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Effortless Objects

Edward Wilken

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Profile picture of Edward Wilken
Edward WilkenI’m a designer and artist from Bermuda, living in London, specialising in digital, socially focused design that is both playful and critically reflective. With a Master’s in Design for Industry 5.0 from Central Saint Martins, my work explores the intersection of human intention, machine processes, and material reuse — always aiming to provoke thought while engaging audiences with humour and curiosity
Edward WilkenI’m a designer and artist from Bermuda, living in London, specialising in digital, soci...
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Effortless objects explores a generative system that produces daily 3D-printed rings, turning tree support waste into the final artefacts.

It blends AI-driven design with material reuse, questioning hyper-consumption, sustainability, and the emotional weight of disposable objects.

By looping production, destruction, and renewal, Effortless Objects challenges what we value, the Design of fleeting objects or the lasting imprint they leave behind.

This project stemmed from an initial collaborative Industry 5.0 approach, exploring machine hacking, localised manufacture, and recycling as tools to rethink material flows and challenge conventional production systems. At this early stage, an industrial shredder and plastic waste extruder were developed to drive and sustain the system.

Final work

A photo showing dozens of small, brightly coloured rings laid out neatly on a white background. Each ring has a unique shape.

Generative rings

A collection of brightly coloured, AI-generated rings, each uniquely designed as part of a daily cycle exploring hyper-consumption, material reuse, and shifting value.

Many colourful, uniquely shaped rings spread across the floor, showcasing endless generative design variations.

Unlimited Novelty — Unlimited Forms

A large spread of unique, AI-generated rings, symbolising the endless novelty enabled by generative design.

Close-up of silver-cast, layered tree supports, symbolising degraded PLA’s final transformation and system exit.

Cast Tree Supports — The Final Artefact

A close-up of cast tree supports, showing visible layer lines. As PLA degrades, these supports mark the material’s final use — exiting the system by being immortalised in silver, transforming once-discarded structures into lasting artefacts.

Light blue ring with red supports, marking degraded material’s exit and final silver-cast transformation.

Tree Support Ring — Final System Artefact

A sculptural prototype showing the light blue ring and red tree supports. The supports represent degraded material, exiting the system at its end stage and becoming the final lost PLA cast artefact — a symbol of the system’s poetic closure.

Research and process

A plastic shredder on a box, with trays of colourful shredded plastic beneath, ready for reuse.

Custom Plastic Shredder

A custom-built shredder designed to recycle 3D print waste — forming the foundation for a localised, circular making system. It enables the transformation of discarded plastic into new design material.

A compact extruder on a white base, directly feeding shredded plastic for immediate reuse and printing.

Shredded Waste Extruder

A custom-built machine that directly extrudes shredded plastic waste, functioning like an injection molding screw. Integrated in to a modified 3d printer with a gravity fed hopper.

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Effortless Objects

Effortless objects explores a generative system that produces daily 3D-printed rings, turning tree support waste into the final artefacts.It blends AI-driven design with material reuse, questioning hyper-consumption, sustainability, and the emotional weight of disposabl...

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