Designers, are you ready for Adhocracy?

An interesting exhibition opened at the Istanbul Design Biennial on Monday. Dubbed Adhocracy, it is inspired by a recent article in The Economist, which argues that the advent of 3-D printing, novel materials, and smart new manufacturing techniques is changing the way we design and make things. The Economist says that this could all constitute a third industrial revolution, with greater emphasis on individuals fashioning single items and production premises that "may look more like weavers' cottages than Ford's assembly line."

Exhibitors at Adhocracy, held at Galata Greek Primary School in the Turkish capital, have certainly put these theories into practice. We're particularly taken with Dutch designer and exhibitor Jesse Howard's sleek looking OpenStructures water boiler, made from components most of us could pick up in our local hardware store, as well as his vacuum cleaner fashioned from a plastic thermos flask.

At the more high-tech end of things, Belgian designers Unfold have a great Stratigraphic Porcelain set of products, produced via 3-D printing. Whether we all have the time, skill or inclination to make our own toasters just yet is unclear. However, Adhocracy certainly could free smart product designers from the tyranny of the production line. Catch the show if you can - it runs until Dec 12.