This paper aims to evaluate how teaching and learning can better equip future designers by integrating advanced digital technologies into the design process. During the continuous unfolding of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) in South Africa, it is important to consider how to advance design curricula in order to prepare design students for an ever-changing working world. Both the South African Department of Trade Industry and Competition and the South African Furniture Initiative have shown increasing interest in cultivating our local furniture industry. This shows potential for re-imagining the pedagogical approach to furniture design, a traditional avenue within Industrial Design, for a local and advancing industry.

By using practice-based research as a method of generating new knowledge, this paper reports on a second-year student furniture design project undertaken at a leading South African design education institution. The student project focused on designing within the South African context while using advanced digital technologies to lead the design process and final product outcome. While the local context was considered by using available materials or incorporating traditional patterns, this paper focuses on how digital fabrication was used to create new pathways within the design approaches taken during the project. Examples of digital technologies used include 3D printing, laser cutting, and AI design generators.

By reflecting on the project outcomes, this paper aims to speculate on how new digital technologies can be effectively integrated into the design process while resulting in context-appropriate designs. The paper engages with questions such as As digital technologies grow and evolve, how can they effectively be integrated into the teaching and learning of design? How can design include technological advancements such as AI-generated design while mitigating the problematic disruptions they bring? What opportunities does digital fabrication contribute to the process of design and making in a traditional Industrial Design field like the development of furniture?

As the field of design evolves with the growth of 4IR, it will become ever more important to continuously question how new digital technologies can be converted into useful tools, while keeping social structures, context, and culture at the forefront of design decisions. By examining a student design practice project, this paper proposes new pathways in teaching and learning through practice-based research.