The iteration generation: a new age of design

Las Vegas is a fitting place to present visions of the future. The whole city has an air of the unlikely, spotted as it is with oases of luxury and randomness plonked in the middle of the arid Nevada desert. When you have seen a rollercoaster teetering precariously on the edge of a skyscraper roof, or a facsimile of St Mark’s Square in Venice that appears so close to the original until you look closer and realise that the Basilica is missing, the Doge’s Palace is the wrong shape and the clouds in the sky never move, you may be more likely to believe anything you see on the exhibition floor.

It is, therefore, a favourite location for technology exhibitions and conferences and in November last year, it hosted the annual Autodesk University event, showcasing the latest innovations from the manufacturing technology and software company. In such an environment, the natural response to what appears to be a giant silver spider squatting on an exhibition stand is not “I must be seeing things” but “I wonder how that interesting thing got there”.