Greek designer Yiannis Ghikas has created a 3D-printedvase with a ribbed surface decoration inspired by science fiction special effects that show creatures moving under a person’s skin.
Starting with the outline of an archetypal vase, Athens-based designer Ghikas added a three-dimensional decoration to one side to create the impression of something pushing through the surface from inside.
“I was always impressed while watching science fiction movies when a foreign organism or a parasite was moving underneath the skin of a human being, altering its smooth surface with its own form,” said Ghikas.
The use of 3D printing enabled the designer to create a shape that transitions from a smooth to a ribbed surface.
Ghikas added that the shape also references the metallic blades that emerge from beneath the skin on the hands of comic book character Wolverine.
“I wanted to incorporate these striking movie images discreetly in this specific object, adding a ‘mutation’ that gradually appears and disappears and aesthetically disturbs its smooth surface,” the designer explained.
The ridges increase in depth towards the middle of the vase, enhancing the sense of its surface being stretched from within.
The vase is printed from ABS plastic by 3D printing firm Shapeways.
Milan 2014: Dutch studio Bernotat & Co created 3D-printed woven fabric lamps that emulate microscopic organisms to show in the Ventura Lambrate district in Milan this week (+ slideshow).
Anke Bernotat and Jan Jacob Borstlap of Bernotat & Co have created Radiolaria, a collection of 11 lamps made from a 3D-printed polyester textile normally used in technical applications where the material is hidden.
Thanks to the 3D-printed structure, the soft lamps do not require additional reinforcement. “When sewn together, the fabric creates its own character and shape,” Borstlap told Dezeen. “We let the fabric do the design work in a way.”
Influenced by the drawings of German biologist and artist Ernst Haeckel, the project is named Radiolaria after a type of microscopic biological organism that produces intricate mineral skeletons.
The designers created the patterns for the textile based on these organisms, whose skeletons are known for their natural geometric form and symmetry.
In a completely dark room, the lamps glow as the textile has been sown together with a glow in the dark material. “It creates a dreamy kind of atmosphere in your bedroom,” said the studio. “It also acts as a point of reference so you don’t bump into your bed.”
All lamps come with porcelain fittings and a silver-coloured cable and will be show from 8-13 April on via Ventura 6 in the Ventura Lambrate district in Milan.
A wearable 3D-printed eyeglass that monitors breathing and pupil size to measure what people find interesting online has been developed by students at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College (+ movie).
Developed by Sanya Rai, Carine Collé and Florian Peuch, students of the RCA and Imperial College‘s joint Innovation Design Engineering course, the Amoeba is equipped with sensors designed to monitor three instinctive responses that indicate a person’s interest in what they see.
This sensory data is collated to create an intuitive alternative to bookmarking and other systems for keeping track of digital content.
“We believe that with the advent of wearable technologies, where devices will be constantly mapping every moment of our lives, organising our personal data will be a monumental task,” explained the team.
“Amoeba can help ease this process by bringing only the most interesting stuff to the forefront, making sure we never miss out on the important stuff and saving us a lot of time and effort.”
Designed in CAD and manufactured on a 3D printer, the design is, according to Sanya Rai, “a statement piece to let the world know that the wearer is immersed in research.”
The Amoeba records breathing rates using heat sensitive receptors near the wearers mouth. It has a camera embedded into the lens to measure pupil size and sensors on an arm that measure the electrical conductance of the skin, which varies with moisture levels generated by sweat.
These three elements combined create a snapshot of data about the emotional response of the wearer when they look at content.
The data is then converted into a digital signal which creates a visual map that can be viewed with Google’s Chrome browser.
According to the development team, the Amoeba has several applications including measuring the impact advertising has on potential customers.
Image showing the design process
“Amoeba reveals the true underlying changes in a user’s bio-data in order to get an honest and unbiased feedback to product developers and the industry.”
Another potential area of use is in measuring student engagement in online education. “The drop out rate from online courses is over 90 percent,” the team said. “Amoeba will help to tailor learning platforms according to the subconscious reactions of the user and thus keep him motivated and engaged on the learning platform.”
