Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
10
Unleashing a
new aesthetic
My neighbor designs housewares. When I go to his house for dinner, he
shows off his latest best-selling creations. One evening he showed me
a wavy lampshade. Another time he passed around an interlocked set of salt
and pepper shakers. Regardless of what he designed, once the evening's show
and tell began, I already knew where the evening's conversation would end.
My neighbor liked to tell his dinner guests that the design phase was the
fun, but just the beginning. The real challenge, he would say, the thing that
separated the amateurs from the pros, was getting a design manufactured.
Making the leap from a design prototype to mass-produced product was the
equivalent of jumping over a gaping chasm.
My neighbor would explain that a good designer had to make sure a design
idea could actually be made on a factory machine. A designer had to also be a
salesperson and convince a manufacturer that his design would make money,
enough to justify the manufacturer's sizeable investment in setting up a fac-
tory production line.
I haven't seen my neighbor in a while. But I can't wait to tell him that his
dark days are behind him. 3D printers are the output device that designers
and artists have been waiting for. Complex, unique shapes may be a cause
for concern for manufacturing engineers. Yet, for artists, fashion designers,
jewelry makers and architects, complex shapes and novel geometries represent
unexplored new opportunities.
Architects, industrial designers, and artists are quickly and eagerly tapping
into a vast new reserve of design possibilities. 3D printing is removing barriers
of resources and skill that prevented many talented designers from realizing
their ideas. 3D printing and design technologies are making their irst com-
mercial inroads into ields that do small batch manufacturing: for example,
jewelry making, high-end home décor, and experimental fashion design.
