3D Printing and New Forms for the Home
With 3D printing, any shape can be manufactured by a single machine. Here’s how the technology is changing furniture making.
Living in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, digitisation and automation have impacted almost every aspect of our lives. Amongst the many emerging technologies that are shaping our world, 3D printing has revolutionised how we might imagine everything around us to be made, and that includes furniture and home objects.
3D printing has also seeded an image of a future where anyone could own a 3D printer. In this future, we can all instantly create everyday tools, objects and even food on demand. An enticing logistical dream in home fabrication!
While a 3D printer has yet to become a common household presence, designers and 3D manufacturers are paving the way by harnessing the potentials of 3D printing to create new forms.
Images from Zaha Hadid for NAGAMI.
RISE and BOW chairs by Zaha Hadid for NAGAMI
Spanish design studio Nagami explores objects that can only be conceived with 3D printing technology and automation. RISE and BOW chairs are the results of an extensive ongoing experimental collaboration with Zaha Hadid Architects.
3D PRINTING IS REVOLUTIONISING FURNITURE MAKING
3D printing is an additive process. Whether it’s a chair or a house that is being printed, a 3D printer extrudes thin layers of materials through a nozzle, moving back and forth three-dimensionally until the object is built.
Perhaps an animation would best illustrate the 3D printing process. In this video, Dutch designer Dirk Vander Kooij’s self-innovated 3D printing robot prints a chair from scratch.
Since 3D printing works by binding layer upon layers of material into an end product, it offers endless possibilities for complex forms. Additionally, it offers versatility in material experimentation — with biodegradable or recycled materials, for example. Product designer Lilian van Daal, who used 3D printing to create the soft seating in her Biomimicry chair, describes the fabrication method as “a way to grow material”.
Image from AIRLAB@SUTD.
The AirTable uses advanced metal printing technology to create structural prowess with limited materials. Its support structure, made of stainless steel tubes, withstands a heavy load with only three contact points. Based in Sanitago, Chile and the Singapore University of Technology and Design, AIRLAB is an architectural intelligence research lab.
Image from Dirk Vander Kooij.
Chubby Chair by Dirk Vander Kooij
Dirk Vander Kooij is best known for re-adapting his own 3D printing robot and making furniture out of old, abandoned refrigerators. The playful Chubby Chair is 3D printed from 10kg of chipped, recycled refrigerator interiors. You can even find a download link to the 3D models of Chubby Chair on Dirk’s website.
THE FUTURE OF 3D PRINTING IN OUR HOMES
3D printing technology has undoubtedly produced a new turn in design and architecture. In the near future, 3DP is expected to disrupt manufacturing patterns, create new visual forms and enable mass customisation. In terms of sustainability, it will also encourage the circular economy of products (in which existing materials can be reused).
The technology allows for faster and more cost-efficient prototyping and small-batch production, while opening doors for ambitious explorations of form and design thinking. Manuel Jiménez García of Spanish design studio Nagami sees 3D printing as a sustainable means to test ideas in the physical world “from the computer to the prototype in a single step.”
The one caveat of 3D printing? Its current capabilities have not superseded traditional mould-making in the mass production of furniture. Some industry experts have also observed the adoption of 3D to be slower than expected.
While it is unclear when we would all own a personal 3D printer at home, this idea is not entirely mythical. 3D printing has been a great enabler for exciting creative possibilities and one can only imagine what the technology can do in the future. Perhaps now we will wait.
Image from Janne Kyttanen.
SOFA SO GOOD by Janne Kyttanen
This sofa is a stereolithography 3D print, a particular form of 3D printing that converts liquid resin into solid objects with UV light. The entire sofa took 5 weeks of continuous 3D printing — not terribly efficient — but it used only 2.5 litres of resin to create a structure that could withstand 100kg of pressure, thereby demonstrating the economy of material as an advantage in 3D printing.
Image from Gantri Press Kit.
The Ammunition Collection by Gantri
This collection of premium lighting is a collaboration between Gantri, maker and retailer of 3D-printed lighting, and design studio Ammunition. Available for purchase on Gantri’s site, every lamp that Gantri sells is 3D printed using innovative plant-derived polymers, a more sustainable alternative to traditional petroleum-based plastics.
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