Talos

Talos

Armor

By Neri Oxman
2012, Stratasys Digital Materials (Connex500 Technology)
Centre Pompidou, Paris, France

The epitome of armor, Talos is known in Greek mythology to have been a giant man of bronze who protected Europa in Crete from pirates and invaders. Talos had one vein, which went from his neck to his ankle, bound shut by a single bronze nail. Talos's power to protect the people of Crete originated in his torso. Created entirely from a single substance, Talos is a mythological being designed after his power to protect and to shield - his singular life's purpose. Inspired by the mythical Talos, this frontal armor is designed according to the curvature of the pectoral and abdominal muscles. Acting as an interface between the skin and the external environment, this wearable shield varies its thickness to accommodate for soft regions requiring more protection and stiff regions covering bone perturbations. The dotted pattern appearing on its surface extends throughout the volume area of the armor, generating material stiffness variation informed by anatomical curvature: higher concentrations of structural dappling appear in regions of higher curvature, providing for self-support and local stiffness.

Production: Stratasys
3D printed with Stratasys multi-material 3D printing technology
In collaboration with Prof. W. Craig Carter (MIT) and Joe Hicklin (The Mathworks)
Photos: Yoram Reshef

About the Collection

Imaginary Beings: Mythologies of the Not Yet

Design and Mythology are both media for storytelling that represent general cultural truths and their human meaning. Like design, mythology is a universal language by which to decode human culture; and as in design, myths often employ the augmentation of human power in expressing the super-natural. Indeed, throughout the history of design, humans have attempted the unattainable. From Da Vinci's human-powered aircraft as inspired by the wings of Icarus, to inventions of material self-repair and regeneration dating back to the myth of the Promethean liver, design has consistently dealt with amplifying human powers or compensating for human limitations. It is not surprising then, that mythological 'beings' are often portrayed as personifications of natural forces. Indeed, the myths that tell of these earlier gods fulfilled the role of explaining the existence of nature. The collection includes 18 prototypes for the human body inspired by Jorge Luis Borges' Book of Imaginary Beings. An encyclopedia of fantastic zoology, the book contains descriptions of 120 mythical beasts from folklore and literature. Situated within and against the forces of nature, Borges' bestiary provides the site for coupling the 'cultural' with the 'natural' in design, by designing a collection of nature-inspired human augmentations. Imaginary Beings : Mythologies of the Not Yet postulates that futuristic design afforded by technological advancements, is rooted in fantasy and in myth: from the Golem of Prague to robotic exoskeletons, from Daphne's wings to flying machines, from Talos' armor to protective skins; mythemes - the design kernel of the myth as defined by Claude Levi-Strauss - provide us with eternal archetypes of the super-natural and its material expressions. Each 'being' in this series encapsulates the amplification and personalization of a particular human function such as the ability to fly, or the secret of becoming invisible. What was once considered magic captured by myth, becomes actuality as design and its material technologies offer more than meets the skin: spider suits, wing contraptions, and ultra-light helmets; these are all what one may consider mythologies of the "Not Yet". In projecting the future, this work makes use of new and innovative material technologies enhancing both the physical and environmental properties of these wearable myths and habitable contraptions. A library of algorithms inspired by form found in nature informs the design and fabrication process. Novel multi-material 3-D printing technologies along with new design features such as bitmap printing and property textures have been developed to support material performance and expression. Revealing nature's design language, this collection of objects represents a library of design principles inspired by nature suggesting that the ancient myth and its futuristic counterpart unite where design fabrication recapitulates fantasy.

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