Shaping
The term “ shaping ” describes the creative process of giving an object, a thing , an object , a shape or a shape .
The term has two meanings:
1. Shaping as a manual or industrial process
In technology and the execution of art objects, shaping or shaping is the production of the intended shape from a blank . As a purely industrial process, the creation and manufacture of hollow molds, tools and other industrial goods is defined as mold construction .
Every shape requires a minimum of stability, which is usually guaranteed by the starting material. In the case of special materials, however, it can also arise in the course of production, e.g. B. by hardening (steel, concrete, ceramic, etc.), by drying or by stiffening .
In most cases, the blank has the properties of a solid, although it is often created by casting in hollow molds . The processing of an initially raw or shapeless material takes place - with a few exceptions in the visual arts - in several work steps:
- First, the rough shape or the outline is produced from the blank (e.g. with a hammer, by machining , by bending, etc.),
- this is followed by more detailed shaping and modeling - mostly using special tools such as the sculptor or wood carver ,
- and finally, often a treatment of the surface (hardening, grinding , polishing, glaze , etc.), while any painting is no longer part of the design.
For operations with special surface treatment or for instruments of high precision - such as a large mirror telescope - the process of final shaping can take longer than its actual production.
In art, the rough shaping can also be left to the assistants or the students of a master, provided they know the critical properties of the material such as the risk of breakage or fissures (" cracks "). For more detailed shaping and for processes involving fine grinding or polishing , it is not only the mechanical characteristics of the workpiece and tool that have to be coordinated, but also their chemical, hydrophilic and thermal characteristics. For more information, see the articles active medium , grinding and temperature resistance .
2. Shaping as a conceptual-intellectual process
In the fields of architecture , design and, in some cases, the fine arts, “shaping” is understood to mean the creative or technical process of designing an object or room.
In the literal sense, the term “shaping” encompasses design approaches that propagate design both from a formal point of view (e.g. beauty or the primacy of a style) and from a functionalist point of view or those that focus on material, construction , structure, etc. go out. As a rule, however, the term is used narrowly. Especially since the modern age , the term has been and is commonly used to distance oneself from formal approaches of the 19th century, in which design often took place under the question: "In which style should we build / design".
To distinguish it from the terms “ style ” and “ styling ”, the term “design” is generally used when the aim of the design is the functional, use-appropriate and material-appropriate form. In contrast, the meaning-like term “ design ” is used more neutrally in practice.