Lore Langendries is a Belgian artist whose research interests include the interaction between manual and mechanical, balancing between the unique and the serial object. She focuses on the tactile and physical aspects of design, the behaviour and qualities of materials and how they can interact with digital technology. Materials are used as active agents in the design and making process, acting as subject and matter, resulting in wearable and un-wearable objects that maneuver freely between disciplines.

Lore completed a PhD in Arts at the KU Leuven, the University of Hasselt and the MAD-Faculty of Hasselt. She won the 2017 Henry Van de Velde Award for Design in Flanders, Belgium.

“In a world dominated by technology and the digital image, I perceive an increased separation from the physicality and emotional impact of the artefact.  As we are more and more virtually connected, tactile perception is overshadowed by visual culture, making touch the hungriest sense of all. Yet a desire grows to surround our selves with objects imbued with a more human touch. The use of innovative industrial techniques is no longer ignored within the craft world, since they clearly offer novel possibilities in the design and the manufacturing of objects. In my work I use these processes but seek a balance between them and the human touch. I use an unconventional combination of natural animal materials and industrial mechanical treatment, like laser cutting, which enables me to achieve another perspective on reproduction.  In a traditional computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) workflow, the design process and the implementation are clearly separated. However, I’m using the technique in such a way that it not only carries out the work but it actually becomes part of the design process. By handling the machine myself, in combination with natural materials, I’m counteracting the standard automated process and creating a more open working process: handling an innovative digital technology through a craftsman-like way of thinking. The natural distinctness of each animal hide is used as an active agent in the design and production process. A close-up, focusing on hidden details, gives an entirely new perspective on the structural formation of the materials.” Lore Langendries