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Dr Lionel Dean

Job: Senior Lecturer

Faculty: Arts, Design and Humanities

School/department: School of Design

Research group(s): Design and New Product Development/ Creative use of Digital Design and Manufacturing Technologies

Address: 黑料网, The Gateway, Leicester, UK, LE1 9BH

T: Ext 7406

E: ldean@dmu.ac.uk

W:

 

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Personal profile

Lionel T Dean has been exploring the creative potential of digital design and manufacturing technology for almost ten years and is at the forefront of digital making.  His work spans Art Craft and Design disciplines and questions traditional definitions of practice. In 2003 he founded FutureFactories, a studio focused exclusively on 3D printing technologies and developing computational design methodologies which combine Computer Aided Design (CAD) with computer programming. Such systems allow the creation of virtual meta-designs with the ability to evolve and mutate over time offering a potentially infinite stream of one-off solutions. 

Publications and outputs


  • dc.title: Sculpture on the Lawn 2025 dc.contributor.author: Dean, Lionel T.; Bannon, John; Badia, Manuel Ferreiro; Hartley, Maxwell dc.description.abstract: This output is the selection of a 3D printed public art sculpture for Sculpture on The Lawn, Orlando, Florida, USA. Sculpture on the Lawn is an annual one-year exhibition for works of public art. Four pieces are selected each year in an international open competition. The piece is 3D printed in recycled plastic which has then been wrapped in a structural skin of glass reinforced plastic, GRP, aka fiberglass. It is the result of experiments in 鈥榙emocratic鈥� open-source technologies that would be accessible to the independent arts practitioner. The piece, The Blue Mulberry, was installed in downtown Orlando in January 2025. dc.description: This output is the selection of a 3D printed public art sculpture for Sculpture on The Lawn, Orlando, Florida, USA. Sculpture on the Lawn is an annual one-year exhibition for works of public art. Four pieces are selected each year in an international open competition. The piece is 3D printed in recycled plastic which has then been wrapped in a structural skin of glass reinforced plastic, GRP, aka fiberglass. It is the result of experiments in 鈥榙emocratic鈥� open-source technologies that would be accessible to the independent arts practitioner. The piece, The Blue Mulberry, was installed in downtown Orlando in January 2025.

  • dc.title: Titanium Clutch dc.contributor.author: Dean, Lionel T. dc.description.abstract: 3D printing is revolutionising design and manufacturing and re-shaping our world; not only can we make what we could never have done before but using computational design tools we are creating what we couldn鈥檛 have even imagined. The design is a spherical titanium clutch bag, 3D printed in two halves via direct metal laser melting. It is carried via an integral wrist loop and opens with a kiss-latch. The geometry of the structure is an example of computational and generative design where computer aided design, CAD, is combined with computer programming. Computer scripts facilitate the division of the sphere into a complex irregular polygon, the faces of which 鈥榖loom鈥� into a network of interlinked abstract flower forms generating a complex lightweight structure. The form was specifically designed for 3D printing in direct metal titanium ti64, and was developed in partnership with Renishaw plc, a UK world leader in metals additive manufacturing.

  • dc.title: Preliminary color characterization of HP Multi Jet Fusion additive manufacturing with different orientations and surface finish dc.contributor.author: Dean, Lionel T.; Badar, Faizan; Loy, Jennifer; Novak, James; Redmond, Michael; Vandi, Luigi-Jules dc.description.abstract: Purpose This study aims to evaluate the color accuracy of HP Jet Fusion 580 3D printing, comparing 3D-printed outcomes against original digital input colors. Design/methodology/approach A custom cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK) and red, green, blue (RGB) color chart was applied to the top, bottom and side surfaces of a 3D model. Four of each model were 3D-printed on a HP Jet Fusion 580, and half the samples were finished with a cyanoacrylate gloss surface finish, while half were left in raw form. A spectrophotometer was used to document CIELAB (L*a*b*) data, and comparisons made to the original input colors, including calculation of 螖E. Findings The CMYK samples were significantly more accurate than RGB samples, and grayscale samples in both color spaces were the most accurate of all. Typically, CMYK swatches were darker than the input values, and gloss samples were consistently darker than raw samples. The chromaticity (a*b*) range was found to be significantly smaller than what can be achieved digitally, with highly saturated colors unable to be produced by the printer. Originality/value This is the first study, to the best of the authors鈥� knowledge, to characterize the full color spectrum possible with the HP Jet Fusion 580, recommending that designers use the CMYK color space when applying colors and textures to 3D models. A quick-reference color chart has been provided; however, it is recommended that future research focus on developing a color management profile to better map digital colors to the capabilities of the printer.

  • dc.title: Venus and David dc.contributor.author: Dean, Lionel T. dc.description.abstract: In Venus and David, Dean takes the quintessential representation of heroic masculinity, Michelangelo鈥檚 renaissance David, and combines this digitally with the Venus de Milo, often regarded as the epitome of female beauty in Western Art. The result is reinterpretation and re-creation of masculinity and gender; one that is fluid, subtle and ambiguous.

  • dc.title: Trooping the Corgis: Purple Reign dc.contributor.author: Dean, Lionel T. dc.description.abstract: Purple Reign was one of 50 life size corgi sculptures commissioned to celebrate the late Queen Elizabeth II鈥檚 platinum jubilee in 2022. It was created using digital sculpting and was 3D printed.

  • dc.title: Design Research for Change 2019 dc.contributor.author: Dean, Lionel T. dc.description.abstract: Contribution to publication and exhibition 鈥淒esign Research for Change 2019鈥� This was an AHRC funded project curated by Professor Paul A. Rodgers, Lancaster University. The contribution was a custom 3D printed prosthesis for a below the knee amputee in South Africa 鈥淒igital design and manufacturing technologies such as scanning and 3D printing (additive manufacturing) are starting to impact the design of products for health and wellbeing as they allow for the customisation of medical products. The implications of these technologies go far beyond fit and function. Rather, they have the potential to redesign the relationship between the person and the object. Out on a Limb explores this potential through a practical example of design-led research, where the designer deliberately challenges the conventional approach to designing lower-limb prosthetics for women. Conventional prosthetic limbs are essentially kits of standard engineering components produced irrespective of gender let alone personal taste and sensibility. Recent years have seen move away from the disguise of the false limb to almost a celebration of the prosthetic. Here digital technologies have allowed the designer t