What first sparked your interest in ceramic 3D printing?
I first encountered it while working on my bachelor’s thesis. I was particularly interested in parametric and generative design methods, and an opportunity arose to explore porcelain 3D printing in collaboration with a porcelain studio in Brno. At the time, I was actually more interested in the design methods than in porcelain itself.
I was experimenting with SLA printing and even tried developing my own porcelain-based printing material. The result was a small series of porcelain cups. I became so fascinated by the subject that it has stayed with me ever since. I later returned to it in depth during my doctoral research at the Faculty of Fine Arts at BUT.
So your interest didn’t start with pottery classes?
Actually, I did attend pottery classes, and I really enjoyed them. I also worked with ceramics because of my hobby of growing bonsai trees – I needed to make my own pots. So I came to the subject from several directions, but the collaboration with the porcelain studio was particularly important. It was an incredibly enriching experience and motivated me to continue exploring the field.
How would you explain the basic principle of ceramic 3D printing?
Surprisingly, it is similar to one of the oldest pottery techniques – coil building. A potter prepares a coil of clay and gradually builds up the desired shape. A 3D printer essentially does the same thing: it extrudes material through a nozzle and deposits it in layers along predefined toolpaths.
Some international designers therefore use the term Computer-Assisted Coil Building. In a way, modern technology builds on a traditional ceramic technique.
Do you need a special ceramic mixture for printing?
You can use ordinary pottery clay. However, you need to adjust its consistency by adding water so that it can pass smoothly through the extruder and nozzle. Both smooth clay and clay containing grog can be used. Grog can help reduce deformation and improve the printed object’s ability to retain its shape. However, the particles must not be too large, as they could cause wear to the extruder. Ultimately, it is still ordinary ceramic clay.
What do you see as the main advantage of additive manufacturing over traditional ceramic production methods?
Primarily in one-off and small-batch production. Conventional manufacturing often relies on plaster moulds, which are relatively expensive to produce. As a result, they only become economically viable when producing larger quantities.
With 3D printing, I can modify a digital design almost instantly. If I want to create another variation of a product, I simply change the input data and start printing. In conventional manufacturing, any significant modification would often require a new mould. For designers, this opens up much greater opportunities for variation and customisation.
You also built your own 3D printer during your doctoral studies. How challenging was that?
Commercial ceramic 3D printing systems are available, but they are relatively expensive. I had a general understanding of how they worked: there is a reservoir that feeds the material into a screw extruder, which then pushes it through a nozzle.
So I decided to try building my own system. What followed was a long process of development and fine-tuning. It took about two years before the printer started working the way I had envisioned. I think its results are now comparable to those of some commercial machines.
Digital Technology That Still Depends on Craftsmanship
What is the most challenging aspect of ceramic 3D printing?
The fundamental difference compared to printing with plastic is how the material behaves. Plastic solidifies relatively quickly after being deposited. Clay, on the other hand, hardens as it dries, which is a much slower process. This means that the entire object remains soft throughout printing.
As a result, it can collapse or become deformed, making it more difficult to create features such as overhangs. Sometimes you need to dry parts of the object during printing, for example using warm air. But clay also has one advantage: it isn’t hot. If I need to hold an overhang in place with my finger for a moment or support it with a small piece of clay, I can do that. Once the object has dried, these kinds of interventions can be smoothed out relatively easily.
Does that mean ceramic 3D printing is not as automated as people might imagine when they hear the term digital manufacturing?
Exactly. We often associate 3D printing with the idea that you send data to a machine and then simply leave it to do the work. With clay, however, it remains very much a hands-on craft. You need to understand the material, know how it behaves, monitor the process and intervene when necessary. It is precisely this combination of traditional craftsmanship and digital skills that makes it so interesting.
What has surprised you most about the possibilities of ceramic 3D printing?
Above all, how much clay can actually withstand. I was surprised by how thin the walls could be and how much detail could be achieved. Initially, I also assumed that the softness of the material would significantly limit the complexity of the shapes I could create.
But it turned out that, with the right approach, you can produce objects that would be practically impossible to manufacture using conventional methods. This technology therefore opens the door to entirely new forms.
Metal supports help keep individual layers of clay in place (photo: Václav Široký)
Why would some of these shapes be impossible to produce using traditional methods?
Moulds, for example, can be a major limitation. You have to be able to remove the finished product from the mould. If an object has undercuts in awkward positions, internal cavities or highly complex geometry, you need an extremely complicated mould – and sometimes it isn’t even possible to divide the mould into sections that would allow the object to be removed.
Naturally, the more complicated the mould, the more expensive it becomes. With 3D printing, this problem can often be eliminated.
Ceramic 3D printing has applications beyond decorative and design objects. Where else do you see its potential?
A great deal depends on the specific technology. For example, there are powder-based ceramic 3D printing methods that are also used for high-precision technical components and high-temperature applications. Extrusion-based printing, which is what I focus on, offers lower precision because of the layer height and the width of the extruded material. This makes it unsuitable for certain highly specialised technical applications.
However, I see considerable potential in large-scale printing and architecture. Clay is an interesting material in this context, partly because it can be sourced locally. Historically, clay for construction was also obtained from local sources, much like the material used in nearby brickworks.
Today, researchers and designers are experimenting with small-scale architectural structures and additives that can improve clay’s resistance to moisture. Compared with concrete, clay offers interesting properties in terms of sustainability and indoor environmental quality.
Of course, many challenges remain to be addressed, including the drying of large printed structures, cracking, structural failures and water resistance. Nevertheless, I believe further technological development will help overcome at least some of these obstacles.
You also presented your printer and ceramic 3D printing at the international Fab2025 gathering. How did visitors respond?
I was delighted by the unexpectedly high level of interest. The workshop was originally planned for ten participants, but more than thirty people eventually attended. Afterwards, people from different parts of the world – even as far away as New Zealand – contacted me to ask for more details and share the results of their own experiments. I also discussed the subject with colleagues from the University of Porto.
I think people are attracted partly by the fact that ceramic 3D printing is still a relatively new and unexplored field, and partly by the material itself. Ceramics have a completely different character from plastic. The combination of a beautiful traditional material with digital technology is exactly what fascinates me, too.
Thank you for the interview. Finally, for anyone interested in trying ceramic 3D printing themselves, there will be another opportunity to attend Jan Vítek’s workshop at Maker Faire Brno. The festival takes place at the Brno Exhibition Centre on the weekend of 17–18 October, with Jan Vítek’s workshop scheduled for Saturday morning. Tickets are available online via the Maker Faire website.
The ceramic 3D printing workshop was developed as part of the DiSTT project, funded by the Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE Programme.