About

BIO

Richard Elaver is a designer and metalsmith exploring the overlapping spheres of art, design and technology. In his work, Elaver integrates the tools of industrial design with the craft of metalsmithing. He develops computer simulations of biological phenomena, and uses them to create design objects. In 2006, he completed a Fulbright Fellowship in the Netherlands where he worked with Droog Design and studied the history of design at the University of Leiden. Following several years of work experience both as a jeweler and industrial designer, he now teaches in Appalachian State University’s Department of Applied Design.

 

Artist Statement

My work is inspired by forms in nature and developed through digital fabrication, exploring the translation between the virtual and physical. By integrating mathematical structures that replicate variance in nature, unpredictability becomes a significant part of the process of form generation. The work brings together my past professional experiences in jewelry-making and product-design, combining elements of each to create sculptural forms. Those forms are sometimes functional and other times purely formal.

 

Selected Exhibitions

  • Transformations: App DigiFab • 11/2022 - 5/2023
    Ten person collaborative faculty exhibition, Turchin Center for the Arts, Boone, NC.

  • Forma Cava • 7/2021 - 8/2021
    Two person collaborative exhibition with Wayne Sutton, King St. Art Collective, Boone, NC.

  • Structure & Void • 1/2020 - 3/2020
    Juried solo exhibition. Overcash Center at Central Piedmont Community College, Charlotte, NC.

  • Peripheral Technologies • 6/2019 - 7/2019
    Curated group exhibition. Ann Arbor Arts Center, Ann Arbor, MI

  • Beyond the Buzz • 1/15 – 3/15
    “New Forms, Realities, and Environments in Digital Fabrication”
    Minneapolis College of Art and Design Gallery, MN

  • Out of Hand – Materializing the Postdigital • 10/13 – 7/14
    Curated exhibition of digital fabrication art & design
    Museum of Arts and Design, NYC

  • XYZ 3D • 5/13 – 6/13
    Curated exhibition of 3D printed designs
    Arnhem, Netherlands
    Hosted by 3D Atelier and Grounded Amsterdam

  • Hot Seat, Design 2012 • 10/12 – 11/12
    Exhibition 407, curated and juried exhibition, Marfa, TX