The students are currently developing the Amoeba to be able to measure interest in all digital content such as music and film, not just websites.
“Our final vision would be to have Amoeba as an embedded feature in all wearable devices so that it can help streamline all content for the user, bringing to the forefront only the most interesting stuff rather than the entire daily log of data,” said Rai.
This 3D-printed chaise longue by architect, designer and MIT professor Neri Oxman features 44 different composite materials inside a wooden enclosure, creating a multi-coloured recliner.
The first of two designs to be released by Neri Oxman, Gemini Alpha features a series of synthetic rubber-like nodules in various shades of magenta, yellow and orange in a swooping wooden frame.
“Gemini is about the complex and contradictory relationship between twins,” explained Oxman.
“This is mirrored in the geometrical forms of the two-part chaise and the dualities that drive their formation, such as the combination of natural and synthetic materials.”
The inside of Gemini Alpha is made up of a 3D-printed skin that uses three synthetic rubber-like plastics, combined to create 44 different composites.
This inner skin was produced on Stratasys‘ new Objet400 3D printer, which allows materials and colours to be combined simultaneously.
Each of the materials has a different rigidity and colour, and is arranged to cushion the user. The choice of shapes is also informed by their noise-cancelling properties.
“The chaise is designed to use curved surfaces that tend to reflect the sound inwards,” said Oxman. “The surface structure scatters the sound and reflects it into the 3D-printed skin that absorbs that sound, and creates a quiet and calm environment.”
The outer layer is made from a solid wood shell milled using a CNC machine at Le Laboratoire art and design centre in Paris. It follows the contours of the body, with a deep seat, back rest, and a curving head piece that immerses the user and helps block out sound.
Gemini Alpha was designed in collaboration with W. Craig Carter, professor at MIT‘s Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
It is currently on display at Le Laboratoire and the second piece, Gemini Beta, will be unveiled in September.
In this movie we filmed in Miami, Daniel Widrig says that designers can break down boundaries between disciplines by borrowing technologies and tools traditionally associated with one industry and using them in other industries, in unexpected ways.
“A lot of technology we use was originally developed for use in other disciplines such as special effects or the movie industries,” says Widrig. “One could say that boundaries are blurring between industries”
Visualisation of Crystallization dress by Iris van Herpen, Daniel Widrig and .MGX by Materialise
His architectural background feeds into his ongoing research into using 3D-printing for clothing and jewellery, says Widrig.
“We work with the body in quite an architectural way: we investigated certain body parts and then we applied design processes to populate body parts with architectural microstructures,” he says.
Daniel Widrig Kinesis 3D-printed body adornments for Luminaire
For Widrig, it is often the experimental, low-budget projects that yield the most new ideas.
“The most interesting projects for me are the self-imitated projects where you set yourself a goal and an agenda and you work with sometimes really small budgets, but you have the freedom to explore,” he explained.
These then feed into more commercial projects, from experimental furniture to sculpture, computer game design and movie sets.
Daniel Widrig Kinesis 3D-printed body adornments for Luminaire
The music featured in the movie is a track by Simplex. You can listen to his music on Dezeen Music Project.
Dezeen and MINI Frontiers is a year-long collaboration with MINI exploring how design and technology are coming together to shape the future.
These shoes are 3D-printed using flexible, durable filament so they can be folded up and stuffed into a pocket or bag (+ slideshow).
Designed by Ignacio Garcia of Spanish 3D-printing firm Recreus, the Sneakerbot II shoes are printed with the company’s Filaflex 1.75-millimetre filament, which comes in a range of metallic colours and matte hues.
This elastic filament forms a rubbery, waterproof material that is bendy and retains its shape after being scrunched up.
The shoes can be printed on a MakerBot using a custom extruder also designed by Garcia, which prevents the elastic filament becoming tangled during the process.
Sole and upper are printed in one piece, then the tongue is attached to the front of the shoe. Holes for threading the laces through are incorporated into the print file.
