A Milwaukee company founded by University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee graduates is turning the architecture and design industry’s attention toward the region with their next-generation works of art.
Since 2009, Milwaukee-based Design Fugitives has been creating architectural art that can be found not only in Milwaukee, but across the U.S. and internationally in places like Hong Kong and Kuwait. In Milwaukee, they’ve created works of art for Marquette University, the Milwaukee Bucks, Johnson Controls, Kohl’s and the Milwaukee Art Museum, to name a few.
But how they’re creating these works of art separates them from their peers.
The company has been implementing artificial intelligence, automation and robotics, in addition to 3D printing technology, to digitally design these creations inside their warehouse near downtown Milwaukee.
Their digital approach – using software to design works of art and uploading the designs into machines that fabricate the final product – has raised eyebrows among clients, who assumed a cutting-edge company like theirs couldn’t exist in Milwaukee, company leaders said.
Architects and partners Paul Mattek, Tuan Tran and Justin White say taking a digitally-designed approach to architectural art doesn’t take away an artists’ control – it merely enhances it.
“Our clients know we can build something beautiful,” Mattek said.
“It still comes from the human brain,” said Tran, who built a computer numerical control (CNC) machine, allowing the company to carve materials in less than half the time it would take for a person to do by hand. “It’s not replacing what we think and feel.”
As Design Fugitives grew, so did their implementation of tech. They applied parametric design and machine learning to design complex objects that were geometrically sound. They also learned to program their own LED lighting systems that were paired with their works of art.
Looking ahead, by the end of the first quarter of 2020, the company hopes to be operating two robotic arms that can fabricate and assemble materials into works of art.
“If we’re disrupting anything, it’s the mindset,” Tran said.
