3D printers are becoming more affordable and easier to use every day, if not exactly mainstream quite yet. Although 3D printing is obviously ideal for rapid prototyping and industrial design, many cutting edge artists and crafters have been embracing this new technology, with its seemingly unlimited possibilities for designing, creating, and sharing artwork and physical pieces.
3D printing has been used in the field of fashion, both high fashion and practical everyday design. The London School of Fashion had a show of 3d-printed items, including these incredible shoes. I also found many bracelets, rings, and necklace pendants which had been created with 3D printers, including this gorgeous nylon cuff and this cute button ring. Not to mention this great necktie, which is made up of small linked disks.
In the field of textiles such as knitting and crochet, one design student used hard ABS plastic to design a work of tubes bent like knitting stitches. The result was this amazing sheet of "knitted fabric," which is surprisingly flexible and fascinating to watch move.
A street artist used high-tech photo analysis and CAD software to create these pieces which fit into crumbling urban infrastructure. For example, transforming a chipped cement step into a seamless Lego sculpture. I love this project because it not only heals the crumbling urban environment, it also adds a little touch of magic to everyday reality.
But the real magic of 3D printing, if you ask me, is its potential for collaborative, peer-to-peer works of art. Once someone creates a working 3D pattern, anyone who has the right equipment can simply download it and print it out, or modify it to their liking. Multimedia artist Jeff de Boer released a pattern for a small disk with two links, and asked 3D printing enthusiasts to print out their own customized version and send it to him. He collected the links and assembled them into a sheet, a collaborative sculpture called "Linked" which was assembled at an art and engineering festival in Calgary.
Main image: "Wire Stag" sculpture, available for sale at Sculpteo.com
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