Open Source CDFAM - Aaron Porterfield - F=F Presentation at CDFAM Amsterdam, 2025

Recorded at CDFAM Computational Design Symposium, Amsterdam , 2025 https://cdfam.com/amsterdam-2025/ Open Source, Parametrics, and Lattice Obsession https://fequalsf.blogspot.com/p/about.html https://www.food4rhino.com/en/app/crystallon In this deeply personal and wide-ranging talk, industrial designer Aaron Porterfield reflects on his path from early explorations with BASIC and Blender to founding F=F (Form Equals Function). Aaron shares how a childhood without video games led to a lifelong fascination with design tools, parametric modeling, and open-source collaboration. From early contributions to the Blender Foundation and experiments with lattice hinges and origami tessellations to impactful work on custom 3D-printed medical devices, this talk traces the evolution of his design thinking. Aaron walks through highlights including: Founding the Crystallon plugin for Grasshopper Collaborating on patient-specific helmets and orthotics Volunteering at Burning Man with Arthur Mamou-Mani Building a DIY compression testing rig for lattice experiments Rediscovering and reviving open-source projects with community help He concludes with a discussion on creative commons, the value of attribution, and how open-source culture helps people like him—self-proclaimed “severely ADD” designers—get their projects finished… by others. This presentation captures the spirit of CDFAM: openness, experimentation, and the computational rethinking of design at every scale. 📍 To learn more about the CDFAM Computational Design Symposium, visit cdfam.com #computationaldesign #additivemanufacturing #opensource #grasshopper3d #blender3d #latticestructures #parametricdesign #medicaldevices #burningman #crystallon This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.designforam.com