software-defined folding company<\/b><\/a>, transforming flat sheet metal into high-performance structures that shift complexity away from traditional tooling and assembly into pure geometry. Partnering with industrial leaders seeking lighter, stronger, and lower-carbon components, the platform eliminates capital-intensive manufacturing constraints to unlock a more agile, tool-free future for product design. Through their proprietary STILFOD technology, they replace physical tooling with a software-driven laser-creasing process, using curved folds to provide load-bearing capacity to thin metal sheets. This process boasts up to a 70% reduction in components, condensing multiple elements into single, complex folds.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018We still have to obey the laws of foldability, and curved folding in particular demands developability, which means every design must begin from a flat sheet. That\u2019s a genuine constraint, and it comes with both pros and cons,\u2019 explains Nyvang<\/b>. \u2018But folding over a curve introduces a compliant behaviour that activates the material itself. A straight fold simply changes direction. A curved fold changes the physics \u2014 it places the metal into a balanced state of tension and compression, so the geometry carries the load instead of the mass,\u2019 adds Beijer. <\/b>\u2018That\u2019s why the curve is so efficient. Moving from a flat, two-dimensional sheet into a three-dimensional curved fold builds stiffness out of geometry rather than thickness, and the relationship is dramatically non-linear: double the curvature and you get roughly four times the stiffness. You\u2019re not adding material to gain strength \u2014 you\u2019re creating a mechanical system that holds superior qualities.\u2019<\/p>\n
![\"\u2018design](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/stilfold_designbom_02.jpg\")
STILFOD introduces a manufacturing process that eliminates restrictions of industrial design<\/p>\n
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SYNERGY BETWEEN MATERIAL, GEOMETRY AND COLLECTIVE PERFORMANCE<\/b><\/p>\n
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Developing a process that optimizes the creative freedom of industrial design, STILFOD shifts the discipline away from physical tooling and manufacturing limitations, allowing designers to integrate surface and structure into a single continuous form. \u2018Our whole philosophy is to go from a flat sheet to the finished product in as few steps as possible, at the highest level of refinement, and without the costly, slow, and wasteful tooling process,\u2019 Beijer adds.<\/b><\/p>\n
![\"\u2018design](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/stilfold_designbom_03.jpg\")
the iterative process transitions from computational models to tactile paper prototypes<\/p>\n
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Driven by a vision to build a self-sufficient digital value chain, the company aims to deliver production as a service through local, modular robotic cells. This model is grounded in the belief that the future of heavy industry lies in software-defined manufacturing, where companies can simply ship code to fabricate products close to the end customer. A single shift that rewires the supply chain away from a handful of massive factories and fragile logistics networks.<\/p>\n
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\u2018In traditional manufacturing the tooling is the bottleneck \u2014 millions in cost and months of lead time before you can hold a single part. With a generic, software-driven formative process, that bottleneck disappears. The design is no longer hostage to the tool,\u2019 Jonas Nyvang notes. <\/b><\/p>\n
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\u2018The recipe stays reassuringly simple \u2014 material, method, and geometry. When your value chain rests on those three things rather than on a specific tool and factory in a specific country, resilience stops being something you insure against and becomes something you design in,\u2019\u00a0 Beijer shares.<\/b><\/p>\n
![\"\u2018design](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/stilfold_designbom_04.jpg\")
advanced robotics, computational design, and AI unite to unlock the potential of sheet metal<\/p>\n
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Eliminating the joints, rivets, and welds, STILFOD\u2019s digital platform changes the manufacturing equation at its roots, shaping materials that simply can\u2019t be formed or stamped conventionally. \u2018A continuous folded structure carries load through its geometry rather than through adding material or fasteners, so we\u2019re changing where, and whether, it fails.\u2019 Jonas Nyvang explains<\/b>. \u2018We have folded 1700 MPa high-strength steel, 7000-series aerospace aluminium, and even titanium. So we aren\u2019t just removing failure points; we\u2019re building from stronger materials to begin with,\u2019 Tue Beijer completes.<\/b><\/p>\n
![\"\u2018design](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/stilfold_designbom_05.jpg\")
STILRIDE goes beyond shaping sheet metal, actively altering its physics to maximize performance<\/p>\n
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Featuring a fluid, continuous, and distinctly sculptural design, STILFOD\u2019s products range from mobility-tech to on-demand infrastructure. This is exemplified by STILPOD, a flat-packed vertiports for heavy drones constructed from recycled aluminum that can be unbolted and relocated without leaving a trace. Navigating a path toward cleaner ways of manufacturing, with a technology natively accommodating lower-carbon materials, STILFOD\u2019s sheet-based forming utilizes smart nesting and precise process control to eliminate the scrap typical of traditional cutting methods, significantly reducing material waste. The resulting lightweight structures inherently minimize operational energy throughout their entire lifecycle.<\/p>\n
![\"\u2018design](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/stilfold_designbom_06.jpg\")
STILPOD constructed from recycled aluminum, to be unbolted and relocated without leaving a trace<\/p>\n
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From the outset, the duo has relied on their design background rooted in the strategy that seeing is believing, using their products to challenge the limitations of traditional industries through their respective outcomes. A journey that demands significant time and effort, yet STILFOD never loses faith in the power of the curve and how it can be utilized through mining structural folding intelligence. <\/p>\n
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Closing this awe-inspiring conversation Jonas Nyvang leaves the advice <\/b>\u2018Keep it simple, have fun and constantly create physical demonstrations and preach whenever you can to get ambassadors. As we like to say: Slice the elephant, share ideas, drink water and stay metal.\u2019 <\/p>\n
![\"\u2018design](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/stilfold_designbom_07.jpg\")
value chain resting on material, method, and mathematical geometry rather than factory-specific tooling<\/p>\n
![\"\u2018design](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/stilfold_designbom_08.jpg\")
shaping high-strength steel, STILFOD\u2018s platform eliminates structural failure to engineer stronger products from the outset<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STILFOLD DECOUPLES DESIGN FROM THE TOOL \u00a0 For the fourth episode of \u2018Navigators of Design\u2019, Jonas Nyvang and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[267],"tags":[365,362,363,364,366,18,117,19,1915,17,246175,9915],"class_list":["post-578464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-interview","tag-ireland","tag-navigators-of-design","tag-robots"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116895214781742021","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\u2018design](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/stilfold_designbom_01.jpg\")