DESIGN FROM STILFOLD EXCLUSIVE TOOL
For its fourth episode ‘Navigators of Design”, Jonas Nyvang and Tue Beijer, founders of design technology platform STILFOLD, reveal their revolutionary software-based approach to freeing industrial design from the rigid constraints and costly bottlenecks of traditional tools. The 10th part interview series produced in collaboration with Most studiosinvites visionaries to discuss how the convergence of computational design, robotic manufacturing, and All included it allows them to completely eliminate contractual constraints.
By decoupling the creative process from the machinery of heavy industry, STILFOLD gives designers unprecedented freedom to fuse fluid, sculptural aesthetics with structural load-bearing strength directly from a single flat sheet of metal. This paradigm shift is poised to disrupt manufacturing across the transportation, aerospace and construction industries.
‘We found a surprisingly powerful synergy between the material, the geometry, and their collective performance — the curved fold doesn’t just shape the metal, it makes it stronger. There is a huge, unserved gap between basic sheet bending and sophisticated, tool-based stamping. Within this gap, we are unlocking a huge opportunity: a flexible way to produce products with the fewest steps and the highest possible improvement,’ Tue Beijer opens the discussion.
PRINT STYLE transforms flat sheet metal into high performance structures | all images courtesy of PRINT STYLE
STILFOLD TRANSFORMS SHEET METAL INTO HIGH PERFORMANCE BUILDINGS
STILFOLD is a software defined wrap companytransforming flat sheet metal into high-performance structures that shift complexity away from traditional tooling and assembly into pure geometry. Working with industry leaders seeking lighter, stronger components and lower carbon emissions, the platform eliminates the constraints of capital-intensive manufacturing to unlock a more flexible, tool-less future for product design. Through proprietary STILFOLD technology, they replace physical tools with a software-based laser folding process, using curved folds to provide load-bearing capacity to thin metal sheets. This process boasts up to a 70% reduction in components by condensing multiple elements into single, complex folds.
‘We still have to obey the laws of folding, and convex folding is especially demanding on developability, which means that every design must start from a flat sheet. This is a real limitation and comes with both advantages and disadvantages,’ explains Nyvang. ‘But folding over a curve introduces a compliant behavior that activates the hardware itself. A straight fold simply changes direction. A convex fold changes the physics—it places the metal in a balanced state of tension and compression, so the geometry transfers the load instead of the mass,‘ adds Beijer. ‘That’s why the curve is so effective. Going from a flat, 2D sheet to a 3D curved fold creates stiffness from geometry rather than thickness, and the relationship is dramatically non-linear: double the curvature and you have roughly four times the stiffness. You’re not adding material to gain strength — you’re creating a mechanical system that has superior properties.’
PRINT STYLE introduces a production process that eliminates the limitations of industrial design
SYNERGY BETWEEN MATERIAL, GEOMETRY AND COLLECTIVE PERFORMANCE
Developing a process that optimizes the creative freedom of industrial design, STILFOLD removes discipline from physical tools and manufacturing constraints, allowing designers to integrate surface and structure into a single continuous form. ‘Our whole philosophy is to go from a flat sheet to the finished product with as few steps as possible, at the highest level of refinement and without the expensive, slow and wasteful tooling process. adds Beijer.
the iterative process goes from computer models to tactile paper prototypes
Driven by a vision to build a self-sufficient digital value chain, the company aims to offer manufacturing as a service through local, modular robotic cells. This model is based on the belief that the future of heavy industry lies in software-defined manufacturing, where companies can simply ship code to build products close to the end customer. A single shift that reconnects the supply chain away from a handful of massive factories and fragile logistics networks.
‘In traditional manufacturing, tooling is the bottleneck — millions in cost and months of lead time before you can get hold of a single part. With a generic software-based configuration process, this bottleneck disappears. The design is no longer hostage to the tool,’ notes Jonas Nyvang.
‘The recipe remains reassuringly simple — material, method and geometry. When your value chain is based on these three things rather than a specific tool and factory in a specific country, resilience is no longer something you insure for, it becomes something you design for,’ Beijer shares.
Advanced robotics, computational design and artificial intelligence come together to unlock the potential of sheet metal
By eliminating joints, rivets and welds, STILFOLD’s digital platform changes the manufacturing equation at its roots, forming materials that simply cannot be formed or sealed conventionally. ‘A continuous folded structure transfers load through its geometry rather than through the addition of material or fasteners, so we change where it fails.’ Jonas Nyvang explains. ‘We’ve folded 1700 MPa high strength steel, 7000 aerospace grade aluminum, and even titanium. So we don’t just remove the points of failure. we build from stronger materials to begin with,’ Tue Beijer ends.
STILRIDE goes beyond sheet metal shaping, actively changing its physics to maximize performance
Featuring a fluid, continuous and distinctly sculpted design, STILFOLD products range from mobility technology to on-demand infrastructure. This is demonstrated by STILPOD, a flat-packed vertiports for heavy drones made of recycled aluminum that can be unscrewed and moved without leaving a trace. Following a path towards cleaner manufacturing methods, with a technology that inherently incorporates low-carbon materials, the STILFOLD sheet-based mold uses intelligent nesting and precise process control to eliminate the waste of typical traditional cutting methods, significantly reducing material waste. The resulting lightweight structures inherently minimize operational energy throughout their life cycle.
STILPOD made of recycled aluminium, to be unscrewed and moved without leaving traces
From the beginning, the duo built on their design background rooted in the strategy of seeing is believing, using their products to challenge the limitations of traditional industries through their respective outcomes. A journey that takes considerable time and effort, yet STILFOLD never loses faith in the power of the curve and how it can be harnessed through the mining of structural folding intelligence.
Closing this awe-inspiring conversation Jonas Nyvang leaves the tips ‘Keep it simple, have fun and constantly create physical demonstrations and preach whenever you can to find ambassadors. As we like to say: Cut the elephant, share ideas, drink water and stay metal.‘
value chain based on material, method and mathematical geometry rather than factory-specific tools
high strength steel forming, PRINT STYLE‘s platform eliminates structural failure to build stronger products from the ground up
