oio x Giosampietro's tableware collection 'Spawns' three AI-designed silver spoons

The technological realm is rapidly evolving alongside human civilisation—showing no signs of slowing down in the near future. When speculating about the future of humankind, countless deductions lead to an analogous narrative: a close collaboration between humans and machines, almost comparable to a hybrid species. Since its onslaught, artificial intelligence has been transforming all sectors of the economy, even being an aid in conventionally ‘human’ jobs such as diagnosing disease, translating languages, and providing customer service; it is safe to say that this ever-evolving partnership is shaping the future of our civilisation. This ensemble of silverware illustrates how the seemingly far-fetched scenario of a hybrid future has already begun to take shape all around us.

Spawns, an ensemble of three silver spoons designed by a machine rather than a human, is a glimpse into the future, where everyday objects will be created by both machines and humans. A collaboration between London-based creative design studio oio and jewellery brand and ‘hypercraft designer’ Giosampietro, the project is the culmination of pioneering design processes involving artificial intelligence from conception all the way to manufacturing. The limited edition 100 pieces mark oio's inceptive foray into the domains of artificial intelligence, crafted with impeccable quality and precision by one of the most renowned silversmith factories in Italy. "While working on such mind-bending projects it often feels like exploring new design territories, almost like doing things for the first time,’ says Matteo Loglio, design director and co-founder, oio. “There is no blueprint for these new processes and we usually end up creating our own creative tools from scratch, which is not very efficient but on the upside, it leads to surprising unique results, exactly what happened with the Spawns collection,” he adds.

The silverware collection prompts the viewers to reflect on the budding role of non-human intelligence in creative journeys, an alliance that has experienced a notable upsurge in the past few years. Using tools revolving around this technology, the designers effectively unveil a product design developed from scratch with the help of artificial intelligence in a process they call Artisanal Intelligence. Involving a constant dialogue between human designers and a series of artificial intelligences at different steps in the design process, Artisanal Intelligence is a process the two collaborators are spearheading. "The Artisanal Intelligence process is a way to try and bridge together the distant worlds of artificial intelligence and craftsmanship, of digital pixel and melted atoms, of ‘magic' automation and handmade stuff," shares Simone Rebaudengo, oio futures director and co-founder. “By working at every step in a dialogue between us and algorithms, we do not make our life easier, actually the opposite, but the resulting products that we show in the Spawns collection, are something that would have never come out from a human or a machine working by themselves," she adds.

The decision to create tableware accessories as their first Artisanal Intelligence products was influenced by an essay by Ernesto Nathan Rogers, titled From the spoon to the city. The Italian architect envisioned a comprehensive architectural practise in his editorial from 1952, one in which all of humanity's issues might be resolved via design, from something as simple as a spoon to complex cities. Through the Spawns collection, the designers lay out their vision of a reality where humans are not at the centre of the design process, but work synchronically with other intelligence to solve complex challenges—a spoon for our times.

The collection started with collating an archive of thousands of images representing different tableware accessories—spoons, forks, and knives from the past centuries, into what is termed a ‘dataset.’ The product designers then spoon-fed the dataset to a generative algorithm, which learned from the collected images until it was able to generate new tableware designs on its own. The designers then selected unique images that hinted at new forms and functionalities, later interpreted by Giosampietro, who morphed the algorithmic output into a series of finished designs that could be industrially manufactured. “For the Spawns collection I created a toolbox to spawn sinuous three-dimensional forms from the pixelated images we got from artificial intelligence,” says Giorgio Olivero, founder of Giosampietro. “We don't feel that digital processing cancels the craftsmanship element, quite the opposite. It's not about automation but rather, so to speak, an expansion of making by hand, of the language of traditional jewellery design: the outcome is hand-coded, which is even more handmade," he adds.

The meticulously crafted series of silver spoons that ensues is the result of a design process that involves cutting-edge technology and manufacturing that is carried out through the ancient silversmith craft, forged by esteemed Italian silverware factory Greggio Argenterie—an epitome of the coexistence of technology and craftsmanship. Donning a signature aesthetic, a unique feel, and untapped potential in usage, these limited edition eating accessories come about as a collector’s must-have—a whimsical product designed together with artificial intelligence.