3D Printing, also known as additive manufacturing, has opened up newer avenues in the designing and production of commodities across multiple industries. The world of architecture and interior design has also come to explore and diversify into 3D Printing to create spatial elements, furniture, decor, and lighting with this technology. 3D Printing is not restricted in materiality and is proven to be sustainable, efficient, and aesthetically appealing in its execution. Designers have globally imagined and realized their creations in 3D Printed forms.
Here are ten such designers that have showcased their imagination with 3D Printing :
1. Juice Bar at Loft Flagship Store
Architects: DUS Architects
The Juice Bar Kiosk at the Loft Flagship Store introduces 3D printed solutions to combine aesthetics and functionality to create statement furniture pieces. The studio draws inspiration from Japanese Folding and Drawing Techniques to create recurring printed patterns that translate into the Form. Transparency is achieved within the Juice Bar by printing semi-open screens with provisions to open and close, that reveal circular interior patterns. The project imagines 3D printed furniture in six different typologies across the store to create an inviting and sensory experience for the customers.
2. Queen, Rhea, Ombra – Lamps
Architects: Hola Studio
Hola Studio uses 3D printing to create lamps that are playful and emotionally participating in nature. These ’emotional design strategies’ allow customization and modifications triggered by human contact in the lamps. The studio aims to generate conversations about patterns of consumerism and promote emotional affection between users and objects. These lamps are sustainably printed on demand to avoid overproduction and wastage.
3. Janne Kyttanen
Finnish Designer Janne Kyttanen, infamous as the ‘3D guy’, has contributed greatly to the development and implementing solutions to maximize growth in the world of 3D Printing. Kyttanen uses this technology to design a sofa inspired by the natural structures of spider webs and silkworm cocoons. The design is imagined to have a diminished requirement of material while providing maximum strength. The finished product allows a 2.5-kilogram sofa to hold up to 100 kilograms of weight. The larger idea hopes to minimize energy consumption among other costs in the production of furniture.
4. Emerging Objects
Emerging Objects is motivated by a unique approach to innovation and materials in the realm of 3D Printing. Based in San Francisco, their portfolio includes a variety of products ranging from Furniture, Tiles, Pottery, Planters, and Light Fixtures. These objects are an experiment in understanding structure and its longevity along with a study of suitable aesthetics. Emerging Objects has successfully used 3D Printing Technology with unique materials such as Salt, Sand, Tea, Resin, and Chocolate, among others.
5. Studio Nagami
Spanish design studio Nagami presented 3D four chairs designs by renowned designers including Zaha Hadid Architects at the Milan Furniture Fair. This avant-garde collection is named ‘Brave New World’ built entirely with 3D Printing Technology. The design of these chairs is a combination of robotics and botany that redefines the traditional relationship between furniture and its surroundings while exploring newer avenues in the form of furniture.
6. SuperMod
Architects: Simplus Designs
SuperMod is a 3D Printed modular wall system that is built to combine aesthetics and functionality. The Wall is made up of multiple modules that act as storage units varying sizes. The primary material for the modules is opaque and translucent plastics in Red and White that allow light to permeate and produce a glowing effect. The design is imagined for multi-purpose use, as a partition wall, for storage or as a standalone element in a room.
7. 3D Printed Lamps
Architects: LPJacques
Linlin and Pierre-Yves Jacques are Paris-based designers and artists that have ventured into 3D Printing with their lighting fixtures known as ‘Lace Lamps’. These lamps have an elaborate yet elegant lace pattern that casts light on the surfaces in the room. The design is an inspired rendition of the play of light and shade as imagined by the designers. The lamp is created in two variants – a pendant light known as the Sky model, and a standing lamp known as the Land model.
8. Puzzle Chair
Architects: Bits and Parts
The Puzzle Chair by Bits Parts is an attempt to make affordable full-size furniture available to everyone using small 3D Printers and CNC Milling Machines. The Kids Puzzle chair is a combination of 39 pieces that can be printed on standard consumer printers. Since these chairs can be printed at home, there is a possibility of customization of color as per the user’s liking.
9. Batoidea Chair
Architects: Peter Donders
The Batoidea Chair by Belgian designer Peter Donders is named after the genus of the elegant stingray fish. The fluid and airy chairs defy practical conventions as an extraordinary example of design and technology. 3D Printing allows a chair of this nature to be built at a lower cost than a traditional aluminum cast chair while ensuring there is minimal wastage.
10. Sketch Furniture
Architects: Front Design
The Sketch Furniture Series by Front Design has developed a technique to materialize sketches into 3D Furniture. This is made possible with a combination of two technologies – Motion Capture and 3D Printing. This creates an interesting foray into formal exploration in furniture that is innovative in design and aesthetics. The process of design becomes highly dynamic and intuitive and is brought to life by the advanced technology of production.
