Shapeways turns 10, Co-founder Pete Weijmarshausen looks back

It seems incredible but it has already been ten years since Shapeways, one of the leading B2C online 3D printing service bureaus, began its activity in Eindhoven. Five years later, on On October 19, 2012, Shapeways opened a new 3D printing factory in Long Island City, Queens, New York, that could house 50 industrial printers and churn out millions of consumer-designed products a year. It then opened a completely new factory in Holland. Today Shapeways turns 10 and Co-founder Pete Weijmarshausen looks back at this first phase.
It was an idea now Shapeways turns 10
Ten years ago today, Shapeways was just an idea. “I remember the day well. Walking into a small office in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, there was a chair, a table and that was it. I had a plan, but also a lot of figuring to do,” said Co-Founder & CEO Pete Weijmarshausen in an interview published on the Shapeways official blog. It was March 1, 2007, his first day working full-time on Shapeways, and the unofficial birthday of the company. Still, to Pete, it seems like yesterday. “I almost can’t believe it has been 10 years. It seems time flies when you are having fun!”
“I love to share cool technologies with as many people as possible, and I felt 3D printing was one of the coolest, most magical technologies I’d ever seen.” Pete Weijmarshausen, Shapeways Co-Founder & CEO
Having fun has a lot to do with why Pete was drawn to the idea of Shapeways; he’s always loved to geek out on futuristic tech. And, it’s no surprise that the idea for the company was born in the 3D design community – the same community that still fuels and sustains it. “When I learned about 3D printing, the first thing I thought was, ‘OMG, this is something I need to share with my friends in the Blender community!’ I knew that so many people use 3D software (like Blender) to create beautiful things they are passionate about on their computers, in the digital domain, but could not hold those in their hands. I wanted to change that.”
The market of 3D printing final products for consumers almost did not exist when Shapeways started and it is still growing today. At the time there was no one that knew about 3D printing, although the technology had existed for almost 20 years, even back in 2007! So, the company’s first hurdle was to create awareness. Together with MakerBot, Shapeways was at the heart of started the 3D printing hype, where it had the vision that consumer 3D printing is a platform play, the industry at the time seemed to think it was the desktop machine.
“I think what has happened over the last two years or so is that the idea of the desktop printer being the answer for consumer 3D printing has been debunked”, said Weijmarshausen. “In a sense, we have stayed true to our vision that giving consumers access to high-end 3D printers is the way to unlock their creativity and enable them to make amazing products. We continue to work to make our website easy to use, adding features and tools that unlock creativity, and helping our users to get what they want. We also continue to work to make the quality top-notch, for a great price, and as fast as people want – which is now! The progress we have made and the things we can still do will further unlock the market.”
“…we have stayed true to our vision that giving consumers access to high-end 3D printers is the way to unlock their creativity and enable them to make amazing products.”
As Shapeways celebrates 10 years and the technology matures, both on the printing side and on the creation side (3D software), it will become easier and more relevant for anyone to use it. The announcement of HP’s entry into the market has incentivized other big players like CANON and Toshiba to consider making 3D printers. At the same time, new players are preparing to and are entering the market, like Carbon3D and Desktop Metal. But, it has also re-incentivized existing players to accelerate their R&D. All of that leads to enhanced abilities to deliver amazing products for consumers. Meanwhile, the software is getting better and better. New web-based 3D software like Onshape, but also Oculus Medium (a VR 3D modeling tool), Sixsense (VR) and 3D scanning are becoming mature. All of that will enable people to more easily express what they want. Shapeways’ role is to be the platform to connect people with all this technology, making it easy for them to get ideas into products.