Unum was developed for my Masters Thesis at Parsons School of Design. Much of the fabrication, product design, and graphic design was done in collaboration with Audrey Fox.
Unum | The Blockchain for the Maker Movement
Today, few people know where, when, or how their products were made. Complex global manufacturing networks are black boxes, concealing their true environmental and economic impact.
But change is on the horizon.
As the Internet did for digital information, design and fabrication tools have begun to redefine how we fund, design, produce and exchange physical products. The resulting Maker Movement is laying the foundation for a new, more distributed model for manufacturing.
We have the tools, now where do we go?
Unum is a proof-of-concept platform that connects designers, makers, and customers in trusted peer-to-peer relationships, supporting local on-demand production. To do this, Unum uses the blockchain protocol to manage information, payment, and intellectual property, creating an online manufacturing thread for every physical product fabricated from a digital design.
Read the White Paper.
Read the Masters Thesis Paper discussing the Unum research and design process.
See more Unum final deliverables and media.
Learn more about the journey behind Unum on my blog.