Creative_me

I gotta confess it … I’ve only heard about 3D Printers once in my life and it was in an episode of Big Ben Theory (the one when Raji and Wolowitz buy such a printer in order to create their own action figures).

I’d never thought that I’d have the chance to see a 3D printer in my life (not to mention in the short period). Well, I was reading the press release before going to Vicenza Oro when I discovered that during the Fair there would have been the Exhibition “Around The Future” specifically dealing with 3D Printing Techniques in Jewelry Design (with a practical demonstration too!).

Due to logistic problems (ok … actually Paola The Mora Smoothie and I got lost and we got to the demonstration booth too late) we couldn’t see the public event but we had a very special chance though. Since it was a really quite moment, Matteo from DWS (Digital Wax System),
the firm from Vicenza that started producing 3D Printers in 2007, explained us the 3D Print Universe and all its potentiality.

Matteo accomplished a really hard job: he explained the 3D printing techniques in such a simple and easy-to-understand way that even Paola and I got it straight. We are talking about a technology that according to professor Alba Cappellieri of Politecnico di Milano (The University is partner of the exhibition and curator of the precious volume Around the Future distributed during Vicenza Oro) in her essay The Futures of the Jewel “will change radically the world of jewelry, influencing the designers’ design process and the company’s production process,
allowing customizing and variants that would otherwise be very long and
expensive”.

Professor Cappellieri also defines 3D Print as “a
technology that takes the non-material nature of technology to the physical nature of real world objects, something that is born digital and becomes real and in time will become more and more accessible, intuitive, easy to use and defined”.

So, how does 3D Printing Process actually work?

I’m not trying to explain it myself. I’d rather quote the precious volume again. This time I’m quoting professor Del Curto, from Politecnico di Milano, “The CAD file is exported in STL format to

acquire the geometry of the object to be made, then the geometry is cut along planes parallel to the work bench in what is commonly defined as slicing. Finally the tool paths, or the trajectories that the machine tool must follow in the production stages, are produced.”

Easy, right?

Ok, let’s talk easier here: everything starts with a digital project; the machine
elaborate and divide the project into sections. Now, depending on the
technology employed (this depends on the materials, the producer and the
specific details of the project), the machine creates the object just layering
different parts of that same object. The result is the exact 3D replica of the
starting project.

Quoting againg Professor Del Curto, 3D Print allows designers “to being able t ogive form to an idea, to the imagination, by addingg
and superimposing layers of material”.

In order to obtain good results the machine has to use the best material. This is exactly the field where DWS is focusing its research and projects.

Matteo told us about his last technology Fair in Las Vegas: the little Italian booth was just next to the huge booth belonging to on of the most important 3D printer producer in the US (actually, the one quoted in my beloved TV Series). Well, Matteo told us that, despite the small dimension of the booth and the firm, the Italian materials and techniques seduced the public that preferred their products to the competitors’ ones. (We love hearring about David and Golia histories!).

The 3D Print technique could be applied to many fields: design and jewelry but also medicine (check DWS website for more infos).

The designers that had the chance to take part to the project Around The Future involving 3D Print technique in Jewelry Design defined 3D Print as a “tool” that gives to the designer “complete freedom” and allows him to see
“immediately” (in 2 hours approximately) the actual realization of his project.

Which are the creations I loved the most?

- Rosaspina by Francesca Gabrielli

- 3D Cameos by Vivian Meller and Laura Alvarado

- Your Song by Brech (a carillon ring 100% customizable).

It’s a method that “unites the production possibilities typical of mass production systems, capacle of producing high volumes at low costs, with flexible processes for the production of products and services designed specifically for each individual”.

This 3rd Industrial Revolution focuses the attention on quality, customization in an industrialized production process and speed.

Today Paola is writing about an interesting story about Fast Jewelry. Go towww.themorasmoothie.com
and discover the story of our meeting with APM Monaco.

Enjoy!