Hybrid making in furniture design education: bridging digital fabrication and craft through experiential learning

This paper analyzes a hybrid furniture design studio through the lenses of design pedagogy and experiential learning, investigating how hybrid making can integrate digital fabrication with craft-based practices while supporting thinking through making. Although digital fabrication has gained prominence in design education, empirical research on how digital and craft-based practices can be integrated within a coherent pedagogical framework for furniture design remains limited, indicating a clear research gap. To address this, the study adopts a qualitative case-study methodology, combining studio observations, students’ written and verbal feedback, process documentation, and photographic records. A focused literature review on design education and hybrid making informed three guiding themes: material engagement, critical thinking, and creative discovery. The study contributes an empirically grounded pedagogical framework for hybrid furniture design education, demonstrating how digital modelling and printing, laser cutting, ceramic slip casting, and woodworking can support materially engaged experiential learning. Findings indicate that hybrid workflows enhance creativity and critical thinking while deepening students’ material literacy. Students directly encountered the physical properties of materials, production constraints, and occasional unpredictability as part of an iterative, hands-on learning process that bridges digital and craft-based methods. © 2025, Bekir Cihad Bal. All rights reserved.