“among-all” by Patricia Urquiola turns LFAM imperfection into design intent image

At Heimtextil 2026 in Frankfurt, Caracol’s Heron AM plays a key role in “among-all”, Patricia Urquiola’s new installation, unlocking new creative freedom through robotic large-scale 3D printing, recycled materials, and a radically controlled approach to design experimentation.

In among-all, the installation presented by Patricia Urquiola at Heimtextil 2026, technology becomes a catalyst for creativity rather than a constraint. Caracol collaborated with Urquiola to bring this vision to life through a series of large-scale 3D-printed columns produced with its LFAM Heron AM robotic platform. Integrated within an open, evolving ecosystem of materials and processes, the columns embody the installation’s shift from finished objects to transformation-driven design.Caracol-patricia-urquiola-printing-heronam5

Printed with ECONYL®, a recycled material derived from recovered waste and fully aligned with the project’s regenerative narrative, the LFAM structures enable designers to work at architectural scale while embracing sustainability. Heron AM made it possible to transform recycled polymers into expressive, structural elements, unlocking material experimentation and a new dialogue between design intent and manufacturing process.Caracol-patricia-urquiola-printing-heronam

From error to design language: controlling the unexpected

The most distinctive aspect of Caracol’s contribution lies in the geometry of the columns, designed and engineered by Caracol’s team. These are not standard or optimized shapes, but bold, iconic forms born from a radical approach to robotic large-format 3D printing. In LFAM, phenomena such as imperfect layer adhesion, over-extrusion, or material accumulation are typically considered critical errors to be eliminated: for among-all, these same behaviors became intentional design tools.Caracol-patricia-urquiola-printing-heronam4

The characteristic material drips, stratified textures, and sculptural irregularities of the columns were generated by deliberately exploiting the physical limits of the printing process. Crucially, this approach was not experimental in a random sense: each “error” was carefully predicted, programmed, and controlled through advanced process knowledge and engineering. This level of control allowed Caracol to transform technical imperfections into a precise aesthetic language, proving that Heron AM is not only an industrial LFAM solution, but a powerful creative medium, ideally suited for the world of art, design, and large-scale installations where expressive freedom and technical mastery must coexist.Caracol-patricia-urquiola-printing-heronam1

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