Can We Touch the "Scarab Vase"?: A Story of Failure, Darkness, and Discovery
Schedule
Thu, 26 Feb, 2026 at 06:00 pm
UTC-05:00Location
401 Harrison St, Syracuse, NY, United States, New York 13202 | Syracuse, NY
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Thursday, February 266 pm | Hosmer Auditorium
Pay-What-You-Wish Admission
In 1910, Adelaide Robineau spent 1,000 hours on a single vase. She carved into fired porcelain, glazed only the raised edges, and created something that turned the ceramics world on its head. Then she published her methods so others could learn from what she’d discovered. 115 years later, the Everson Museum asked Stephanie and Isaac Budmen to digitize that vase. They thought they knew how. Twelve hours of scanning, months of processing: complete failure.
What followed was a two-year investigation into light, material, and the questions you don’t think to ask when you’re confident. The breakthrough required scanning in total darkness—which shouldn’t have worked at all.
Join the Budmens for the full story of how following curiosity through failure led to the Scarab Vase becoming touchable for the first time in 115 years. Stay after to see, and touch, the result.
About the Presenters:
Stephanie Budmen, Co-Founder, Budmen Industries & Think Variant
Isaac Budmen, Co-Founder, Budmen Industries & Think Variant
Stephanie and Isaac Budmen are inventors, designers, educators, and the founders of Budmen Industries and Think Variant. Their work in Applied Curiosity sits at the intersection of advanced fabrication, cultural impact, and inquiry education – from digitizing museum artifacts to manufacturing over 3.5 million face shields during the COVID-19 pandemic to mentoring the next generation of makers. Based in Syracuse, they’ve spent the last decade turning “What if?” into working prototypes, products, installations, and tools. Their practice, which they call Applied Curiosity, treats questions as the starting point for every project, and failure as information rather than defeat.
Stephanie leads with visual thinking and storytelling, finding the narrative thread that connects craft to meaning. Isaac builds the systems and tools that translate ideas into physical form. Together, they ask questions, break things, and figure out what works.
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Where is it happening?
401 Harrison St, Syracuse, NY, United States, New York 13202Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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