More info on the DDW site
DDW’26 is running from 17 to 25 October in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
More information about the art-ai-fact initiative:
art-ai-fact
Senior University Lecturer Severi Uusitalo
severi.uusitalo@aalto.fi
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