Chunky faceted forms around the bases of the high-top trainers create a Futurist appearance.
This design builds on the original Sneakerbot model, which has smoother surfaces that look more like running shoes.
The files for both designs are available to download for free from MakerBot’s Thingiverse website.
Klarenbeek‘s Mycelium chair, which takes its name from the extensive threadlike root structure of fungi, combines organic matter with bioplastics to make a light and strong composite material that can be 3D-printed.
Scale model of Mycelium chair
Klarenbeek found that fungus grows quickly on straw, so used powdered straw mixed with water and mycelium to make an aggregate that could be 3D-printed.
Eric Klarenbeek with model of the Mycelium chair
“We adapted the 3D-printer and invented a way to print straw injected with mycelium. By infusing this mushroom it acts as a kind of glue so that all these straw parts [combine] together and as soon as you dry it you get a kind of cork material, which is all bound together,” says Klarenbeek.
Eric Klarenbeek with prototypes
The chair’s exterior is also 3D-printed, but is made from a bioplastic, against which the mycelium root structure grows. Klarenbeek leaves the fungus to spread throughout the 3D-printed structure, reinforcing it in the process.
Segment of Mycelium chair
“Our main purpose was to find a combination between the robot, or the machine, and to have these two work together to create a new material which could be applicable for any product,” explains Klarenbeek.
Scale model of the Mycelium chair
He claims the material has many possible applications. “It could be a table, or a whole interior, and that’s where it becomes interesting for me. It’s really strong, solid, lightweight and insulating, so we could build a house!”
News: American 3D printing firm 3D Systems has created a robotic suit that combines printed parts with motorised components to help paralysed patients stand and walk.
3D Systems claimed that its Ekso-Suit, which fits onto the user’s legs and back to support the natural walking motion, is the “first ever 3D printed hybrid Exoskeleton robotic suit”.
The suit was custom-designed for a specific “test pilot” called Amanda Boxtel, who was paralysed from the waist-down after a skiing accident in 1992.
Boxtel’s thighs, shins and spine were 3D-scanned to create a three-dimensional digital model on which the shapes of the flexible printed parts of the exoskeleton are based.
This process enabled the designers to create a support structure that is a perfect fit for Boxtel’s body and provides a framework for the mechanical actuators and controls that power the suit, which were developed by California-based exoskeleton specialist, Ekso Bionics.
Shifts in the user’s weight activate sensors connected to battery-powered motors that drive the legs, resulting in a natural and weight-bearing gait despite the lack of muscular function.
Boxtel tested the suit by walking around the Hungarian capital, Budapest, at an event hosted by Californian higher education institution Singularity University.
“After years of dreaming about it, I am deeply grateful and thrilled to be making history by walking tall in the first ever 3D printed Ekso-Suit, made specifically for me,” said Boxtel.
“This project represents the triumph of human creativity and technology that converged to restore my authentic functionality in a stunningly beautiful, fashionable and organic design,” she added.
3D Systems president and CEO Avi Reichental said: “I believe that the most beautiful and functional designs have already been patented by nature, and inspired by Amanda’s incredible spirit, we were able to harness nature’s beauty with 3D printed functionality and freedom of creation to allow her body and spirit to soar.”
The South Carolina firm is engaged in other projects that use 3D scanning and printing technologies to create customised devices for medical applications including preoperative surgery, surgical drill and saw guides, dentistry and orthodontics.
“3D Systems has long been a pioneer in patient-specific devices, integrating our cutting-edge 3D capabilities with robotics to better serve humanity opens new and unimaginable frontiers,” added Reichental.
The robotic components of the suit are based on technologies that Ekso Bionics has been developing since 2005. The company’s products help to augment the user’s strength and its HULC (Human Universal Load Carrier) suit has been tested by the American military as a way of enhancing the capabilities of soldiers in the field.
“We came up with the idea based on the title and lyric ‘we are explorers’,” PARTY creative director and founder Masashi Kawamura told Dezeen. “We wanted to create a story of explorers but wanted create the journey in a never seen before way, so we decided to create 200 figurines using 3D printing and film them as stop-motion animation.”
