Collection: Designers: Cody Norman

Cody Norman (b. 1992) is a Chicago-based artist, designer, and educator. He serves part-time faculty in the Sculpture and Designed Objects departments at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He earned a BFA from SAIC in 2016 and an MFA in 3D Design from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2020. Norman works with digital and analog fabrication processes to transform recycled and bioplastics into functional art objects. By creating enigmatic forms that feel familiar and foreign, Norman’s process physically blurs the line between digital and handcraft.

Norman’s forms are inspired by biomimicry and sustainability. He designs, builds, and creatively misuses his own tools, such as the handheld plastic extrusion gun, which melts recycled plastic into improvisational organic forms. Norman uses a KUKA industrial robot, formerly a mass production tool, to create unique objects. His objects resemble nature but have a chaotic and unpredictable materiality and an element of function, alluding to the “usefulness” of plastic objects.