Professional Additive Manufacturing
By “professional additive manufacturing”, we intend all those categories of 3D printing adoption that relate to the creative and artistic spheres. These include applications in architecture, construction, design, arts & crafts as well as entertainment (movies and animation) and designer consumer products such as furniture and jewelry.
This category of adopters has grown enormously in recent years as the cost of professional level AM systems has decreased from over $100,000 to between $20,000 and $5,000. This enormous paradigm shift has opened up 3D printing to a wide demographic of users that have innovated and imagined new application possibilities for AM. The process is still very much ongoing as the abundance of news and articles in this section clearly indicate.
Several artists and creatives have embraced plastic and in many cases ceramics based technologies to explore new possibilities in both end-use products and their supply to the final user. 3D printing is seen as the key technology that will enable the production of mass customized items, produced on-demand, on location, by professionals in any part of the world.
Global professional and B2C additive manufacturing services such as Shapeways, iMaterialise and Sculpteo have also contributed to expanding this area of AM by making high-end 3D printing technologies easily accessible and affordable for more people all over the world.
Latest professional AM news:
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Almost a year ago, we got wind of an immense 3D printing undertaking in Nevada: the new Allegiant Stadium, soon to be the home of the Oakland Raiders NFL team, was installing a giant 3D printed structure to commemorate the late Al Davis, a long-time owner of the Raiders team.…
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The Netherlands has proven to be a fertile environment for construction 3D printing, with established construction companies like Bruil and BAM embracing concrete 3D printing as a building method, and technology developers like CyBe and Vertico paving the way to new applications and more adoption. Vertico, a young Dutch company…
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After years in the making, a massive 12-meter 3D printed sculpture has finally been installed in Rotorua, New Zealand. The beautiful piece, which honors the region’s native Te Arawa history and culture, was designed by artists at the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute and was 3D printed in…
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A 12th century candlestick with a long and fascinating history is now returning to its original home in Gloucester, England accompanied by a 3D printed replica. The original artefact, aptly known as the Gloucester Candlestick, is making the journey from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, where it has…
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The Zhejiang University Museum of Art and Archaeology (ZJUMAA) in China has inaugurated a new exhibit, called “Grace and Grandeur: Memories of Yungang Grottoes through a Century,” which is dedicated to the famous ancient Chinese Buddhist temple grottoes in the province of Shanxi. One of the highlights of the new…
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The Czech Republic is preparing to break ground on its first 3D printed house next month. The stylish housing structure was designed by Michal Trpak of sculptural architectural studio Scoolpt, and will be constructed in collaboration with the Stavebni sporitelna Ceske sporitelny (Buřinka) building society. The 3D printed house, whose…
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American architecture studio Hannah has built an eco-friendly off-the-grid cabin in Upstate New York using a combination of 3D printed concrete and infested ash wood. The small structure, called Ashen Cabin, demonstrates the potential of using both types of materials to produce sustainable structures. Some of the most compelling examples…
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Tune in Thursday, May 14, at 8:00 p.m. EDT for a live Q&A with Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator, Department of Architecture and Design, and Director, Research and Development; and designer, artist, and professor Neri Oxman, about the exhibition Neri Oxman: Material Ecology, as part of MOMA’s Virtual Views initiative. From…
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Artist Thom Kubli has partnered with MIT Media Lab’s Tangible Media Group to create a 3D printer that defies gravity by producing ultra-lightweight floating sculptures. The innovative project is inspired by Kubli’s personal fascination with speculative machines, which are devices whose function has a metaphysical value rather than a utilitarian…
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A team from the Harvard Semitic Museum has 3D scanned a series of three sarcophagi from Ancient Egypt, which are now viewable through 3D modeling platform SketchFab. The effort is part of a broader project that aims to digitize artifacts from Ancient Egyptian civilizations to be shared online for “study…
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