The video for Cut Copy follows the tiny characters as they navigate the streets: encountering litter, scaling mail boxes and collecting objects found along their journey.
For the stop-motion sequence, the two hundred figurines were created on a Stratasys 1200es printer with UV reactive filament.
The team used handheld black lights to create the luminosity during the seven days of filming in Los Angeles, then exaggerated the brightness slightly during post production.
“We used UV reactive filament to print the figurines on the 3D printer, so they glowed under the black light,” said Kawamura.
Once they had finished, PARTY made the files used to create the video open source so others could try it out.
“We wanted to create an experience bigger than just the video,” explained Kawamura, “so we decided to release all the 3D data and storyboard for free on Bit Torrent, so the people can actually recreate the whole video if they want to.”
Joris Laarman‘s MX3D-Metal method combines a robotic arm typically used in car manufacturing with a welding machine to melt and then deposit metal, to create lines that can be printed horizontally, vertically, or in curves without the need for support structures.
Following on from the machine Laarman developed last year that used a quick-drying resin, this method of printing makes it possible to create 3D objects on any given surface independent of inclination and smoothness. The technique can be used to print with metals including stainless steel, aluminium, bronze or copper.
Robot arm 3D-printing metal lines in mid air
“By adding small amounts of molten metal at a time, we are able to print lines in mid air,” explained Laarman.
The metal lines can also be printed to intersect with each other, creating self-supporting structures, and the robotic head can build up several separate lines at once by adding to each one in turn.
MX3D-Metal 3D-printing robot
The designer is currently using the technique to make a 3D-printed metal bench, which will go on display as part of an exhibition of his work at Friedman Benda Gallery in New York this May, though the final form of the piece is still in development.
“The nice thing about working with new technology like this is that the formal language of the design follows what is possible with the technique,” he said. “While the technique is developing the possibilities change.”
Robot arm 3D-printing metal lines
However, Laarman believes the approach can also be used 3D-printed architectural constructions and concrete reinforcements. “Because the technology is not affected by gravity, it could even be used in space,” he said.
Previously, printing with metal was achieved through selective laser melting (SLM) or electron beam printing; SLM uses a high-powered laser beam to create three-dimensional parts by fusing fine metallic powders together, while electron beam printing uses a similar technique with an electron beam and is printed inside a vacuum. However, these techniques are expensive and produce very small objects.
“All these are ways to print in metal on a very small scale,” said Laarman. “The method we developed is for a larger scale and doesn’t need a support structure like all other methods.”
Laarman’s technique isn’t restricted to just printing in layers either, becuse the print head of MX3D-Metal can approach the object from any angle and print lines that intersect in order to create a self-supporting structure. “3D printing like this is still unexplored territory and leads to a new formal language that is not bound by additive layers,” he said.
Examples of 3D-printed metal lines
The process can also be scaled down to create more refined structures without the need for scaffolding or other supportive add-ons.
The software that controls the robot arm and welder was developed in collaboration with American 3D software company Autodesk. “The combination of robot/welding is driven by different types of software that work closely together,” Laarman revealed, adding that the software will eventually be developed into an interface that allows the user to print directly from design programs.
“Vertical, horizontal or spiraling lines require different settings, such as pulse time, pause-time, layer height or tool orientation,” he continued. “All this information is being incorporated in the software.”
More examples of 3D-printed metal lines
Last year, Petr Novikov and Saša Jokić, two interns at Joris Laarman Lab created the MX3D-Resin, which allowed the creation of chunky three-dimensional rods from a polymer, rather than slowly building up two-dimensional layers like a standard 3D printer. From these initial experiments, Laarman discovered a way of doing the same with metal.
Laarman graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2003, and first received international recognition for his decorative Heatwave radiator produced by Dutch design brand Droog. He set up his own lab in 2004 in Amsterdam with partner and film-maker Anita Staris. Laarman’s previous work has included chairs designed to mimic the proportion and functionality of human bone.
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